4 Steps to Achieve Your Natural Hair Goals

Happy New Year! For many naturals, the new year is an exciting time to set and work towards achieving your natural hair goals. While the idea of a new beginning is invigorating, setting hair goals can be daunting for some. It's one thing to set goals and another to achieve them.

Your unique goals may include minimizing heat usage, incorporating more protective styles, or retaining better length. Regardless of your natural hair goals, here are four steps to ensure you achieve them this year.

Step 1: Assess your hair: what worked and didn’t work last year?

Before setting your natural hair goals, establish a baseline. Reflect on last year's hair successes and failures. Address areas that need the most attention and review the overall effectiveness of your haircare practices.

Consider questions like: How does my hair feel and look? What worked last year? What didn’t work? What lessons were learned? What can I do differently? By assessing your hair journey, you can make necessary adjustments and develop achievable hair goals.

Step 2: Set goals with the end in mind

Develop natural hair goals with a clear vision of the desired outcome. Turning vague goals into clear intentions is crucial. For example, instead of saying, "I will have long hair," specify, "I will retain four inches of length by December 2024."

Having a clear end goal helps you make decisions during your hair journey, stay motivated despite setbacks, and know when you've achieved your milestones. Reflect on questions like: What exactly do I want to achieve by the end of the year? How will I stay motivated through setbacks? By starting with the end in mind, you can revisit and modify your goals as needed throughout the year.

Step 3: Have a Hair Regimen

Create an action plan to achieve your desired results. What will you do daily, weekly, and monthly? Achieving goals often involves sacrifices and forming new habits to replace old ones. Work backwards—identify habits you want to eliminate and habits you want to develop or improve.

For instance, if your goal is to reduce heat on your hair, plan a routine that minimizes the use of blow dryers or other heat tools. Strategize to develop a plan that suits your lifestyle and needs. Remember to give yourself grace—incremental progress, no matter how small, still matters!

Step 4: Keep a Hair Journal

This is one of my best-kept secrets! Think about your favorite natural hair blogger—notice how they consistently track their hair journey through blogging, YouTube, or TikTok videos?

Documenting your journey is crucial, just like in fitness or learning a new skill. I'm a big proponent of keeping a natural hair journal to document all the ups and downs of your natural hair journey.

A natural hair journal keeps you accountable for your goals, allows you to reflect on your hair needs, plan your hair care, track progress, and make improvements. For an affordable and digital option, you can get The Coily Hair Journal and Planner here!

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