How to Check Hair Porosity: Whats your hair porosity?

When it comes to natural hair care, you’ve probably heard of the term ‘hair porosity’ but may not know what this means for your hair. Everyone’s hair is different: that means variances in thickness, texture, curl pattern and porosity. Knowing your hair texture and type will help you not only find the right products, but will help answer any hair woes. 

What is hair porosity?

Simply put, porosity simply refers to your hair’s ability to absorb and retain moisture which is affected by the gaps in the hair cuticle. Natural hair with low porosity has tightly bound cuticles that repel moisture so it may be harder to completely saturate your hair. On the other hand, hair with high porosity has more gaps and holes so while it may absorb moisture quickly it can lose it just as fast. Although hair porosity is mostly genetic other factors do come in to play such as chemical and heat damage.

How to check hair porosity

You may start to get an idea of your hair porosity by how it behaves but there are some tests that you can do.

Wet hair test

The first test you can do right after washing your hair. Wash with your usual shampoo but do not use conditioner or dry your hair. Take note of how your hair reacts - natural hair with low porosity will experience pooling as the water sits on the hair’s surface in beads whereas hair with high porosity will take in all the moisture but it may become frizzy and dry up quickly.

Float test

The second test follows a similar process. Again, wash your hair as usual and place a strand of your hair in a clear glass of water. Depending on the porosity of your hair, the strand will float to different levels. Low porosity hair will stay at the top for a while before slowly sinking, medium porosity hair will stay in the middle and high porosity hair will sink to the bottom. This test will help you find the best natural hair products once you have a better idea of its condition.

What products work best for each level of porosity?

Low Porosity

It all starts with the shampoo. Many times those with low porosity hair have an over abundance of protein in the hair preventing moisture and humectants to penetrate the hair strand. This results in brittle, dry hair. A deep cleansing shampoo like HIT THE ROAD Free & Clean Wash is exactly what you need. Note to avoid cleansers with harsh chemicals like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) that will blow open the cuticle, causing more damage than before. Post shampoo you'll want to follow with a humectant rich conditioner and leave in that are able to penetrate the hair shaft. RETREAT Conditioner and R&R Strengthening Mist are perfect for this porosity. 

 

Medium Porosity

The goal is to maintain and protect your low maintenance yet resilient cuticle. This means to avoid damage when heat styling by using a heat protector such as HOT TO TROT Heat Protection Mist, and a wonderful conditioner such as OASIS Moisture Conditioner that will keep the moisture coming while not being too heavy. 

High Porosity

To aid in the nourishment, healing, and moisturizing of high porosity hair, you'll want to focus on not only the product but changing habits. Like Low porosity hair, avoiding harsh chemical detergents in shampoos is a must. We recommend for highly porous hair a co-wash like our upcoming COPILOT Co-wash as a No Poo method of cleansing. This will retain moisture and help to seal and repair the cuticle. Follow shampooing with using a micro fiber towel to remove excess water while avoiding any rough rubbing of the hair. Next, always use a leave-in. Depending on your hair texture NO TURBULENCE Detangler or BLOWN AWAY Blow Dry Cream are great options. You will then seal in all of this healthy moisture you've added with an oil; ALL INCLUSIVE Luxury Oil, CONCIERGE Serum, & UPGRADED Infused Oil, depending on your texture. Recommended to also use R&R Strengthening Mist a few times a week to keep adding moisture that gets lost quickly.