Hair Porosity

Hair Porosity

by Jessica Rivers

Originally Posted on Curlfluence.com in 2018

By now, just about every curly girl knows about hair porosity. If you know nothing or not much about porosity, here’s a breakdown:

Porosity basically describes how your hair handles moisture, depending on how your hair cuticles lay. High porosity hair has cuticles that are lifted, causing moisture to flow through the hair. High porosity hair has trouble retaining moisture, resulting in frazzled, dry hair. Low porosity hair has cuticles that lay flat, resulting in moisture resistance. Low porosity hair has trouble absorbing moisture, which causes hair to feel dry and brittle. This type is also prone to product build-up and is sensitive to protein.

How do I find out my porosity?

There are a few ways to find out if you have low porosity, high porosity, or even medium/normal porosity hair:

·        The Float Test: Take a strand of your hair (clean, no oils or product) and let it sit in warm water for a few minutes. If it floats, your hair cuticles are closed and water isn’t getting into the hair strand (causing it to float) and you’re low porosity/protein sensitive. If it sinks (quickly), your hair cuticles are lifted and water entered through the strand easily (causing it to sink) and you’re high porosity. If the strand of hair is somewhere in the middle or sinks slowly, you probably have normal porosity.

·        Slip ‘N Slide: Grab a strand of hair, start from the bottom and slide your thumb and index finger up the hair shaft. If it’s smooth you’re probably low porosity, and if it’s bumpy you’re probably high porosity.

What to do about my porosity?

If your hair porosity is normal, great! That means you have a good balance of protein and moisture in your regimen─ keep it up to maintain your porosity.

If you have high porosity hair, your hair cuticles are raised, causing your strands to lose moisture quickly.

·        Sealing oils are your friend! Make sure in your LOC (leave-in/liquid, oil, cream) method your “O” is a sealing oil. You may even want to switch your LOC to LCO, to ensure that both your leave-in conditioner and styler/cream are sealed in.

·        Aloe Vera juice makes a great leave-in!

·        Protein is your friend! Your hair is not sensitive to protein at all─ in fact, it needs protein. Find products high in protein (avocado, banana, etc.) and incorporate bi-weekly or monthly protein treatments in your regimen.

If you have low porosity hair, your hair cuticles are closed, causing your strands to resist moisture.

·        Moisturizing oils are your friend! You’ll likely benefit from hot-oil treatments, so use a moisturizing oil that will penetrate your tightly bound hair cuticles. You might want to change your LOC to LOCO: leave-in conditioner (water-based works best), moisturizing oil (to absorb into the hair strand), cream (nothing too heavy because remember, you’re prone to product build-up), sealing oil (use a light sealing oil to seal the moisture in).

·        Clarify your hair often, as you are more likely to experience product-build-up.

·        Limit the amount of protein you use since your hair is sensitive to protein. However─ hair still needs protein, so be mindful of how often you do a protein treatment. You may want to limit doing them to once a month or once every few months. After straightening and after wearing protective styles is a good time for a protein treatment.

Now if you’re like me and feel like your porosity isn’t the same all over or it changes from time to time, just simply adjust your regimen to fit your hair needs.