What is Hair Porosity?
The extent to which hair absorbs and retains water, products and treatments based on the integrity of the cuticle.
It’s mostly genetically-predetermined, but it is possible to increase or decrease your hair’s porosity based on how well you care (or don’t care) for it.
Proper hair care begins with understanding your hair porosity so you understand which products to use to best treat your hair for growth and retention.
Low porosity hair
Characteristics
Tightly closed cuticle layer:
- Hard time absorbing water
- Takes a long time to dry
- Tightly bound cuticle layer
- Products build up easily on the surface
- Appears smooth and shiny
- Maybe resistent to color
High Porosity Hair
Characteristics
Open Cuticle Layer:
- Absorbs water easily
- Absorbs products easily
- Poor moisture retention
- Gaps & holes in the cuticle layer
- lacks shine
- Hair breaks easily
- Maybe extra frizzy
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Layers of Hair Strand
In order for your hair to maintain peak hair health, moisture must be able to pass through the cuticle layer to the cortex and your hair must be able to retain the moisture.
In high porosity hair retaining moisture is difficult. In low porosity hair, getting moisture into the hair is super difficult.
Test Your Hair Porosity
In a cup of water and put one hair strand in it. In two to four minutes, check the strand — if it is floating, it indicates low porosity. If it sinks, that indicates high porosity.Somewhere in the middle? You probably have medium porosity.
