Hair Porosity 101: What It Means & How To Repair It by Fran of Hey Fran Hey There’s nothing more confusing than following all of the steps suggested by popular hair bloggers and vloggers and still ending up with frizzy, brittle hair. Especially when you learn the wonders of sealing with an oil or butter for longer lasting hydration, but still wake up with thirsty strands by the next morning. What gives? Well, it may be your hair’s porosity. What is porosity? It’s your hair’s ability to absorb water, products and moisture overall. The ranges are broken down into low, normal and high porosity. Here’s a strand test followed by a break down of each range, what it means for your hair regimen and how to repair it. Porosity Test Next time you wash your hair, grab a strand and drop it into a glass of water. If the strand immediately sinks to the bottom, then your hair is of high porosity. If it floats somewhere in the middle with ease, then it’s of normal porosity. If it seems to stay at the top, taking forever to sink downward, then your strands are of low porosity. Low Porosity Hair & Regimen What does low porosity hair mean? It means your cuticles are tight and pretty resistant to opening up for water and moisture. This is more than likely due to genetics. Does it usually feel like products you apply are just sitting on top of your hair? Your hair doesn’t readily absorb products; hence its inability to retain the moisture and shine your hair needs. The strand stayed at the top of the glass because water couldn’t get inside of it to make it sink. The tricky part of having low porosity hair is how well it can actually hold moisture once inside, but getting it inside is the key! Beware of products with a low pH because high acidity works to keep the cuticle closed. In other words, they won’t help your case! Look for products using more alkaline ingredients that will help lift your cuticles. Regular baking soda treatments (Google: Cherry Lola Treatment) or products containing glycerin may help improve moisture levels. Granted, many naturals have issues with both ingredients so test them out for your particular hair type and see if they help! Try avoiding products loaded with oils, as oils serve as sealants for the cuticle and may work against your efforts to lift them. Steamers are great tools for aiding with cuticle lifting, as well. And when applying products, make sure your hair is damp, as you’ll need all the moisture you can get!
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 21:33:01 +0000
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