There are several factors that cause our hair to react and look the way it does and hair porosity is one of them. Have you ever watched a Youtube natural hair guru do her hair? You follow all their steps, use the same products they use, technique and everything and in the end, your hair still turns out a hot mess.
Most people who only have a casual interest in their hair and don’t take the time to understand all these many factors that cause their hair to behave a certain way always end up frustrated with their hair at some point.
Apart from the different textures or hair types, hair porosity has a huge role to play in how our hair behaves and different porous hair have different needs.
This post will enlighten you on: what is hair porosity, why does hair porosity matter, how to test for your hair porosity and how to cater for your hair according to your porosity type.
hat is porosity?
Porosity according to Cambridge dictionary is defined as the state of being permeable, a measure of how readily a material allows water or air to pass through it.
What then is Hair Porosity?
Hair porosity refers to how well our hair can absorb and retain moisture. As well described in the book the science of hair care, porosity is a term used to describe how easily water and other matter can diffuse back and forth through the cuticle layer, into or out of the hair cortex.
Our hair’s structure is such that the cuticles overlap one another making them responsive to enable easy diffusion of
Conditions that influence hair porosity
All hair is naturally porous and permeable to water, but the degree of porosity varies by the individual and the condition of the hair’s cuticle layers. The more porous our hair is, the more likely it is to lose moisture rapidly. Porosity is generally determined by genetics, but it can always be altered by external factors like heat, mechanical damage and chemical processing. However, how well you look after your hair can greatly influence your hair’s porosity, hence, in other words, porosity can be seen as an indicator of how damaged your hair is.
Why does Hair porosity matter
For us with curly hair or tightly coiled strands, knowing our hair’s porosity matters a lot. it is very important to know your hair’s porosity as it helps you to better understand your hair. Porosity matters because it determines how quickly your hair will lose water or accept water. Therefore, it serves as a great guide when determining what products will be good for your hair and how much product you need.
Porosity determines how much protection your hair needs. When hair is chemically processed either from relaxers or hair dyes, it’s protein structure is broken leading to a weak protective cuticle shielding making your hair more porous. Knowing your porosity, in this case, will help you know how much protection your hair requires. It’ll enable you to buy adequate products to fill in the gaps caused by the chemicals and make your hair stronger and healthier.
When choosing products to use whether it be shampoo, conditioner, or any styling product, it’s good always take the porosity of your hair into account. Using the wrong products can actually be extremely damaging to your hair and you may not get everything that you can out of your hair products.
How to know
your Hair Porosity… are these tests reliable?
Hair porosity is not very simple to determine though most blogs claim otherwise. One test you’ll see often on blogs is the Float test, there are several others too, like the slide test, the spray bottle test, etc.
The float test for hair porosity is one in which you try to float a strand of hair in water. You can use a cup of water, get a strand of hair from your scalp and drop in the water. It is supposed that porous hair will immediately begin to absorb water, become heavy, then sink to the bottom of the cup.
- If your hair tends to sink almost immediately in contact with the water, it has high porosity.
- If your hair is still floating almost 4 minutes later, then it must have low porosity
- Meanwhile if your hair takes time then starts to sink slowly, you probably have normal porosity.
The spray bottle test
For the spray bottle test, you take a small section of your hair, mist the section with water using your spray bottle.
- If the water forms droplets and just sits on your hair, you probably have low porosity hair.
- If the water gets absorbed quickly, your hair is highly porous.
- If the water sits on your hair for some minutes then gets absorbed, you have normal porosity hair.
Why these commonly used porosity tests can be unreliable
There are a lot of flaws in these tests. Given that hair in general will almost always float in water, most of you while doing this tests will note that your hair can float for ages and it may take a little push to make it sink. It’s normal for this to happen because hair is generally covered in sebum which is oil naturally produced by our hair. Oil will always float on water, so your hair floating won’t always mean that it has low porosity. These tests only give a very rough approximation of your porosity or how damaged your hair is. To make the tests a little accurate, it’s good to do it on freshly washed hair that has no product in it.
The best method and the most accurate one to measure porosity is the gas sorption method. It requires sophisticated testing equipment like a Quantachrome Autosorb-
Hair Porosity categories and how to manage your porosity type
As seen from the tests above, there are 3 types:
The main characteristic of Low porosity hair is the cuticle being tightly clamped together which prevents moisture from entering the hair. This characteristic makes the hair dry and easily prone to build up. This type of hair is even difficult to relax when using a hair relaxer. Low porosity hair repels moisture and products that are too heavy (in oils or
As difficult as it may be to moisturize low porosity hair, the advantage is, once well moisturized, the moisture has a hard time leaving due to the tightly clamped cuticles. Therefore low porosity can retain moisture for long hours. PS: so if your hair takes a ridiculously long time to dry up when soaking wet, it’s definitely low porosity
How to care for Low Porosity hair
- Reducing build up is key for dealing with low porosity hair. Build-up on low porosity hair makes it more difficult for moisture to penetrate. If you have low porosity hair, and you are a product junkie like I am, endeavor to wash your hair often with a sulfate free shampoo to avoid product buildup.
- When washing your hair, start with warm water, to open the cuticles then you can rinse off with cold water to close the cuticles.
- Use products with low protein as low porosity hair already has a strong protein structure and adding more protein regularly will only make your hair stiff and dull. Low porosity needs more moisture and less of proteins. Doing regular deep conditioning to replenish moisture is strongly encouraged.
- When shopping for products, buy lighter products and oils. I love using lighter oils like Argan oil and jojoba oil for my hair as they easily get absorbed.
- If you find that a product or oil just sits on your hair and doesn’t penetrate, try using heat to open your cuticles. You can use a hair steamer or put a plastic bag on your hair for some time to heat it up.
Normal porosity also known as balanced porosity is typically the best and easiest to manage. It’s basically a balance of low and high porosity. It can hold moisture for an extended period of time. The cuticle layer of hair in this category is often looser than low porosity hair hence it allows the right amount of moisture to penetrate the hair without letting too much escape. Normal porosity hair tends to be healthy, bouncy, and resilient and can hold styles for longer periods.
How to care for Normal Porosity Hair
- When shopping for products, go for moisturizing shampoos and conditioners, and thicker water-based leave-in conditioners. This will help to keep this balanced porosity on your hair as balanced as possible.
High porosity hair has raised cuticles and tends to be very damaged. Moisture is easily absorbed as well as easily lost. High-porosity hair is easily penetrated by-products, but quickly loses that moisture since the cuticles are open. High porosity hair tends to be very frizzy and tangles easily because the cuticles get caught up on each other. Having High porosity hair can either be from genetics as a normal property of your hair. Moreover, it can be as a result of too much chemical processing on your hair or due to other types of rough treatment.
How to care for High Porosity Hair
- Protein treatments can help. High porosity means your protein structure isn’t strong enough and there are gaps among your cuticles. So doing protein treatments often will help to fill up those gaps. Preferable use products with Hydrolyzed Proteins as these can be absorbed by the hair strand.
- Use heavy products and cream as these will help to seal and keep the moisture in longer.
- Deep condition at least once a week and use a thick water-based leave-in conditioner. You would need to follow a regimen that seals moisture in, incorporating a leave-in conditioner and a sealant like a hair butter will help tremendously
In conclusion, how porous your hair is has a lot to do with which product will work best for your hair. Figuring out your hair porosity will enable you to maximize the benefits from your conditioning and styling products.
Have you ever been frustrated with your hair products? Did carrying out the DIY porosity test help you in shopping the best products for your hair or was it unreliable?