All About Hair Porosity

Being on a hair journey can be exciting as well as disappointing. You may wonder at times why you are following someone's hair regimen and products to the letter and yet though you have the same hair type, yyour hair doesn't end up looking as fabulous as theirs after a tiring wash day routine!! You end up with dull, dry and frizzy hair though you pre-pooed, deep-conditioned, roller set or air dried, and moisturised and sealed! What's up with that, hair?

Looking for answers, right? How about a hair porosity check. Have you ever done a strand test before?

Porosity is simply the ability to absorb liquids. Thus hair porosity is the ability of our hair to absorb liquids, products and moisture. One's hair can be described as having high, normal or low porosity and a porosity test is the simple way to find out.  

Hair Porosity Test: Our hair sheds everyday so no need to pluck out a precious healthy strand. Just catch one from your comb and drop it in a clear glass of water.

 Results

(Photo credit: www.hairfinder.com)

Low Porosity:  Hair strand stays at the top of the water, suspended for a long while before making it's way down taking forever. This means your cuticles are pretty tight and resistant preventing water from getting into the hair. If it is difficult to get water into your hair, imagine products trying to make their way in! A simple way to correct this is to use alkaline-heavy products which open the hair cuticle allowing liquids to get in more easily. Use products that contain water and glycerine. Avoid products that have petrolatum, lanolin, heavy oils, etc listed as their first ingredients as this will worsen the situation. If you moisturise and seal, make sure to do so on damp hair because once the water is able to get into the hair eventually, it equally is difficult for it to be lost in low porosity hair. Also, deep conditioning with heat is a must as the cuticles are lifted for the products to be better absorbed to enjoy the full benefits.

Normal Porosity: Hair strand moves down to the middle of the water and floats there. This would be the "perfect"condition to have for your strands. Moisture retention is optimum, products live up to their name as they are well absorbed and thus the promises of the product easily show. The hair strands are lustrous, shiny and frizz free. Keeping your hair strands in this condition however means to desist from harsh treatments to the hair such as dyeing, chemical over processing and excessive use of heat tools. This kind of hair is low maintenance and very desirable.

High Porosity: Hair sinks quickly to the bottom of the glass. An undesirable state to have your strands in. This type of condition is usually because the hair is damaged. The cuticles have wide gaps and openings due to over exposure to heat, dyes and chemicals. The best remedy would be to cut the damaged ends off but temporal remedies such as using protein treatments, heavy oils, more acidic products,  apple cider vinegar (ACV) and aloe vera juice (AVJ) for your hair will help seal the cuticles. In the meantime, regular trims and less use of heat and chemicals on your new growth is recommended.

You can read further about hair pH and how it affects hair HERE. 
 Before you carry out the strand test you should READ THIS!!

What were the results of your strand test? 

Cheers,

Star.