Over the years I’ve tried so many products and hairstyle, all to no avail. I’ve struggled so much with my hair that I felt like giving up. Once I learned about hair porosity and figure mine out, it completely transforms my hair for the better.

So many naturals have absolutely no clue about hair porosity and it’s importance. Today I’m gonna tell you all about hair porosity. Once you figure yours out, your caring for your hair will be so simple. 

What is Hair Porosity?

First let’s understand what hair porosity actually is. Hair porosity is your hair’s ability to get and maintain moisture. There are typically three porosity levels. High, medium and low porosity.

Being in the middle is usually ideal. You’re able to get moisture into your strands and maintain that moisture pretty well.

High porosity means that the cuticle layer of your strands are always raised. This is both good and bad. Good because this means that moisture is able to get into the hair strands quite easily but bad because the raised cuticles makes it just as easy for the moisture to leave the hair cuticle resulting in dry hair.

Low porosity is the opposite of high porosity. The hair cuticle layer is very closed which makes it difficult for moisture to enter the hair which results in dry hair.

Why Is hair porosity so important?

Knowing your hair porosity is so important. Much more than knowing your hair type. The reason for this is because once you know your hair porosity you’re better able to determine the what kind of products to use in your hair and most importantly what kind of ingredients are best for the goals you are trying to achieve.

How to figure out Your Porosity

The best way to figure out your hair porosity is to simply observe it. The first test is the spritz test. Spritz your hair with some after and observe it. Does it immediately soak up the water and dry fast? If it does its highly likely that you have high porosity hair. Does it take a few minutes for your hair to soak up the water and takes hours to dry or even an entire day? If this is you, it’s likely that you have low porosity hair.

The second test is the strand test. You’re going to take a piece of hair and slide your fingers up the strand. If you feel small bumps along the way then you have high porosity hair. If you feel smooth strands then you have low porosity hair.

How to care for my Porosity

Now that you know your hair porosity, you can begin researching the best ingredients, techniques and products that are going to work well for your hair.

High porosity has gaps in the hair. This type of hair typically has no problems with obtaining moisture, the problem lies in retaining it since the cuticle layer is constantly raised. Moisture can easily come and go.

Finding products that contains protein and doing regular deep protein treatments will help with giving you hair shine and helping the cuticles to lay flat. Use butters and oils to help seal the moisture into your hair.

Low porosity hair has really flat cuticle layer. This makes it hard for this type of hair to obtain moisture but once it does, retaining it is no problem. Low porosity hair does have a tendency to have a lot of product build up over time, so make sure to regularly use a clarifying shampoo.

Using moisturizing ingredients like glycerin will help attract more moisture to your hair. Applying heat to your hair via a hooded steam cap while deep conditioning can help to slightly raise the hair cuticle to allow moisture in.

Conclusion

As you can see learning and understanding hair porosity is incredibly important. It can completely change your hair. Hair porosity will help you figure out which techniques are best for your hair and which ingredients you should be looking for in your hair care products.

Let me know by commenting down below how understanding your hair porosity helped you in your hair journey. Until next time xoxo.