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parkmikii
September 13th, 2015, 09:10 AM
Lately my hair seems to have gotten very very low porosity and a lot of slip. I don't know if very low porosity is a bad thing or not but the extra slip got a bit too much for me as I had to redo my nautilus bun about 6 times today because it kept falling and I'm afraid that this might give me some damage.
My routine is as it follows:
-using henna about once a month (I have been using it for a year and a half now with no ill effects but recently I passed to root only aplication as the colour got a bit too red and I prefer it to be in the copper range)
-I use a sulfate shampoo and a cone conditioner
Here are conditioner's ingredients
http://s21.postimg.org/8vtja1rjb/15_09_13_18_02_31_259_deco.jpg

And I recently found this conditioner that appears to be cone free:
http://s24.postimg.org/hbzbk22ed/15_09_13_18_07_15_130_deco.jpg

How could I raise the porosity a little bit and make it a bit less slippery. I also noticed a bit more breakage since it became like this. Or, if there's no way to do this are there any better buns? I don't really fancy it being loose. Right now my hair is at hip length and the ponytail circumference is 8.5 cm

Edit: before starting actual hair care my hair was pretty much very porous and rather dry even though I was using the same shampoo but with another coney conditioner.

Ephemia
September 13th, 2015, 09:31 AM
Low porosity means that there aren't very many chips and cracks in your cuticles through which you can lose moisture, so it's a good thing. It can be quite frustrating, though, when your hair's in such good condition that it won't hold styles. The only real way to increase its porosity is to do damaging things to it. Are you holding your nautilus up with a stick or anything? With a stick, my nautilus holds with no problems, but without one I would have to redo it at least every few hours, sometimes more. You could try learning the lazy wrap bun, that's a staple of many people here and that holds very well on me.

Switching to that cone-free conditioner might reduce your slip, but you should prepare to see some splits pop up without cones to mask them.

parkmikii
September 13th, 2015, 09:37 AM
Low porosity means that there aren't very many chips and cracks in your cuticles through which you can lose moisture, so it's a good thing. It can be quite frustrating, though, when your hair's in such good condition that it won't hold styles. The only real way to increase its porosity is to do damaging things to it. Are you holding your nautilus up with a stick or anything? With a stick, my nautilus holds with no problems, but without one I would have to redo it at least every few hours, sometimes more. You could try learning the lazy wrap bun, that's a staple of many people here and that holds very well on me.

Switching to that cone-free conditioner might reduce your slip, but you should prepare to see some splits pop up without cones to mask them.

I am using an acrylic stick for the nautilus and I usually don't get too many split ends as I never heat style my hair and I have pretty much always kept it up. Thank you for the reply :)

missblueeyes
September 13th, 2015, 10:24 AM
You could try braided updos like a braided LWB or a Dutch pinless. They usually work for me when my hair is very slippery. :)

dogzdinner
September 13th, 2015, 11:28 AM
I usually resort to a second stick in my nautilus buns if my hair is extra slippy or I really dont want it to fall down.

parkmikii
September 13th, 2015, 11:39 AM
You could try braided updos like a braided LWB or a Dutch pinless. They usually work for me when my hair is very slippery. :)

Thank you for the idea, I didn't really think about making them braided, I will try that tomorrow :)


I usually resort to a second stick in my nautilus buns if my hair is extra slippy or I really dont want it to fall down.

Thing is that I don't really know how to insert the 2nd hairstick without it looking a bit weird so it doesn't really make it secure due to my lack of knowledge, but thank you :flowers:

meteor
September 13th, 2015, 11:56 AM
To get more grip, I'd recommend:
- hair powders or dry shampoos;
- more hydrolyzed proteins and things like panthenol (B5), cassia and other herbs, and other "volumizing" ingredients...
- "volumizing" shampoos and conditioners;
- avoiding cones;
- maybe gels for extra grip (flaxseed gel, aloe vera, okra... if you want more natural options).

Here is a good article on moisturizing and conditioning low porosity hair: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/07/moisturizing-low-porosity-hair.html. Generally speaking, it tends to do well with film-forming humectants: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/07/film-forming-humectants-what-they-are.html.

For styling, anything that involves braiding, especially at the base, along the scalp (French/Dutch/lace...) or accent braids will add more grip, because of the added "knobs" for the pins to grab onto.
Check out Youtube for things like the Ellingwoman braided bun, Regency braided updo, interlaced dutch braids, crown braids, French braided tuck, the Masara/Antenna bun... they are all pretty grippy. :)

lapushka
September 13th, 2015, 12:25 PM
That's odd, because using henna gave me high porosity hair, to the point where chemical dye applied over it just got slurped and soaked up into it (to the point where my light brown dye turned pitch black + chemical cut/burn).

I think texturizing sprays may help out. There's a really expensive one by Oribe on the market, but *oh* so many dupes for that. I think Garnier (Fructis) makes a decent texturizing spray.

Arctic
September 13th, 2015, 12:33 PM
I'm under the impression hair's natural porosity can't just suddenly change into low-porosity, how others feel about it? I think one's hairtype can sometimes change, but it would start growing from the roots, and the already grown, normal or high porosity hair can't just change into low-porosity type, because it's about hair's structure and not something that can be manipulated like that.

The other way around is possible, with damage for example, low porosity hair can become more porous (all the length, but it would still grow low porosity from the roots).

So this leads me to think that you have always had low porosity hair, but recently gotten rid of some kind of build-up or something, or that you have always had, say, normal porosity hair but recently have used or done something to make it more slippery. I think normal porosity hair too can be slippery.

lapushka
September 13th, 2015, 12:54 PM
I'm under the impression hair's natural porosity can't just suddenly change into low-porosity, how others feel about it? I think one's hairtype can sometimes change, but it would start growing from the roots, and the already grown, normal or high porosity hair can't just change into low-porosity type, because it's about hair's structure and not something that can be manipulated like that.

The other way around is possible, with damage for example, low porosity hair can become more porous (all the length, but it would still grow low porosity from the roots).

So this leads me to think that you have always had low porosity hair, but recently gotten rid of some kind of build-up or something, or that you have always had, say, normal porosity hair but recently have used or done something to make it more slippery. I think normal porosity hair too can be slippery.

Makes a lot of sense to me!

meteor
September 13th, 2015, 01:13 PM
I'm under the impression hair's natural porosity can't just suddenly change into low-porosity, how others feel about it? I think one's hairtype can sometimes change, but it would start growing from the roots, and the already grown, normal or high porosity hair can't just change into low-porosity type, because it's about hair's structure and not something that can be manipulated like that.

The other way around is possible, with damage for example, low porosity hair can become more porous (all the length, but it would still grow low porosity from the roots).

So this leads me to think that you have always had low porosity hair, but recently gotten rid of some kind of build-up or something, or that you have always had, say, normal porosity hair but recently have used or done something to make it more slippery. I think normal porosity hair too can be slippery.

I agree. :agree:
I sometimes get that ridiculous slip, probably from cones, even though the hair doesn't feel coated, and no updos or even braids seem to hold at that point, but avoiding all cones for a while and adding back proteins seems to help get that grip back.
If the hair is naturally very low porosity, you might need to help it a bit with things like hair powders, dry shampoos, texturizing products, gels, adding heat-free curls/waves overnight, accent braids for grip, etc...

Beborani
September 13th, 2015, 04:37 PM
Henna and indigo does that to me to the point water forms droplets ( beads up) and bounces off my hair when applied in small amounts.

Beborani
September 13th, 2015, 05:45 PM
You wrote that you see increase in breakage. It seems to me you are doing the right thing by only hennaing the roots. Overhennaing the length can lead to this effect seeing as how henna wants to bind to the protein in your hair changing its properties (I suspect for each hairtype the breaking point is different).

parkmikii
September 14th, 2015, 11:46 AM
It might indeed be the henna coat plus the silicone I use that are guilty for the porosity change. I will try using the cone free conditioner for a while and alternate them to see what it will happen and I'll do a gelatin treatment as well and follow up with a deep conditioner.
Thank you, meteor for the hairstyle ideas, I will try those until my next wash and at the times it gets extra slippery :)

Thank you everyone for the advice! :flowers:

AutobotsAttack
September 14th, 2015, 01:23 PM
low porosity isnt bad at all actually. It just means that it is more resistent to deep conditions and tends to need indirect heat like hooded dryers or steam to really get the deep condition to penetrate (warm water tends to do the trick though). However i am going to have to slightly disagree with Arctic because hair can change porosity at any time and any stage. Simply because the hair is already dead and their is not one permanent state (aside from chemically altering the physical attributes of hair, and the natural curl pattern and scalp functions) that dictate how the cuticles of the hair shaft act. One can actually go from low to high porosity over the course of a few hours, or can go from normal to high or from high to low in a complete day. Porosity is also closely related to the Ph of whatever it is that goes in your hair. If you want your hair to lay flat and feel sleeker things with a low Ph (such as vinegar, or lemon juice) will help with that. Usually people with high porosity tend to use things that make the ph of the hair go up. (chemicals, dyes, relaxers, certain clay masks, baking soda, heat, etc.). So it really all the depends on the Ph range of your hair in whatever state it may be, and the Ph of the products you tend to use on a daily basis. Sorry if i sounded like i made no sense at all. lol

hanne jensen
September 15th, 2015, 11:06 AM
I've always had low porosity hair. Nothing takes to it. Henna is just a fling for me. Everything I apply stays on my hair instead of penetrating my hair. I've learned to live with it.