Caring for high porosity hair can be a challenge, but in this post I’ll share some tips that have helped me.
The Basics
Porosity refers to the hairs ability to absorb (and retain) moisture and even chemical treatments. By nature, our hair (curly, kinky, coily) is less porous than naturally straight (Asian, Caucasian) hair unless it has been chemically processed.There are three levels of porosity:
- Low Porosity – the cuticles are tightly closed and close together and it is difficult to get moisture/chemicals in. However, once moisture is in, it’s IN. Low porosity hair tends to have a hard time “getting wet” in the shower. However, once it’s wet, it takes a long time to dry.
- Normal Porosity – the cuticles are evenly spaced and allow moisture to pass in easily but prevents too much from entering.
- High Porosity – the cuticles are lifted and open. It allows lots of moisture in, but also loses it quickly. High porosity hair gets wets quickly but also dries quickly.
- Overuse of Heat tools
- Texturizers, relaxers, other chemical treatments (color, dyes etc)
- Over exposure to sun/ UV rays, strong winds
- Continuous exposure to hard water. The mineral and metal deposits in hard water cause it to have a higher pH than regular water, thereby causing the cuticles to swell and lift.
- Continuous use of strong sulphate shampoo
- Basically anything that cause cracks, spaces in the protein structure of the hair will trigger highly porous hair.
Testing your hair’s Porosity
- The Water Test
- You’ll need a glass container at least 6 inches tall and a few inches wide. Fill the container almost to the top with tap water and let it sit undisturbed until it reaches room temperature. While you’re waiting, pluck a clean hair from your head. Then, very gently lay the hair on top of the water. Look at the glass container from the side and watch the hair to see how it sinks. If your hair is in virgin condition it will float for a long time. If it’s very porous it will start to sink right away. The higher the porosity, the faster it will sink. This test gives you a very rough approximation of how damaged your hair is. Source
- The Finger Test
- Gently hold a few strands of hair with one hand. With the other, run your fingers up the length of your hair, from tip to root. If your hair feels rough with lots of little ridges or bumps (excluding the bumps that are naturally created by the bends in the shaft where the hair curls) then your cuticles are not lying flatly and your hair is porous. Source
My Experience
In November 2009, three months post BC, I got a texturizer because I was having a hard time dealing with my hair. It was at that awkward stage and I just couldn’t “get it together”, so I caved. 🙁 At that time I was back home (Grenada) and spent an exorbitant amount of time in the sun. As soon as I got the texturizer, I regretted it and I allowed it to grow out. As I mentioned in this post, although I’d decided to start taking proper care of my hair, I was avoiding everything with protein like a plague.
I believe that a combination of all these factors contributed to the issue. My hair was always dry, I had to moisturize constantly and it dried quickly.I’d step out of the shower, put my clothes on and by the time I’d go to style my hair it’d be dry. I knew this could not be normal so I did some research and finally figured out that my strands were highly porous.
Techniques/Products that helped me:
- Products that were pH balanced. The ideal pH of the hair is 4.5 -5.5 and products within that range helped my cuticles to lay down and retain the moisture I’d put in. Aloe Vera juice/gel (Coconut Water is great option also) is a great ingredient that helped me regulate the pH of products that were not within the ideal range.
- Protein treatments/Henna Glosses/Cassia Obovata treatments – these did a great job of filling in the spaces/patching up the spaces in my cuticles that caused it to be raised. My entire Ayurvedic hair regimen was very helpful in getting my hair back into shape. NOTE: Henna & Cassia are not protein, however they do mimic the action of a protein treatment.
- Apple Cider Vinegar rinses – ACV does an awesome job of smoothing and closing the cuticles to prevent moisture from escaping. I used about 1 Tblsp for 8oz of distilled water as a final rinse after deep conditioning.
- Avoiding heat – Adding heat to hair that is highly porous can makes matters worse since the cuticles are already compromised. Now that I have a handle on my hair and my porosity is now closer to normal, I did do my first blowout. ☺
- Dry/Oil detangling – After pre-pooing with Coconut Oil (most of the time), I’d detangle my hair before washing. This helped a lot in reducing breakage since my strands would become so swollen when wet that they snapped when I’d try to detangle.
- Frequent Deep conditioning treatments – This helped to maintain the moisture level in my hair as well as maintain the protein-moisture balance in my hair.
- Patience and TLC – there is no quick fix. I had to love on my hair and nurse it back to health. I’m happy to report that now it is doing much better.
In my opinion, knowing and understanding your hair’s porosity is very important. As you can see, porosity will affect how you deal with your hair, what types of products/tools/techniques you use and the overall health of your hair.
YOUR TURN: Have you had porosity issues? I’d love to hear your experience.
Thanks for sharing tips for dealing with high porosity hairs. I am looking for a long time.
I just removed my kinky twists and remembered your Facebook note on porosity. Thanks to your post, I now know that my strands have low porosity.
Author
That’s so good to know. Thanks Cherese 🙂
Hey Cherese, I’m so happy the post helped. I don’t know how I missed your comment. My apologies :-*
After ages of thinking my natural hair was low porosity (I’ll admit I had the meaning of it all wrong too lol), it took a natural hair meetup and talking to a vendor for me to revisit my issues with dryness. I’d always been sealing with regular oils (olive, coconut) but my hair had THE worst time keeping in moisture, especially for the first 3 days after wash-day. The girl at the meetup told me I maybe wasnt sealing with something heavy enough, so my hair would absorb moisture fast, but it would escape just as quickly if not faster. I realised she had a point because after coming out the shower, in less than 2 minutes my hair would be dry as if water never touched it. After much research into HPH, I tried out an acv rinse and my hair felt totally different than it usually did after washday. I also sealed with a thick pomade vs oils…THAT also made alot of difference. I know better now! ^_^ And my hair is thanking me for it.
Great post, I just went thru this with my hair. My hair was feeling very dry and brittle, I read a similar article, that lead me to do more research. I thought I had high porosity but my hair did not sink.. I will do again because I am not sure if i had conditioner on that strand. anywho, I bought some aloe vera juice and proceeded to pour in detangler and leave-in and straight aloe juice,,, To my surprise my hair softened up especially when I sealed with coconut oil then braided my hair,,,, Very soft hair I love aloe juice, its full of vitamins and amino acids it helps hair to grow strong.
Hi Julia, thanks. Yes , I did. I ‘d suggest apply a water based moisturizer first and then the oil. It’ll make a world of difference. I apologize for my tardy response 🙂
Great article!!!! Dealing with high porous hair myself! Question – did you have to apply moisture lock products daily? Im trying avoid washing my hair too often but in between washes my ends get drier and drier! Applying a bit of oil daily, doesnt seem to help! Thanks! xx
Hi Cierre, I used a lot of Ayurvedic treatments as protein/strengthening treatments. I DC’ed every week with a moisturizing Deep conditioner, if I recall correctly it was the Aubrey Organics, but any good DC would work.
I did Henna or Cassia glosses every 4-6 weeks, and I always followed with a moisturizing DC. I have posts on Henna and Cassia treatments.
I mostly used the Kimmaytube leave in recipe for my leave in. The Aloe vera juice in the recipe helps to close your cuticles. I uses 1 teaspoon of ACV to 8 oz of Distilled water. (You may have to play around with the measurements to see what works best for you. I hope that helps.
Thank you for the post, What deep conditioners and leave in conditioners did you use, shampoo and conditioners? How My biggest question is how often did you have to do protein treatments? How often did you deep condition? What are the correct measurements to dilute ACV. I know its a lot of questions at once but your help would be greatly appreciated considering you have nursed your hair back. I guess if you could say how often you had to do everything I’d be happy lol. Thanks again VEE!
Hi Keke, well the good news is that you figured out the problem, so you’re half way there 🙂 I used mainly Cassia treatments/Henna Glosses as my protein treatments to help fill in the gaps/spaces in my cuticles, and YES sealing is super duper important when you have highly porous hair. The LOC method is great because it layers products to help retain moisture longer. I even added a butter mix ontop of my “cream” for extra sealing.
The two step protein treatment should help a lot but makes sure to follow the directions exactly. Don’t give up, your hair will recover, you just have to get it some TLC. As I mentioned, doing ACV rinses and incorporating Aloe vera juice/gel is helpful at helping to smooth and close cuticles, as well as maintain proper pH balance..all important for highly porous hair. Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Hi Vee! I been having the same issues with my hair and could not figure out what the problem was. Recently found out that I have high porous hair. My question to you is what products did you use? Did you do the sealing after washing (loc method)? Any help is appreciated. I’m starting to get frustrated with my natural hair. I went and bought aphogee deep moisture shampoo and the two step protein treatment and some cantu shea butter leave in conditioning cream today. I’m hoping this will work.
lol….you’re so funny Shakara ! But HURRAY! One less issue to deal with ☺
15mins and my hair is still floating thank God lol I wanted to try this out then post a comment, I am still watching the glass lol