Hair porosity is one of the main characteristics that helps you identify exactly how your hair needs to be handled. While many naturals tend to focus on hair type and texture, the importance of the hair's porosity has fallen to the wayside due to popular trending products and methods. Knowing your hair porosity is the key to developing a successful regimen. Not only does your porosity determine which products will work best for your hair, but it also helps you weed out unnecessary methods that may be doing your hair more harm than good. In low porosity hair, the cuticle lays flat and doesn’t lift to allow moisture to escape. The deal with this type of hair is that the cuticle doesn’t fully lift to allow moisture in, so finding a product that will raise the cuticle is very important when developing a regimen. Stay away from products that are protein rich, as they tend to leave build-up and the hair will become very straw-like. Stick to humectant products that draw moisture toward the hair and always use heat when deep conditioning. We recommend using our Moisture Lock Conditioner along with a conditioning cap. Also, find moisturizers like our Moisture Cream that feature shea butter as well as other key ingredients that lock moisture into the hair. Medium/Normal porosity hair is pretty much the ideal hair type since the cuticle isn’t shut too tight to prevent moisture from entering, but it isn’t lifted enough to allow too much moisture to escape. Hair that has medium porosity is generally healthy and doesn’t need much done to it besides regular moisturizing and sealing. High porosity hair is considered damaged- the cuticle is lifted, which allows moisture in, but also allows it to escape just as easily. It is best to treat this hair with regular deep conditioning treatments and occasional protein treatments in order to repair the cuticle so that those gaps are filled and the cuticle is encouraged to close. Find products that are anti-humectants so that too much moisture isn’t absorbed into the hair. The key to maintaining a good balance of moisture with this hair type is by layering products that moisturize and seal the moisture into the hair. The LCO or LOC method works great for this hair type since the layering offers barriers that will seal the moisture into the hair and prevent moisture from being lost. Try these methods by using Moisture & Growth Bundle. To conduct a Hair Porosity Test, place a strand of clean shed hair into a bowl of water that is room temperature and let it sit for about 4 minutes. If the strand floats without sinking at all your hair is low porosity, if the hair sinks slightly but still manages to float somewhat near the top then your hair is medium porosity, and if the hair sinks to the bottom then your hair is high porosity. What's your hair porosity type? Comment below!
