WHAT IS POROSITY?
Porosity is defined as how well your hair absorbs water or moisture. Your hair needs water like we need oxygen to survive. Water is the main ingredient you will look for when you are looking for hair products.
When it comes to determining your hair’s porosity, you can do a strand test at home. The test will tell you if you have low, medium, or high porosity.
POROSITY TYPES
The main difference between the porosity types is how much the cuticle is open or in some cases closed. There are three main porosity levels. They are low, medium/normal, high porosity.
- Low Porosity. Having low porosity means that your cuticle layer is closed or tightly compacted. This makes it hard for water or moisture to penetrate the hair strands. It is recommended to use lightweight hair products when dealing with this porosity type.
- Medium/ Normal Porosity. When it comes to medium or normal porosity, your cuticle is slightly opened. This is where you want to be when it comes to porosity levels. This means that your hair is capable of gathering the moisture needed for your hair and keeping it there.
- High Porosity. On the other hand high porosity means that the cuticle layer is completely open. So, while your hair is absorbing the water or moisture, it is losing it just as fast.
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TESTING YOUR HAIR’S POROSITY TYPE
If you have no clue what your hair’s porosity type is, you can do a simple at home test. There are three different home test you can perform to get the results. But the most common test is “The Float Test”.
- Float Test. You want to start this process off with clean hair. It will give you a better result because there is no product on your hair. You want to use room temperature water in a glass cup. It gives you a better visual of the hair strand(s). Take a few strands of hair and place them into the glass cup of water. Now you just need to wait and see how the hair reacts to the water.
High Porosity. Sinks to the bottom as soon as hair strands are placed into water.
Medium/ Normal Porosity. The hair will float for a few seconds, then it will slowly sink to the bottom of the glass.
Low Porosity. The hair strands will just float on top of the water.
2. Spray Bottle Test. Same as before you want to perform this test on clean hair. You are first going to get a water bottle and fill it with warm water. Take the hair strands and place them on a clean surface before spraying them with water.
High Porosity. The water will instantly absorb into the hair strands.
Low Porosity. The water will bead up on top of the hair strands because the hair is rejecting the moisture or water.
3.The Finger Slide Test. With this test you are going to just run your fingers up and down the shaft of the hair strand. How that strand feels will tell you what you need to know about your hair’s porosity type.
High Porosity. Your fingers will smoothly glide down the entire shaft of the hair no matter if you are moving up or down the hair shaft.
Medium/ Normal Porosity. It will feel like the hair is resisting your finger to slide down the shaft, but it will still glide down easily.
Low Porosity. When sliding your finger down the hair shaft it will feel overly bumpy.
In conclusion, when it comes to your hair’s porosity type it can be changed through hard-work and dedication. Medium/ Normal porosity is the goal we want to make it to. It allows the hair to obtain the moisture it needs to be healthy. You just have to stay consistent with your routine.
Understanding your hair’s porosity type is the first step to understanding your hair. It is the second step to creating that healthy hair care routine, because it gives you an end goal. Once you know where you are going, figuring out how to get there is going to be a little easier. It makes it easier to pick out products because you know what your hair needs.
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