Understanding the porosity of your hair has always been considered one of the key parts that every healthy hair care routine must involve. Hair porosity refers to the ability of your hair to absorb moisture and retain it in your hair shafts. You can use it to determine the particular products and techniques that will be appropriate for your hair. This article will describe what ‘hair porosity’ means, give a brief description of hair porosities, and offer some guidelines to understand which porosity group you fit into and what it means to your daily hair care rituals.
What is Hair Porosity?
The hair’s cuticle layer or the outermost covers determine the porousness of hairs. It is made up of scales that may be tight, semi-elevated, or completely erect. The condition of these cuticlest alters the way water is absorbed by the hair or how easy it is for it to take in or lose its dye.
How to Identify Your Hair Porosity?
To identify your hair’s porosity, you can try the following hair porosity test:
1. The Float Test
- Take a clean hair snake and immerse it in a cup of water.
- Firstly, if the hair sinks fast, it is highly porous.
- If it finds its position somewhere at the centre it points to medium porosity.
- If it floats on top for a long time, then probably this means that your hair has low porosity.
2. The Slip n Slide Test
- Pick up a hair and move your fingers up the shaft of the hair towards the scalp.
- If you encounter bumps and resistance, then your hair has high porosity.
- If you feel some resistance but can slide your fingers easily, then it indicates medium porosity.
- If your fingers feel smooth hair and no bumps along the way, then your hair likely has low porosity.
3. Visual Observation
- Check out your hair in strong light.
- Such hair is usually dull, and rough-looking with split ends.
- Most of these are healthy and have a good shine with medium porosity hair but still a manageable texture.
- In such a kind of hair, one might note that it can be perceived as shiny, and smoothed; moreover, these hairs need time for being dried.
Understanding the Porosity Types
Here are the different types of hair porosity. Let’s have a look at them:
1. High Porosity Hair
The “what is high porosity hair” simply means that the hair absorbs moisture fast and may have difficulty retaining it. The hair porosity will depend on various factors and they include frequent heating, chemical treatment and rough hair products.
To adequately take care of high-porosity hair, one should concentrate mainly on sealing the cuticle with moisturising products. To maintain moisture, leave-in conditioners can be incorporated into one’s regular hair care regimen.
2. Medium Porosity Hair
Medium porosity hair, also known as medium porous or balanced porosity, is the one that holds on to an ideal amount of moisture, not too much nor too little. This means that the hair will be able to hold moisture reasonably, hence good enough. Medium porosity hair should be taken care of to protect and boost its health.
3. Low Porosity Hair
‘What is low porosity hair’ means that such hair has a tightly closed cuticle, thus making little room for moisture absorption. There are numerous reasons behind clogged skin pores, including genes, poor body oils and the build-up of cosmetics debris. To handle low porosity hair properly, light, water-based hair products are recommended. Opening the hair by using heat and removing dirt is called clarification.
Optimising Hair Care for Your Porosity
Once you’ve identified your hair’s porosity, you can tailor your hair care routine accordingly:
1. Cleansing:
⦁ High Porosity: Employ non-abrasive sulfate-free washes so as not to aggravate the dryness of the hair.
⦁ Low Porosity: Rinse frequently and clear all accumulations to make it easier for water to get to the skin.
2. Conditioning:
⦁ High Porosity: Deep conditioning treatments and leave-in conditioners are best for this purpose.
⦁ Low Porosity: Ensure usage of light conditioners without protein or one that will not weigh the hair.
3. Moisturising:
⦁ High Porosity: Use sealants like LOC (liquid oil cream) or LCO (liquid cream oil), as these prevent moisture loss.
⦁ Low Porosity: To condition the hair, use lightweight and water-based moisturisers.
4. Styling:
⦁ High Porosity: Shield the hair from too much heat, use some hair styling protectors, and try hairstyles requiring minimal handling.
⦁ Low Porosity: This suggests that one should use only lightweight styling products to not have buildup as well as employ heat when conditioning to open up the hair shaft for product absorption.
Conclusion
The porosity of your hair is very important in ensuring that you do an effective hair care routine. By identifying the features and requirements of highly porous, moderately porous and less porous hairs and selecting suitable products and approaches to maximise moisturisation levels, water maintenance and general hair conditioning, understand the characteristics and requirements of these hair categories. Ensuring that you design your hair routine according to the porosity of your hair, which enables for healthier and well-behaved hair.
