The habit I ask every client to start
At the end of a first appointment I ask every new client for the same thing. Start writing your hair down.
I don't mean a diary. It doesn't have to be pretty. I mean a quick record of what you did to your hair and how it behaved afterward, kept somewhere you'll actually open again, because it's the most useful thing you can bring to a consultation and it costs you about a minute after each wash day. One minute. That's it.
Why your memory isn't enough
Hair changes slowly. A product that's drying you out can take weeks to show it, a style that's pulling at your edges might not show anything for a couple of months, and breakage builds a little at a time until one day you notice it and can't remember what changed.
That's why clients so often tell me their hair "just does this." Maybe it does. More often there's a pattern behind it. Because nobody wrote anything down, nobody could see that the scalp gets itchy on day four after a particular gel, or that a twist-out holds for a week in winter and two days in summer, or that the ends turn rough around six weeks after a trim.
Those are things you can act on, but only once they're on paper with dates next to them, because across months you can't tell what's working without that record.
What to log
Keep it to things you can note in under a minute. This is what I want to see:
- Wash dates, including quick co-washes.
- What went on your scalp, meaning shampoo, clarifier, and any scalp oil or treatment.
- What went on your lengths, from conditioner and leave-in to creams, oils, and gels, in the order you used them.
- Styles and how long they held, where "twist-out, good for five days, frizzy by day six" is perfect.
- Trims, with the date and roughly how much came off if you know.
- Anything itchy or flaky, with the day it started and where on your scalp it was.
- Protective styles, with install date, takedown date, and how your scalp felt underneath.
That's the core. If you want to add the weather, how much heat you used, or a stressful month, go ahead, since all of it can show up in your hair. Keep it light, though. If the extras make the habit heavy, you'll stop doing it.
Keep the format boring
You don't need an app. Phone notes is fine, and I'd rather you keep a messy note going for a year than start a beautiful notebook and abandon it by spring.
One line per wash day works for most people:
> Oct 3: clarified, regular shampoo on scalp, leave-in and cream on lengths, two-strand twists, scalp itchy by Oct 6.
Put the date first so it's easy to scroll, then scalp products, then length products, then the style, then anything you noticed. When a style comes down or something changes midweek, add a short line underneath with the new date.
Photos help too. Keep them in one album (front, back, and crown, in similar light), and even if you don't look at them for months, you'll eventually scroll back and see how your ends looked before and after a change you made.
What I look for when you show me yours
When a client hands me her phone at a consultation, I'm not reading every word. I'm scanning for patterns.
First, the spacing between washes and what the scalp did around them, because if itching shows up the same number of days after each wash, that points me toward frequency or toward a product. Then I compare what went on the scalp with what went on the lengths, since heavy products at the root are one of the most common things I find. I check how long each style held against what was used to set it, and whether trims line up with ends feeling better or worse. And I look closely at protective styles: how long they stayed in, and what the scalp was like at takedown.
None of this replaces me looking at your hair in person. It does mean I'm not guessing about the last three months from the last three days, so the consultation moves faster and what I recommend is built on your own history instead of on a typical client with your curl pattern.
Start with today's entry
Open your notes app now. Write down the last time you washed your hair and what you used, as best you remember. Then add the style you're wearing and roughly when it went in. That's your first entry. The next one goes in on your next wash day.
What this blog is for
I started this blog for the same reason I ask clients to keep a journal: to write down what I actually see in my chair so it's there when someone needs it. The posts are the explanations I give during appointments, written out properly so you can come back to them between visits.
If you're new here, start with three. My silk press guide is the place to begin if you're thinking about a press. My wash day routine post lays out the routine I build with most clients (pre-wash detangling included), and if your scalp is itchy, flaky, or feels coated, read my post on the signs you need a scalp detox before you buy anything new.
