The process of drying in soil is often associated with complex deformations. Due to the complexity of both the soil structure and the coupled hydro mechanical processes that occur during drying, different forms and shapes can be created during drying. Soil curling is recognized as one of the typical phenomena taking place during shrinkage, when the surface layer is curled up or down by different mechanisms triggered during drying. The paper describes the setup and use of a precise non-contact electro-optical technique based on a 2D laser profile scanner with motion controller to systematically track the evolution of the exposed surface of a natural soil during controlled drying conditions. Different stages of curling are identified and discussed at different elapsed times. To gain a better understanding of the different curling stages and their associated mechanisms, a set of drying experiments were also performed on artificially prepared mixtures using kaolin and silica sand.