Simple Ways to Determine Hair Porosity: 9 Steps with Pictures
Table Of Content
In layman's terms, hair porosity is the hair's ability to retain and absorb moisture and affects how your hair responds to products and styles. Frizz and dryness are clear indicators of high porosity hair and can put a damper on the two-strand twist out you worked so hard to achieve. To break down high porosity hair even further, celebrity hairstylist and Cantu ambassador Angela Stevens explains everything you need to know.
Washing and drying takes longer
If your curls are experiencing excessive dryness, frizz, and snap easily, these may be a sign that you have high porosity hair, or hair that has a raised and porous cuticle. "With high porosity [hair], you can take in water, but you can't retain the water," explains Chambers-Harris. Medium porosity hair is the often sweet spot when it comes to hair porosity.
I Tried The Hair Porosity Test & It Saved My Natural Hair - Refinery29
I Tried The Hair Porosity Test & It Saved My Natural Hair.
Posted: Fri, 24 Jun 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Best Hair Oil: Ranavat Might Majesty Fortifying Hair Serum
Thankfully, both Lush and Henna Sooq offer henna dyes that are easy to use — just follow Bird and Carryl's tips below. Pia Velasco is a New York-based beauty reporter with over 10 years in the industry. At NBC Select, we work with experts with specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest. If you have dark hair, are brunette and have red tones in your hair, or have red and brassy tones, consider using a green shampoo because it will counteract the red, says O’Connor. To perform the strand burn test, a small section of hair is taken and burned with a match or lighter.
What Is Hair Porosity?
Additionally, try to minimize heat styling, and avoid harsh chemicals and hairstyles. Let’s also consider adding a weekly hair mask to our haircare routine. Adding moisture to high porosity hair can be challenging and requires extra care to keep it hydrated. According to Redway, hair porosity can be determined by genetics or various factors that have damaged your hair strands, such as excessive heat or chemical treatments like perms or relaxers.
You'll also want to be super particular about your shampoo and conditioner choice. Make sure the formulas steer clear of sulfates, parabens, silicones, and sodium laureth sulfates. Instead, look for shampoos and conditioners with hydrating oils and butters and potentially also protein treatments like keratin that will help to strengthen each strand. Before blow-drying or heat styling, Ohtsu suggests always using a heat protectant to protect from heat damage. The cuticles are spaced the furthest apart and are even more raised than normal porosity hair.
10 Best clarifying shampoos for low porosity hair - Sportskeeda
10 Best clarifying shampoos for low porosity hair.
Posted: Thu, 08 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
If you don’t have a dedicated hair steam — you’re not alone — simply cover your head with a shower cap and then place a very hot hand towel (ringed of water but slightly damp) and place it on the cap. Then, add another cap on top of the towel and you’ve got you’re own at-home hair steamer. This hair hack turns your conditioner into a hair treatment with the help of a little steam. The results are more nourished hair with defined curls and waves, or sleek straight strands — depending on your hair type. When treating high porosity hair, it's best to adopt the LCO method—liquid or leave-in conditioner, cream, oil, which refers to the sequence the products are to be applied. "Low porosity hair has difficulty accepting moisture, the water repels off the hair and is usually very dry," Stevens continues.
With low porosity hair, it’s not easy for moisture and oils to penetrate the hair shaft. It can take longer for your hair to become saturated when you wash it. For low porosity hair, you’ll want to stay away from protein treatment conditioners. Protein formulas can increase the risk of hair breakage since they tend to pull moisture out of the hair. If you have low porosity hair, you may find that hair products tend to sit on your hair instead of being absorbed. If you have low porosity hair, it means the structure of your hair doesn’t easily allow moisture to be absorbed into your hair shaft.
However, there are certain products you can use, and strategies to try that may improve the health of your hair, and make it easier to manage and care for. If the cuticles are too close together, it can prevent moisture from being soaked up. Though hair porosity is largely determined by genes, it's unknown exactly how that works, according to Trefor Evans, Ph.D., Institute Fellow at TRI Princeton. "How your hair grows is down to your body's physiology and there are so many things that control the body's physiology." Function of Beauty’s haircare range is free of sulfates, parabens, and other potentially harmful ingredients to put your best locks forward.
If you have high or low hair porosity due to genetics, you may not be able to change it. However, according to hair care experts, there are things you can do to make your hair healthier, more manageable, and easier to style. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition that is characterized by “round patches of hair loss on the scalp,” although it can occur elsewhere on the body, Agbai says. While the exact reason for this type of hair loss is unknown, it is generally understood that “the immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles, leading to hair loss,” she adds. Baldness is often hereditary, and is activated by a shift in your hormones. You can also find hair growth serums that contain active ingredients that have been FDA-approved to promote hair growth, like minoxidil.
If your hair floats somewhere in the middle, that means you have normal porosity hair. Blow drying, bleaching, straightening, overwashing, and using harsh products can all damage your hair over time. This can cause your hair cuticles to become raised and open, which may make it harder for your hair to retain moisture. We are a gourmet haircare brand that specializes in curls, from wavy, to coily hair. We created our range of curl-loving products in partnership with trichologists, curly hair stylists and curly influencers to bring you the best performing curly hair products on the market.
A pre-shampoo treatment like Moisture Hero™ Pre-Shampoo Balm will help create a barrier between the shampoo and your hair, shielding your low porosity strands against the stripping effects of shampoo. Product buildup is also a common issue with low porosity hair types, so a scalp detox is essential. The Scalp Delight™ Bundle gently cleanses, exfoliates, and nourishes your scalp, removing excess sebum and product buildup to leave your hair looking and feeling instantly refreshed. High porosity hair absorbs moisture quickly but can also lose it rapidly. The goal is to balance your hair’s porosity with appropriate hair care routines.
“Hair in its healthiest natural state has a pH somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5—altering the natural pH of the hair causes high porosity,” explains Cucinello. Because the cuticle is left open in high-porosity hair, it can cause the hair to lose moisture, leading to fragile, frizzy, dry, and damaged hair prone to breakage. “High porosity hair is often wavy or curly, and tangles easily,” explains Brandi Voorhees, a stylist at Sharon Dorram Color at Sally Hershberger Salon. Start with the lightweight L’Oréal Paris Sulfate Free Simply Clean Curl Cocoon Creme to help open the hair cuticle and add moisture without weighing down strands.
This is because that's the area that requires more care and attention. Ideally, you should be looking to achieve and maintain the perfect protein moisture balance every wash day. The other way to test is to simply run your fingers down a hair strand to feel its texture and hair porosity. If the hair feels smooth then it is low porosity, if it is rough or bumpy then it is high porosity. There doesn’t appear to be scientific evidence that supports that cold water can help close the hair cuticles. Certain chemical treatments, like hair bleaching and creamy crack (i.e., hair relaxers), are causes of porosity.
Comments
Post a Comment