What is Hair Porosity?
You’ve probably heard this term more than once and wondered what it is. Well, wonder no more!
Hair Porosity is your hair’s ability to absorb & lock in moisture. It also determines how easily oils can pass in and out of your hair. Knowing your hair porosity is helpful in:
- Knowing your hair type
- Choosing the right products for your hair
- Choosing the right hair routine to grow healthy, soft, hydrated hair
- Maintaining your hair moisture at optimal levels
The Hair Porosity test AKA “The Float Test”
Follow these steps to find out your hair porosity:
- Take a hair strand from your comb or brush
- Drop it into a glass of water
- Let it sit for 3-5 minutes
If the hair strand remains on the surface of the water or close to it: Low Porosity Hair
If the hair strand floats to the middle of the glass: Normal/Medium Porosity Hair
If the hair strand sinks to the bottom: High Porosity Hair
Low Porosity Hair
The Hair strand has tight cuticles – It hardly absorbs moisture or lets the oils penetrate the hair shaft. However, once it absorbs the moisture/oils, it retains the moisture. Here’s what you can do to help moisture penetrate the hair shaft easily:
- Avoid heavy products that can weigh down the hair. We recommend Argan Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Jojoba Oil.
- Apply hair moisturizers on damp hair not dry hair.
- Heat will help open your cuticles to let moisture in. Do this by applying a warm towel on your hair when applying the mask/oil treatment
Try the Light Miracle Hair Oil is perfect for all you Low Porosity Hair Gal’s. Here’s how to use it
Normal/Medium Porosity Hair
Each hair strand easily let’s moisture in. This means that the hair cuticles are not as tightly bound so water/oil can easily get absorbed into the hair strand.
- Use a regular Hair Mask weekly to maintain healthy & moisturized hair
- We recommend our Argan Shea Hair Mask or our Aloe Vera Hair Mask– perfect for medium porosity hair. Read our blog on how to use our Hair Masks
High Porosity Hair
Loses moisture easily, meaning it’s prone to drying out waaaay too quickly!
- Use minimal heat so air dry your hair
- Rinse with cold water to help seal the cuticle
- Use hair masks/oils specified to improve high porosity hair. (i.e. Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Jojoba Oil).
- We recommend our Coco-Shea Hair Mask or our Everlong Hair Oil – click here to find out how to use our hair products