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| Photo by JD Mason on Unsplash |
Finding your porosity is equivalent to finding your inner peace. You literally find peace, everything in life just makes sense. Well, not everything, but just what your hair really needs. I'm going to help make your life just a bit easier. I won't write your essay for you but I will be teaching you about porosity.
WHAT IS POROSITY?
As naturals, there comes a point in our lives where our hair just won't absorb or retain any moisture. No matter what products we use, our hair just won't do the things. This all depends on your porosity, you probably like "pororo-what".
✩ DEFINITION: Porosity is the extent to which your hair absorbs and retains moisture. There are three types of porosities; low, medium and high porosity.
Knowing your porosity will help in perfecting your regimen to suit the needs of your hair.
Knowing your porosity will help in perfecting your regimen to suit the needs of your hair.
Low porosity hair has difficulty absorbing and retaining moisture into the hair shafts as a result of the hair cuticles being closed
- The product tends to sit on the hair rather than absorb into the hair shaft which means the hair is prone to product build-up
- The hair tends to take longer to get wet
- When the hair is wet, it takes longer to dry
[Recommendations:]
→ Make use of humectants (helps attract moisture) e.g. glycerine
→ Get lighter, water-based, liquid products that won't sit on your hair and cause product build-up e.g. hair milk
→ As a sealant, use light oils such as jojoba oil
→ Wash and rinse hair with warm water to increase the absorbing ability
→ Add heat when deep conditioning by either heating the DC or using a heat cap or a warm towel
→ Add heat when deep conditioning by either heating the DC or using a heat cap or a warm towel
Medium/Normal Porosity hair cuticles are loose and therefore absorbs and retains moisture as normal. This is the BEST porosity to have (Goals for days).
- Looks and feels well moisturized
- The hair is bouncy and has elasticity
- Has a beautiful shine to it
[Recommendations:]
→ Deep condition as normal
→ Do protein treatments once in a while but avoid frequent use of protein treatment as this will only damage the hair
The high porosity hair's cuticles are raised and therefore tend to absorb moisture quickly.
- Absorbs and loses moisture easily
- Tends to be dry and dull
- Tangles more easily than other porosities
→ Use anti-humectants when exposed to high heat and humid weather eg. shea butter and coconut oil
→ Make use of heavy butter such as shea butter and curl creams
→ Do Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) rinse to close the cuticles (instructions below) and lock in moisture
FINDING YOUR POROSITY
Testing your hair porosity is as easy as A, B, C. Don't complicate things by not following the steps or slightly altering it. In the long run, you'll be wasting your energy on methods that are not for your hair.
- Pour clean and fresh water into a glass
- Extract a strand or two of product-free and freshly washed hair
- Put into the glass
- Observe for 1-5 minutes
- According to the position of your hair, determine your porosity (using picture below)
- Now that you know your porosity, do some extensive research to know more about what you dealing with
Leave a comment below on your thoughts and feelings about this post.
For any queries or questions, you can email me and I'll get right back to you.
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- The Bee Ivy
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