Hair porosity is a key component in how you take care of your hair because it affects the overall look and feel of your hair and much more. Put simply, hair porosity is your hair's ability to absorb and retain moisture within its cuticles. But when you take a deeper look it affects every aspect of your hair care regimen. There are generally three types of hair porosity, low, “normal” and high.
But how do you determine which type of porosity you have? The water test. All you need is a glass of water and a strand of hair. Put the strand in the water, if it sinks to the bottom you have high porosity, if it floats to the top you have low porosity, and if it is somewhere in the middle you have “normal” porosity.
Nonetheless, we are going to be focusing on low porosity. Low-porosity hair cuticles are clenched preventing moisture from easily being absorbed. It can be recognized when the hair does not saturate fast in the water and water-based hair products, styles take too long to dry and hair feels oily because products aren’t absorbing. So if this sounds like you, you will need to use products that attract and keep moisture in strands.
Keep these 4 things in mind when caring for low-porosity hair:
- Masks & Deep Conditioners – Regularly using restorative products like these helps bring hydration and strengthen the pores within your hair cuticles. Continual moisturizing reinforces abstaining moisture.
- Avoid Heavy Products – Hair care like moisturizing shampoo, masks, and deep conditioners are your best bet. But be sure the products are too heavy because you don’t want them to simply sit on the hair but actually penetrate. Also, look for products that constrain glycerin because it increases and maintains moisture.
- Warm to Hot Water– Since low porosity hair does not absorb water as easily washing with warm to hot water opens hair cuticles to be more susceptible to obtaining and retaining moisture.
- Clarifying Shampoo – Clarifying shampoo will become your best friend because it helps get rid of product build-up being that low porosity hair can be harder to get products to absorb. But nonetheless, keep trying and when wash day comes don’t forget your clarifying shampoo
