There has been lots of talk in the natural hair world about Porosity, Low Porosity, High porosity? So what exactly, is the fuss ALL ABOUT?
Let’s investigate:
What does it mean?
Porosity in a nutshell (minus all the science-y bits) relates to your hairs ability to stay moisturised! (*processed or damaged hair tends to be low porosity)
The great thing about it is, once you establish how porous your hair is, you can create a regime to suit it!
Porosity test:
To establish your hairs level of porosity you will need to do this quick simple test:
- Take a strand of clean hair
- Fill a glass with water
- Place the strand into the glass wait 2 minutes and see where it floats to!
Reading the results:
- If your strand sinks straight to the bottom of the glass, you have high porosity hair.
- If it stays midway in the glass, you are normal porosity.
- If it stays at the top this indicates low porosity!
What do my results mean?
Low porosity - means your hair will have a tendency to be dry, no matter what you apply to it (as the cuticles are tightly closed on the strand)
Normal porosity - means your hair is able to stay moisturised for a good amount of time. (The cuticles are closed but allow moisture in)
High porosity - means your hair will take in moisture but lose it just as quick! (the cuticles on the strand are open)
So now you have understood all of that, here are the moisture regimes you need for your specific Porosity level.
Low Porosity- As your hair is stubborn, you need to use products that will open up the cuticles to allow moisture in. So follow the LCO method.
Use a liquid leave in like our Honey rain juice detangling spray, followed by our Triple M Milk which is a low porosity hair hero! Seal it all in with a light oil of your choice.
Normal Porosity: Use a rich moisture cream like our Quench cream to hydrate and feed strands, follow up with a butter or styling product.
High Porosity: Use a 3 step system, the LCB method works well, so you start off with a liquid leave-in, followed by a rich moisture cream again our Quench crème would work well, lastly to prevent the moisture escaping seal it in with a natural hair butter!
Please bear in mind, the above is a guide, so if something else works for you, then please do continue, however understanding the nature of your hair in its current state will help you to create a regime that really works just for you.
Take care & love your Hair,
Sal
Founder, formulator, Hairducation Expert