All About Hair Porosity

October 23, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 2 Comments

Hi guys!

It's been pretty quiet in here for a while now, I've been so swamped trying to catch up on my coding (Computer programming) and also trying to meet up deadlines at a coding boot camp.
I've missed this space big time and for today, I'll be doing a post that might change your hair game.
Before diving in, it's question time!
Ever wondered why some hair products doesn't work on your hair? Why your hair is constantly dry? Why it takes up so much time to get dry? or why it easily frizzes?
No? You have no idea?
It has to do with your hair porosity.

Hair poro-- what?!

Yes! Hair porosity, for some peeps that have no clue that such word existed.

So what's hair porosity?

Hair porosity is your hair ability or inability to absorb water, moisture or products and retain it. Maybe your hair absorb moisture easily but isn't able to retain this moisture or it's difficult to absorb moisture but once absorbed, retains it well. It's all porosity guys.
I've known about this hair porosity thing since my big chop (April 2015) but just took it seriously a while back. It turned out that the regimen & products I already had worked well enough for my porosity type with little tweaks in between.

There are different types of hair porosity:
-Low
-Normal
-High

HOW TO DETERMINE HAIR POROSITY

TEST 1: During your wash day, take a strand of clean, product free hair and drop it in a glass of water. Leave for few minutes.

Low porosity- floats on top.

Normal porosity- floats at the middle.
High porosity-sinks to the bottom of the glass.


TEST 2: Place a single strand of hair in between your fingers. Slide your fingers up the strand of hair towards your scalp.

Low porosity- fingers slides up smoothly.
High porosity- Fingers feels some bumps on the way up.

It doesn't absorb moisture easily due to tightly packed cuticle, as a result products tends to sit on your hair, leading to product build up. Low porosity hair also takes longer to dry. The good thing about low porosity is that once it absorbs moisture or products, it retains  it well.
With low porosity you'll need a little bit of manipulation to open up your cuticle, so you'll be able to absorb moisture and close back the cuticle so as to retain moisture.
Include these in your hair regimen:

1.  Steam your hair to open your cuticle (you can also start your wash day with warm water).
2. Use products with a low pH, because high acidity keeps your cuticle closed.
3. Seal hair with light oils like coconut oil.
4. Hot oil treatments are great for your routine.
5. Adding humectants like honey, glycerin also helps.

It's balanced, there's no need to worry that pretty head of yours. Just beware of adding too much protein or using too much heat or chemical (like dyes), because they can alter your hair cuticle.

It absorbs moisture easily due to raised cuticle but has inability to retain it. The cuticle has been damaged due to over use of heat or chemicals.

While having a high porosity is irreversible, try doing these to help.
Include these in your hair regimen:

1. Protein treatments will help to strengthen the hair cuticle.
2. Use thick leave-in conditioners and, thick butters and oils.
3. Use acidic products to help tighten open cuticle.