Wurly and Curly thread!!!

[redcelticcurls]

Erm, yeah, twist my arm, lol.

I'll probably talk more from my POV as a porous curly.

Many here who avoid chemical and heat drying/styling would more likely to be of normal or low porosity. Porosity deals with how the cuticles lie.

If you have low porosity, you cuticles make lie well and protect your cortex. Your hair does not dry out as quickly as those with more porous hair, but you may also have a harder time getting conditioners to "take". But, texture plays a role too. Someone with coarse non-porous hair can take more conditioner than someone with fine porous hair. Those with non porous hair have a much longer air dry time than those with porous hair.

With normal or medium poroity, you cuticles lie fairly well, with perhaps some odd bits here and there. Some with very long hair could feasibly have some minimal cuticle damage due to age and the normal wear on tear of hair care such as twisting it to put it up, combing brushing, catching and rubbing on things etc. You don't lose a ton of moisture, and you can use it fairly easily.

Highly porous hair can come from chemical and heat use. But, I have also seen curlies who don't use either of these and still have porous hair. The cuticles are more raised and don't lie flat as well. Curlies may be prone to having slightly higher porosity than straighties if all other things are equal. There may be slight cuticle lifting at the bend of the curl. That part is more my guess than any real science though.

Porous curlies can take a lot of moisture, but they can lose it too. My ends dry quite quickly because they are the most porous.

Fine haired porous curlies tend to get good results with protein. It helps fill in the gaps from the raised cuticles.

Coarser haired porous curlies have a problem though. They often can't handle a lot of protein. For them, acidic rinses can help with porosity. Those who do ACV rinses and really notice a smoothness do so because the acidity of the ACV helps seal the cuticle. Hair is slightly acidic, and neutral to slightly alkaline water (which most of us have) can also keep a porous curly porous. I love acid rinses for smoothing me out and decreasing frizz.

While many curlies get more frizz in higher humidity (or, more accurately, high dew points) a porous curly will get more frizz than a non porous curly. The environmental water gets under the raised cuticles and causes frizz. For me, I try to combat that by various means. Weekly acidic rinses, protein as tolerated. Right now I am playing with sealing my wet hair with a bit of oil on top on my leave-in. Oil are absolutely useless for me on dry hair. Worse than useless - they make me crunchy. But, a little on wet hair does help to seal in the moisture I do have and help the cuticles lie better. If I can retain moisture and seal the hair shaft, it should follow that less environmental moisture will get into the hair shaft to cause frizz.

Winter frizz is another story, lol. Cold winter frizz is more often from lack of moisture, and is more easily fixed, IMHO.

[manderly]

Porous curlies can take a lot of moisture, but they can lose it too. My ends dry quite quickly because they are the most porous.

Yes, yes!! I have to wash my hair not because my scalp gets greasy, but because my ends become stiff, dry, velcro!! That and I have a flaky scalp

[Flynn]

That's really interesting ^___^

I read that article-thing you posted earlier, and it said to tell, you run your fingers "back" up your hair shaft.... Mine does feel ruffly, but it's hard to tell. It's also very fine. (I managed to find one medium... I have a few in there, but not many.... and it felt like it was... I don't know. Like a very fine PMMA optical fibre. Very smooth.) I have BIG tangle problems, and at the moment I have a fair bit of fluff and frizz. I assumed that that just came from the fineness and the waves/wurls (more crossings of hairs --> more tanlges); could it also be due to porosity?

*Wants better curlies*

[GlassEyes]

o-o;;

I sort of wish my hair looked like your winter hair, RCC. xD; Granted, the July hair is bouncier, but still.

I didn't really pay enough attention to see whether my hair acted differently during the winter. o-o;; Well, actually, it did, since it freaked out a few times and I had to keep trying to find products that worked...hm.

Also, Darkwaves, I thought 2c was classed as tight-ish waves with spirals coming towards the end, which is what I think when I see Manderly's hair. But who knows, give the right stuff it's probably 3a, but it doesn't really matter. I'm really a 3b/3c and I'm typed as a 3b. xD; Though my hair has gotten looser with length and henna.

[JKRBeloved]

Interestingly enough over at NC, there is a movement of getting away from using hair typing as a primary way to find a hair care routine and using texture, porosity, and to a lesser extent, elasticity.

This is a lot of information to digest, but very interesting.

[Flynn]

Whee! Bought a cone-free condish, now I need to learn about "clarifying". Can I just throw shampoo at my length and hope for the best?

[manderly]

Whee! Bought a cone-free condish, now I need to learn about "clarifying". Can I just throw shampoo at my length and hope for the best?

Pretty much. Most SLS can clarify pretty well, if you aren't sure, you can add a bit of baking soda to the lather

[Cherry_Sprinkle]

Yes, yes!! I have to wash my hair not because my scalp gets greasy, but because my ends become stiff, dry, velcro!! That and I have a flaky scalp

This is why I wash too

[GlassEyes]

As long as it doesn't have cones too, Flynn, it'll be fine as long as it doesn't have sLS.

[Flynn]

Pretty much. Most SLS can clarify pretty well, if you aren't sure, you can add a bit of baking soda to the lather

Thanks! Good plan. XD

As long as it doesn't have cones too, Flynn, it'll be fine as long as it doesn't have sLS.

Uhm, did you actually mean to say "doesn't have SLS" or "does have SLS"?