Anyone keep a hair journal?

battah · 10-02-2009, 08:44 AM

I'm trying to get a new routine sorted out (and figure out if I have any ingredient sensitivities), so I'm keeping a little hair journal. By date, I'm keeping track of the dew point, how I wash/style my hair, and products used, then at the end of the day I note whether I liked/disliked the result and how dry my hair felt.

So, right now this seems like a good idea

But it's a bit tedious. Is this likely to help me, or am I wasting my time? It seems like a LOT of stuff in there and it may be hard to pinpoint specific good/bad products/techniques in the sea of information.

Gills · 10-04-2009, 03:05 PM

I'm a scientist, so I'm definitely going to recommend the scientific method to help you out with this! Since the environment can be so variable, I think it would help you a lot to do the same exact wash/style process with the same exact products every day for a little while, and track how your hair reacts. Then you can examine how the environment (dew point, wind, etc) affects your style. Since that's your only variable, you'll know exactly what's causing daily changes in your hair.

When you've done that for a little while (a few days, a week or two, whatever you want) switch ONE thing about your routine. Change, add, or subtract ONE product, add in five minutes of plopping, use more gel, whatever you want to experiment with! Do that same routine for several days and see how your hair changes. Then you can look back at the previous week's results, see how your hair differs, and know pretty much for sure that it was that one routine alteration that is creating differences in your hair.

I hope that makes sense! But I definitely think that isolating your modifications is the best way to go about keeping your hair journal, otherwise you'll never be able to pinpoint the exact variable that's affecting your hair in an interesting way. Hope that helps!

jillipoo · 10-04-2009, 04:46 PM

I think it's a great idea! I kept a hair journal like the one you described for about a year. And I didn't use it every day, but certainly most days. It proved invaluable to me after a few months because I could then go back and look at trends (one conditioner always performed badly when the dew point was below 40, one gel seemed to do best when I used it with a certain curl creme, etc.). We always thinks we'll remember what worked and what didn't, but we don't! The journal is the best way to document hits and misses.

But yes, it can be tedious. And ideally, you would do what Gills suggested if you have the time and patience. Like anything else, the more effort you put into something, the more good use you'll get out of it. So, for a few months of painstaking effort, you could be rewarded with a ton of very useful information about your hair. Good luck!

battah · 10-05-2009, 03:29 PM

Thanks for the responses, ladies! Gills, that makes perfect sense. I've been sticking with the same products for the past couple of days and have liked my hair so far, so I'll start tweaking one product at a time and letting that go for a few days to start isolating individual products.

Sounds kind of like methods for identifying food allergies! I guess I'm looking for my hair's product allergies

Thanks again!

Suburbanbushbabe · 10-05-2009, 03:34 PM

I keep a Journal in my Fotki (under My Journal) and it definitely helps. No way I can remember the good combos, the seasonal changes, ejtc.

battah · 10-06-2009, 07:17 PM

Thanks, SBB, I'll take a look at it!

CurlyBeauty_Jay · 01-27-2013, 11:39 PM

I've been keeping a hair journal via iPages on my computer since June 11' but i've grown bored of the limited ways to format my journal so i'm downloading Evernote on my Mac now so I can have more control over my journaling.

Pookarina · 01-27-2013, 11:51 PM

That's a good idea!
I should keep a journal cause I am too feebleminded to remember what I've done before.

I only use Deva so far so it isn't too very much to remember, thank goodness.

dee-nature · 01-28-2013, 11:19 AM

I did when i was a newbie. Its helped when i did something that worked i can revisit it. Also i sort f went through an emotional rollercoaster with how peoplee were reacting to the bc so when i wrote what happened and how i felt it helped

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Fmasuhr · 01-28-2013, 12:24 PM

i did at the start when i was still learning about my hair. though due to moving to one extream climate to another, australia, germany, australia germany now, my hair has changed a bit with hat it likes. so i gave up cause it just confused me. i keep things as simple as i can, when its simple then not much can go wrong right?

NvmbrCurlss · 01-30-2013, 08:41 PM

About a year in, I started seeing similar ingredients in products I liked and did not like. I listed them for 6 months (during falls cooler weather/low dews and summers warm temps/high dews). I ended up finding a long list of dislikes...but turns out, that reeeeeaaally helped me narrow it down. I also discovered several culprits to my contact dermatitis through the process of elimination! Can't beat great hair AND a clear face

3B, Fine, Med D, Norm P&E
LowP: Kinky Curly Come Clean (50% EVOO)
NoP: As I Am CC
RO: Suave Tropical Coconut/VO5 Shea Cashmere
LI: KCKT/ CJBCLI/HETT/HENOYF (mixed w/ GSO)