Low porosity hair is a common hair type and most people often think it is a difficult hair type to manage. But in my opinion, whether you have low, normal or high porosity hair, all hair types have its own advantages and disadvantages and neither low nor high porosity hair is “better” than the other.
So, this article will talk about low porosity hair, its characteristics, how to know if your hair’s porosity and much more.
What is hair porosity?
Hair porosity refers to the hair’s ability to absorb and retain moisture. So the more porous the hair cuticle is, the more moisture it absorbs. The cuticle opens and closes to absorb or get rid of moisture.
Knowing the porosity of your hair can help you choose and determine what kind of hair treatment you require to be able to get the best results.
What is low porosity hair?
Hair with low porosity has compact cuticles. This means that lesser moisture can be absorbed into the hair and it doesn’t penetrate easily.
Characteristics of low porosity hair:
Low porosity hair will:
- Will take longer for you to get your hair wet while having a head bath, as it has a closed cuticle that doesn’t absorb water easily.
- It will make your hair take longer to dry once you’ve had a head bath.
- It will not make it easy for the penetration of the hair products you use into your hair shaft, which means you will have to use deep conditioning treatments for your hair.
- Hair treatments like hair dyeing and other hair treatments may take longer for it to work on low porosity hair types.
How to know if your hair has low porosity?
Here is a simple, yet popular test to check one’s hair porosity – the hair ‘float’ test.
Here’s how to do the hair float test:
Fill a transparent glass full with water and drop in one strand of your hair into the glass of water. Then, after a few minutes, wait for the results.
Note: It is important to make sure your hair is well shampooed and washed, before performing this test.
The results: If the hair strand floats at the top of the glass, it means your hair has low porosity.
Low Porosity Hair Care
1. Use the right products
Avoid using any products that are heavy weight because low porosity hair can find to hard to absorb them. Instead use lightweight products that can penetrate more easily into the hair strands.
You can also use water-based products instead of oil-based products so they can avoid product buildup from collecting on your hair strands and forming a layer hindering penetration.
2. Use steam or warm water on your hair
Using steam or warm water on your hair can help open up the sealed cuticles, thus allowing more moisture to enter into the hair strands.
Thereafter, use hair products when the cuticles are open for better penetration.
Therefore, whenever you are deep conditioning your hair make sure to follow this technique for the best results.