Porosity: what's up with that?

[Roseate]

I've just recently become aware that hair has different porosity levels, and that it matters. Here's a link (http://livecurlylivefree.blogspot.com/2009/01/hair-porosity.html) to an informative blog post about it.

It's not something I hear discussed on LHC all that often, so I thought I'd bring it up. Do you know your hair's porosity? Does it influence your hair care? Any tips for people of similar porosity levels to you?

Personally, I think my hair is low porosity. "resistant to chemical services", check, "does not permit moisture to enter or leave the hair shaft", check. This would explain why my ends are often dry (hard for moisture to enter) and also why it takes forever for my hair to airdry (hard for moisture to leave). I don't exactly know what I should be doing about it, if anything, but I figured I'd throw the topic out there!

[RancheroTheBee]

I'm going to go with low porosity, as well.

Thank you, that was very interesting!

[Charlotte]

My hair is super porous and takes up colours and bleach very quickly. I've also found that it takes in (and loses) moisture readily too.

[Canarygirl]

I wish I understood it better. I know they discuss it a lot on the curly hair forum. I've read that people with porous hair should not use shampoo bars too often because the higher the ph of the cleaning agent, the more the "scales" (is that the right word?) on the hair shaft will be lifted by it, exacerbating the porous-hair issues. Shampoo bars are higher-ph cleansers compared to detergent-based shampoos. Porosity issues include lack of shine, and I think fly-away hair is another. That's the little bit of information I've taken in from my reading.

I've also read that you should choose hair styling products based on the porosity of your hair. But I don't know which products are good for fine textured, porous hair like I have.

[theshadowpuppet]

When I run my fingers up a strand of hair by my forehead I can hear it squeak if I do it fast enough. It's very silky, as there's no damage on my new growth. I guess that means normal porosity..?

[Dotlover]

My hair doesn't absorb chemicals or products (besides bleach shudder:) very well. That's why I enjoy making my own conditioners. The feel is much more smooth and personal.

I think there a difference between porous and damaged hair though yes?

[Vermelha]

I used ApHogee Green Tea and Keratin Restructurizer to eliminate the porosity threat. I have very porous hair (still rather porous in some areas), but it's been minimized since eliminating shampoo.

Yeah, there is a difference between porous and damaged hair, though porous hair can be easily damaged because it dries out sooner than non-porous hair. I was born with naturally porous hair, so I have to be sure to pH balance my hair using products no higher than a pH of 5. Anything higher exaggerates my porosity and causes my hair to dry out and break. Apple Cider Rinses help a whole lot. Tea rinses do too!

But moreso, since taking out shampoo (which has a much higher pH than hair), from my regime, my porosity has greatly reduced and my curls feel softer. Protein treatments also have helped to reduce porosity as well.

[Vermelha]

I wish I understood it better. I know they discuss it a lot on the curly hair forum. I've read that people with porous hair should not use shampoo bars too often because the higher the ph of the cleaning agent, the more the "scales" (is that the right word?) on the hair shaft will be lifted by it, exacerbating the porous-hair issues. Shampoo bars are higher-ph cleansers compared to detergent-based shampoos. Porosity issues include lack of shine, and I think fly-away hair is another. That's the little bit of information I've taken in from my reading.

I've also read that you should choose hair styling products based on the porosity of your hair. But I don't know which products are good for fine textured, porous hair like I have.

I guess it depends on what the shampoo bar is made of. There are shampoo bars that contain lye, which is higher in pH. But I could see one using the Castile soap bars on the hair, since it's not composed of lye. I use a shikakai shampoo bar that actually has helped my porosity when I traded it out for regular liquid shampoo.

Also, washing my hair less frequently (meaning with shampoo, bars, etc.) and opting for water only and cowashing helped tremendously for me.

[getoffmyskittle]

I've only ever thought about it once. I did the float test. Apparently if you fill the sink with water and put a strand in it, porous hair will sink after a few seconds, whereas nonporous hair will float. My hair floated.

My hair is also somewhat difficult to moisturize; I need heavy conditioners, things like Suave and V05 don't cut it for me. Even when I did CO, I had to do it first with a light "cleansing" conditioner and then with a heavy one. I have also noticed that henna will fade from burgundy to copper, despite having several coatings of it.

But my ends can dry out if I don't wear them up and wash them 1-2x/week. No scalp washing for me!

[teela1978]

I tried the float test thing, let it sit for days and it never sank.

I think damage can definitely change porosity. My hair is very resistant to color processing, until it's been colored a few times. I often think that my non-porous hair is a big part of why it's so greasy. When I was still dying my hair (commercial box dye), CO was sufficent to remove excess sebum from my scalp. Now that my hair is all virgin, I think the sebum hasn't got anywhere to go, other than sitting top of my hairs, my theory being that when it was being dyed it could absorb into the hair shaft some. After dying it also was much easier to moisturize, but I needed to use quite a bit of oil to keep moisture in. I think I used an aloe and coconut oil mix daily and my ends would still get dry on occasion.

[Moonstruck]

Vermelha - Castile soap bars are still made with lye. The only thing that castile means is that it was mostly (or completely, depending on how traditional the soapmaker is) olive oil and lye. After all, saponification, the reaction to create soap, is the reaction of an ester and a base.

The floating/sinking test seems like a really nice simple one to me. I know mine floats - virgin hair, straight, rarely heat-treated. I do use shampoo bars but I do remember hearing that they rarely work well on processed hair.
I wonder if silicones would temporarily decrease the porosity since it "seals" the cuticle?

[teela1978]

I actually have a bit of a theory about cones and porosity. My idea is that hair with cuticles that tend to be open (porous hair) is more likely to have cones get jammed under the cuticle and end up tangly/easy to damage/not shiny while using cones... whereas hair with a cuticle that tends to be closed (non-porous hair) is more likely to have cones wrap on top of the cuticle and keep hair shiny and easy to detangle.

Not sure how far my theory flies though :)

[getoffmyskittle]

I actually have a bit of a theory about cones and porosity. My idea is that hair with cuticles that tend to be open (porous hair) is more likely to have cones get jammed under the cuticle and end up tangly/easy to damage/not shiny while using cones... whereas hair with a cuticle that tends to be closed (non-porous hair) is more likely to have cones wrap on top of the cuticle and keep hair shiny and easy to detangle.

Not sure how far my theory flies though :)

Hmm, sounds about right. Mind if I create a poll?

[teela1978]

Hmm, sounds about right. Mind if I create a poll?
Go for it. I've always wondered if I was right :)

[Buddaphlyy]

My hair is naturally porous, but I just go with it I guess. I have stopped using chemicals but I still have a hard time getting moisture to stay in my hair.


I actually have a bit of a theory about cones and porosity. My idea is that hair with cuticles that tend to be open (porous hair) is more likely to have cones get jammed under the cuticle and end up tangly/easy to damage/not shiny while using cones... whereas hair with a cuticle that tends to be closed (non-porous hair) is more likely to have cones wrap on top of the cuticle and keep hair shiny and easy to detangle.

Not sure how far my theory flies though :)

That wasn't my experience at all, it was the exact opposite. When I went cone free is when I had the tangles and breakage from dryness.

[pradabacon]

Interesting theory. That might explain why cones do wonderful things for the majority of my hair, but eventually give me sticky, tangly ends (where my hair is more porous due to age and some chemical damage). Looking forward to seeing the poll results.

From Buddaphlyy's post above, I would wonder if it makes a difference if your hair is naturally porous, or porous from damage. Perhaps cones settle evenly into naturally porous hair (working similarly to cones on non-porous hair) and build up unevenly in damaged hair (since the damaged areas are themselves very uneven and certain places would collect more buildup)...

[teela1978]

My hair is naturally porous, but I just go with it I guess. I have stopped using chemicals but I still have a hard time getting moisture to stay in my hair.



That wasn't my experience at all, it was the exact opposite. When I went cone free is when I had the tangles and breakage from dryness.

Meh. My theories never pan out :)

[Buddaphlyy]

Interesting theory. That might explain why cones do wonderful things for the majority of my hair, but eventually give me sticky, tangly ends (where my hair is more porous due to age and some chemical damage). Looking forward to seeing the poll results.

From Buddaphlyy's post above, I would wonder if it makes a difference if your hair is naturally porous, or porous from damage. Perhaps cones settle evenly into naturally porous hair and build up unevenly in damaged hair...

You may be on to something but maybe it depends on the cone? Because when I was growing put my relaxer (therefore I had naturally porous roots and porous from damage on my ends) the only product that worked for my entire head was L'Oreal Nature's Therapy Unfrizz Smoothing Treatment which is chocked full of cones.

However, if I wasn't using this I would have to use one product for my roots and a totally different one for my ends to make my hair look alright.

[pradabacon]

I wonder how good a gauge of porosity the float test is. I just tried it (I'm certain my ends are more porous than the rest of my hair) and what I expected to happen, did happen. Everything floated for a while, then I sort of poked the hair under several times along the length and everything came back to the surface quickly except the ends, which either stayed slightly submerged or floated back to the top more slowly (I did it with three different pieces of my hair).

Whether it's accurate or not, it's pretty relaxing to watch. *lol*

I'm going to leave one soaking for a while without touching it and see what happens...

[pradabacon]

You may be on to something but maybe it depends on the cone? Because when I was growing put my relaxer (therefore I had naturally porous roots and porous from damage on my ends) the only product that worked for my entire head was L'Oreal Nature's Therapy Unfrizz Smoothing Treatment which is chocked full of cones.

However, if I wasn't using this I would have to use one product for my roots and a totally different one for my ends to make my hair look alright.

Good point. There are so many types of cones with different solubilities...someone needs to do a proper scientific study! My brain hurts now! :D

[redcelticcurls]

Porosity is a big thing over at NC.com right now, and lost of curlies are using it along with texture to find and refine products and technique.

My hair is porous. Probably because I have colored it for ages, and partly because I think that some curlies are prone to being a bit more porous as the hair curls.

For my hair care, I find that I cannot handle humectants in large doses in high dew points. It causes poof and frizz. Light oil sealing on wet hair in the summer helps. I use it in between my leave-in and my styler. Otherwise I hate straight oils lol.

I also like acid rinses every week to help mellow the cuticle down somewhat. For me a lower pH thing calms my cuticle. I use ACV or Bronners Conditioning rinse.

Finer hair that is porous often does well with protein. Fine hair in general is better with protein than M or C, but fine and porous loves it. Even some coarse hair can take more protein if it's porous than if it's not porous. I can handle occasional keratin (and only keratin) in the summer, but I avoid protein most of the winter.

I do have to keep up on my conditioning. I'm prone to quick drying out, and I don't often go more than a few days without conditioner.

For me, acid rinses and adequate conditioning help keep my porosity under control. Nothing can permanently change it, but I know how to work with it.

[RavennaNight]

Hmmm. I'm not sure about my porosity. My hair loves moisture and loves cones. Not protein though. It gets tangly and unmanageable with too much protein. It takes henna well, sucks up the color. I only get fading indigo at the roots, not the lengths. Medium porosity I guess?Technically I am supposed to have old dye damage so that part of my hair would be more porous than up top, where it is just hennindigo. I'll go do the wAter test tomorrow. I'm too sleepy to go to the sink now. :sleep:

[Aisha25]

I dont know what I have. My hair loves and drinks up honey and protien, it loves it! cant live without them. When I use henna it sucks it up too all the color. I cant use cones they tangle my hair and make them dry at the ends.

[ademtce]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sXI8Dr0DFV0/SgdzYdQzwEI/AAAAAAAAdxM/_sW9XmT_CpU/S240/1Porosity+Post.jpg

[Aisha25]

ok I have resistant hair then.

[RavennaNight]

Thanks ademtce I'm porous.

Aisha that explains your indigo conundrum:laugh:


ETA: It must be late and I must be over-sleepy. The word "porous" is taking itself apart on me and is starting to look funny. I am starting to second-guess the spelling! It just looks wrong:rollin:

[pradabacon]

^^^ That word always looks wrong to me. IMO, the correct spelling is the thing that's wrong. http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll23/hootietoot/lol.gif

I know I'm spelling it right, but I still go back and check it against the dictionary or how everyone else is spelling it whenever I have to write it. There are a few words that just do that to me.

[Toadstool]

My hair is naturally coarse and wavy.
it has also been bleached, then dyed, then hennaed twice, then dyed on top of that.

It floats.:confused:

[Maddy25]

Hairdressers have always told me my hair is very porus. It just soaks up bleach and colour so fast, it often makes them fussy because they have to use to much to soak my hair because it just seems to drink it up and dry faster than they can put it on. Very bad side of this for when I used to colour was that it would soak in fast but also fade fast @_@. Im excited to discover my new hair texture and whatnot when I have all virgin hair.

[Canarygirl]

Finer hair that is porous often does well with protein. Fine hair in general is better with protein than M or C, but fine and porous loves it. Even some coarse hair can take more protein if it's porous than if it's not porous. I can handle occasional keratin (and only keratin) in the summer, but I avoid protein most of the winter.

This corresponds with my experience: my fine hair likes keratin protein in conditioners (not so much other types of protein, however). Megatek has keratin protein in it IIRC. :)

I think I need to reread Nightshade's article on healing damaged hair...my ends are definitely worse/more porous than the rest.

[purplebubba]

Here's a link to an article I wrote back when I was in cosmetology school when I was first learning about it and figured it out.
~~ General Hair Information 1 ~~
~~ Acids, Alkalies, and Porosity ~~
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/bbubba/LHC/GI1.html

[Fethenwen]

Hmm, I must be having naturally porous hair. It soaks up everything quite well, and has always been very easy to style. On the downside, I've noticed it can easily build up on things, and also may look frizzy at times and poofy.

[Roseate]

I hadn't heard of the float test, but that confirms my suspicions- my hair always floats. If there's hair in the drain when I fill the tub (ick!), it will float to the top.

This also explains why my hair is so resistant to bleach, even thought it's naturally a relatively light color- that had always puzzled me. I used to try to bleach out bits and no matter how I slathered on the caustic chemicals, I couldn't get it to lift much. My scalp would blister before my hair would change.

And my hair totally sheds water- it's hard to get it all soaked through in the shower.

My hair loves humectants, I guess they help pull moisture into those stubbornly closed cuticles. Protein I can take or leave- my hair doesn't ever seem to need it, but if there's a bit in a product that's fine; I've never gotten protein overload.

[paintedmuse]

I think my porosity level is rather low. I've dyed it chemicaly so many times but it always looked decent. Also it takes incredibly long to dry.
The last 1-2 inches are diferent though. They always feel rougher than the rest of my hair, and if I oil them dry, they get very crunchy, but the rest of my hair loves it...

[Vermelha]

Vermelha - Castile soap bars are still made with lye. The only thing that castile means is that it was mostly (or completely, depending on how traditional the soapmaker is) olive oil and lye. After all, saponification, the reaction to create soap, is the reaction of an ester and a base.

The floating/sinking test seems like a really nice simple one to me. I know mine floats - virgin hair, straight, rarely heat-treated. I do use shampoo bars but I do remember hearing that they rarely work well on processed hair.
I wonder if silicones would temporarily decrease the porosity since it "seals" the cuticle?

So, lye is organic or inorganic? If so, how is castile soap organic? I was wondering that. Either way, it's better for porous hair than regular shampoo, I feel.

Yeah, and my hair floats too, but it's still porous?!? I don't heat treat often nor use chemicals.

But you have a good question. I know when my hair is thoroughly oiled, it's much less porous. Perhaps cones do help porous hair in a way...

[Vermelha]

Vermelha - Castile soap bars are still made with lye. The only thing that castile means is that it was mostly (or completely, depending on how traditional the soapmaker is) olive oil and lye. After all, saponification, the reaction to create soap, is the reaction of an ester and a base.

The floating/sinking test seems like a really nice simple one to me. I know mine floats - virgin hair, straight, rarely heat-treated. I do use shampoo bars but I do remember hearing that they rarely work well on processed hair.
I wonder if silicones would temporarily decrease the porosity since it "seals" the cuticle?


Oh yeah, and I did find a castile soap bar recipe w/o lye here (http://www.ehow.com/how_4742175_make-olive-oil-soap-lye.html). This could help out those who want to avoid lye in products.

[heatheradair]

Well, judging from how cassia just affected my virgin hair, I suspect mine is very porous.

[freznow]

Okay, so I've always thought that hair was just supposed to be rough when you rub it the wrong way. Gave me a mini panic attack to read that some people actually have it smooth that way too.

So, what do I DO with this information? My hair is apparently wickedly porous - which I thought would mostly be a curly attribute, but nope my straight hair is porous. Does this mean my hair ought to like protein, ought to like humectants, ought to ...? How does this help me besides telling me that my hair isn't smooth?

[pradabacon]

Good question, freznow. I'd like to know that, too.

And I also want to find someone with porous hair and molest them (rub their hair the wrong way, that is) to see what it feels like. :laugh:

[may1em]

Interesting blog entry - but all that information needs to be in chart form for me to understand it completely.

My hair takes forever to dry, is resistant to heat styling (my mother was unable to get a curling iron to hold curl in my hair when I was young, and hot rollers were equally disastrous; also, blowdrying straight never worked for more than a few hours), and faded relatively quickly back when I was into coloring. Corrective color to turn dyed red to dyed light brown reverted in two weeks. Incidentally, my hair responded much better to heat styling when I dyed it than it does in its virgin state.

I did the float test, and it hung out on the surface for a bit before half-sinking. My hair is damp right now (washed it three hours ago), so I can't do the backwards rubbing test.

My ends are perpetually dry, but the rest of it isn't, really.

So I am porous or not?

[Roseate]

So, lye is organic or inorganic? If so, how is castile soap organic?.

I don't know if lye is considered organic or not. Dr Bronner's uses it in their castile soap (http://www.drbronner.com/faqs_main.html#faq1), and I think they are organic, so maybe so. (Lye is sodium hydroxide, mentioned in the second paragraph of that link).

I also found this quote from the 2004 Organic Trade Association meeting:


The possibility of a fully organic soap is limited by soap’s active ingredient—lye. Large-scale production of sustainable organic lye is, at this time, impossible, said Norman. The percentage of lye in soap, while within “made with” organic-labeling percentages, does not meet National Organic Program standards for the organic label.

So I don't know if they've figured out how to produce more organic lye by now, or if it's just a small enough percentage of the product that it can still be called organic.

[UrsaMama]

So, lye is organic or inorganic?

So I have to say that the fist thing my scientifically trained mind thought of was "Well, does it have carbon in it?" :p

[may1em]

Here's what wikipedia has to say about soap: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap

The soapmaking process uses lye to turn oil molecules into soap molecules. There's no "independent" lye in soap - it's reacted with the oil molecules to change their chemical structure so that one end of the new molecule attaches to water and the other to oil.

All soap is made using lye or something else very chemically similar to it. "Saponified olive oil" means "oil we reacted with lye to turn it into soap." It's not dangerous anymore once it's attached to the oil molecules.

As UrsaMama pointed out, there's no way lye by itself can be organic as it doesn't contain carbon (sodium hydroxide - sodium, oxygen and hydrogen). I suppose if you went back to the old ways of making soap with ash, you could use ash of an organic plant - but that wouldn't make your soap any "safer." If anything, it'd make it worse, as the ash would have impurities that plain old lye doesn't.

[julya]

So I have to say that the fist thing my scientifically trained mind thought of was "Well, does it have carbon in it?" :p

Same here!

[may1em]

Oh yeah, and I did find a castile soap bar recipe w/o lye here (http://www.ehow.com/how_4742175_make-olive-oil-soap-lye.html). This could help out those who want to avoid lye in products.

From that recipe:

There are many companies online that sell melt and pour soap bases (see resources below). They're already been through the process that turns lye into soap, so there is no need for you to use lye.
Emphasis mine.

This recipe will not allow you to make lye-free soap from scratch. It will allow you to have the fun of custom soap-making without having to deal with harsh raw ingredients yourself.

Make no mistake, lye was used to make the base you're customizing. However, if this base is safe for you to melt and play with, it shows that soap in general is also safe.

[redcelticcurls]

Okay, so I've always thought that hair was just supposed to be rough when you rub it the wrong way. Gave me a mini panic attack to read that some people actually have it smooth that way too.

So, what do I DO with this information? My hair is apparently wickedly porous - which I thought would mostly be a curly attribute, but nope my straight hair is porous. Does this mean my hair ought to like protein, ought to like humectants, ought to ...? How does this help me besides telling me that my hair isn't smooth?

Whether one likes or dislikes protein is more tied to the F vs M vs C. Stereotypically, finer hair likes protein better than coarse hair. Coarse hair naturally contains more protein than fine hair and usually needs less of it than fine hair.

Now, if you taker two medium haired people, one with low porosity and one with high, the one with high should be able to take a little more protein than the one with low. But, that doesn't always work out.

Glycerin and humectant tolerance can be porosity related, but is also tied to dewpoints. In high dewpoints, those with porous hair can get frizzier than normal if they use a lot of humectants.

If dew points are confusing, I get into them here (http://pittsburghcurly.wordpress.com/dew-points/).

My texture (C), porosity, and the dewpoints all put together pretty much tell me my routine from which conditioner to use to which styler to use, to what type of curl pattern I can expect.

[Canarygirl]

excellent info., red. Thank you so much! :D

[Canarygirl]

There's a new article posted on naturallycurly.com about porosity and hair care: "CurlChemist: Porosity and Curly Hair" (Tonya McKay, Aug 3, 2009)

I hope it is okay to post an excerpt from it:



Another very important ingredient to avoid for long, curly hair especially is soaps. In the past, I have written an article cautioning users of soap to be careful, but basically concluding that it was probably okay to use soaps with an acidic rinse and lots of moisturizing agents. Based on the following information obtained from the research of Dr. Ali Syed (a hair care researcher who specializes in African and curly hair), I cannot in good conscience advocate use of any soap products on curly hair.
Soap molecules are salts of fatty acids found in plants and animal fats. They are somewhat alkaline and cause the hair to swell and the cuticle to raise up away from the surface of the hair shaft. These molecules are then able to penetrate through the cuticle and into the CMC where they neutralize the fatty acids in the lipid layer, rendering them water soluble. The fatty acids are then rinsed away in the shower and are gone forever. Use of soap to cleanse one’s hair, especially long curly hair, seems to be a really effective way of permanently destroying the cuticle layer and making the hair very highly porous. This is an example of why natural may not always be superior. It is no surprise that researchers have invested years and many millions (billions) of dollars to develop more gentle cleansers for our hair.

[Naluin]

I was just thinking about this. I think porosity is the reason I have to add oils to my conditioner in order for my hair to feel like it's actually been moisturized. Without the oils to coat the hair shaft and seal in the moisturizers in the conditioner, as soon as my hair is dry, that moisture is gone. My hair also feels nicer longer with heavier oils: sesame, castor, hemp.

My hair floats during the float test, but when i poked at it, it sank like a rock. Well, most of the strands did, anyway.

[masterofmidgets]

That's very interesting about the porosity. I don't know how porous my hair is (uh...it doesn't feel rough when I run my fingers up, but it squeaks?), but it is definitely curly, and using shampoo bars has made it feel much healthier. It is softer and less dry and frizzy than when I was using SLS shampoos. Curlier, too. But then, I still use just as much conditioner as I did before, so I don't know.

[redcelticcurls]

There's a new article posted on naturallycurly.com about porosity and hair care: "CurlChemist: Porosity and Curly Hair" (Tonya McKay, Aug 3, 2009)

I hope it is okay to post an excerpt from it:

Which is why I don't let soap/bars near my head. I don't need any more alkaline stuff. I get enough of that when I color.

[Canarygirl]

That's very interesting about the porosity. I don't know how porous my hair is (uh...it doesn't feel rough when I run my fingers up, but it squeaks?), but it is definitely curly, and using shampoo bars has made it feel much healthier. It is softer and less dry and frizzy than when I was using SLS shampoos. Curlier, too. But then, I still use just as much conditioner as I did before, so I don't know.


I think that stopping SLS shampoos was very good for your hair; these must be a lot harsher than soap, even. But apparently neither are ideal for porous/curly hair.

Are there any shampoos in the world that are lower ph and gentler type of detergent (like cocamide betaine which I'm probably spelling wrong), no sulfates, soap ingredients, or cones? It's downright embarrassing how many kinds of shampoos I have now, product junkie that I am. And shampoo bars? :rolleyes: I think all of my Aubrey Organics and Morocco Method shampoos are soap-based! :(

[Fractalsofhair]

The strand test is pretty accurate. I have very porous naturally hair, and moving my fingers up the shaft, it got caught.

However, my virgin hair is strong and if I run my fingers DOWN the shaft, my hair feels like silk. My hair does get very damaged very easily by dyes though, and heat as well.

[K_Angel]

Did anyone figure out what was best to do for Low Porosity Hair?

[funnyface]

My hair is not very porous- when I had my hair permed it only lasted a day and then "fell out" and when I had my one and only brush with hair dye back in my teens I had highlights put in and even though it was meant to be permenant, you could hardly see the reds I asked for. However- that may just be because my hair is very dark.

And it always floats in water!

xxx

[Dreams_in_Pink]

i'm gonna ask something here: I put a strand in the water and it floats. How long does it take for it to sink? And if it doesn't come back to the surface once i push it in, does that mean it's porous?

[Athena's Owl]

Reasons why I think I have low-porosity hair:


That hair I put in a bowl of water at 1am? is still floating. i pushed it down. it sprang back up to the surface. it almost bounced out of the water and said "NYAAH!"
my hair, that I washed at 4:30 am? is still holding moisture. I wouldn't say it's wet but if a wind hit it right now, disaster would ensue.
every single conditioner i have used for years has been carefully checked for evidence of protein - and if it has it, i won't buy it because what happens afterwards is tears and suffering.
when I was transitioning I could use glycerine in hair products. Now that i have all natural curled hair i can't.
I can do a deep cleaning on my scalp with baking soda, and it comes out really nice afterwards. (calgary also has hard water.)
i put off doing henna treatments not only because it's an ordeal to get the stuff on, I have a terrible time getting it out, and i have to use an entire bottle of suave to get it out, and then i have to DT, and arrrgh.
Aloe vera gel does terrible, terrible things to my hair if i use it as a hold gel, or mix it into my deep treatment. it didn't when I was still transitioning and had a lot of heat damage, but now? UGH.
I really have to neglect my hair a lot in order to have difficulty detangling it these days. I mean i have to leave my hair out loose and curly for three days, or my depression days when i would put it in one braid and just leave it. i can detangle it dry with my fingers, easily. I stood in the water spray of the shower pre conditioner and combed it, and it was easy.
back in the olden days, I pretty much gave up using lye-based hair relaxers, because they DIDN'T WORK. seriously, I would go and get it done and my hair would be straightened more because of the heat styling afterwards, and then I'd wait and wait and waaaaaait to wash it afterward - and my hair would be only slightly less curly than it was before. I declared relaxing an expensive waste of time, and the drugstore home kits worked better than salon treatments.
Colour was ineffective too. my hair would lift with peroxide quickly, but colour (I used punky colours and manic panic) would fade very quickly. Heck i used Black dye from the drugstore and it would fade!
i don't really know what silicones do to my hair, as i don't use them.

so this is my challenge: protein is bad, but i'm realizing that glycerin and probably oils and butters are bad too. I need to find a CHEAP hair gel for my curls, because at the length it's at now I wouldn't be surprised if i would need 1/3 cup to cover it all.

[Benjamin_T]

I'm not very sure about the rest, but I know very well that the strands of my hair always floats! :)

[zen_oven]

This has me pondering. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing low porosity. I feel like I have a rough time moisturizing and keeping it moist. The ends are the worst. Water seems to bead up on it. I've started experimenting with ways to moisturize. . . hopefully I'll come up with something more effective soon.

[DragonLady]

Okay...I'm confused. I just read the referenced article (http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curl-products/curlchemist-porosity-and-curly-hair) and am having trouble with the portion about shampooing with sulfates and soaps.


At normal formulation levels (15-20%), harsh surfactants in shampoos, such as SLS, SLES, ALS, and ALES, are capable of dissolving the lipid layer in the CMC and removing the 18-MEA from the surface of the cuticle.

Okay; avoid those things.


Another very important ingredient to avoid for long, curly hair especially is soaps

And these.


It is no surprise that researchers have invested years and many millions (billions) of dollars to develop more gentle cleansers for our hair.

Uhm...what, exactly are those???

Unless I'm missing a huge product category, I've always thought cleansing products were pretty limited to either detergents or soaps. What else is there?

Since arriving at LHC, my stick-straight hair has turned wavy. Discontinuing cones, using honey and moisturizing conditioners and daily oiling has made my hair change for the better all the way around. And I just used a shampoo bar for the first time last Thursday, and loved it. But now I'm wondering if there's something else I should be doing instead?

Up 'till now I've been using a SLES shampoo once a week, but want to discontinue that and switch to shampoo bars...but not if it's going to cause problems.

[melissa8989]

Does anyone else think porosity is important enough to enter in the side bar? It seems to effect so much.

[bratz81]

I'm kinda confused and have no idea if my hair is porous or not. I suspect it might be 'normal' (only thing that is :D )

If I rub my fingers up a hair (the wrong way) it feels smooth. No roughness either up or down. It also floats.
I've only given up the heat styling about 2 weeks now so it could have been a bit different when I was doing that, and got a trim about 3 weeks ago - but the ends are a bit dryer than the ends. However I had bleached it and straightened, blow-dried etc etc. so could explain that.

All my life I've had smooth silky hair that slides out of clips and hair-do's and is hard to keep curls in it unless it's layered. It soaks up dye well enough, and fades slowly...I'd need to do it on a monthly basis due to growth more than anything. But I've been dying my hair years so this probably helps it stop fading after a while. Though I don't remember dye ever fading super quick.

If I wash it and let air dry (from really wet) takes about 2hours or so and it's only shoulder length.

Actually....I think it's probably normal, right?

[dRummie]

Does anyone else think porosity is important enough to enter in the side bar? It seems to effect so much. After I read about it, I was surprised it wasn't one of the basic stats, too. It explains a lot of what I thought was particular about my hair. I think it would be very helpful to be able to see at a glance for the purposes of giving and receiving appropriate advice.

[Zenity]

Porosity is equal to the the outer layer or your hair -cuticle- being more lifted or being sealed.

As far as how ph affects that there are two things to keep in mind:

ALKALINE PH= open the cuticle, bleach, peroxides, dyes, are alkaline, therefore they damage your hair.

ACID PH = seal or close the cuticle, vinegar, lemon, lactic acid, are acidic, therefore they help your cuticles to get down and smooth.

Temperature can also affect on your hair, as high temperature open and lift the cuticles and cool ones do the opposite.


There are a series of cool videos on youtube that explain a lot about this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i3MC4d-HmY&feature=relmfu

I highly suggest you watching them to get a better knowledge of how the hair responds to different things and to know more about the structure of your hair.

[gthlvrmx]

Reasons why I think I have low-porosity hair:

That hair I put in a bowl of water at 1am? is still floating. i pushed it down. it sprang back up to the surface. it almost bounced out of the water and said "NYAAH!"
my hair, that I washed at 4:30 am? is still holding moisture. I wouldn't say it's wet but if a wind hit it right now, disaster would ensue.
every single conditioner i have used for years has been carefully checked for evidence of protein - and if it has it, i won't buy it because what happens afterwards is tears and suffering.
when I was transitioning I could use glycerine in hair products. Now that i have all natural curled hair i can't.
I can do a deep cleaning on my scalp with baking soda, and it comes out really nice afterwards. (calgary also has hard water.)
i put off doing henna treatments not only because it's an ordeal to get the stuff on, I have a terrible time getting it out, and i have to use an entire bottle of suave to get it out, and then i have to DT, and arrrgh.
Aloe vera gel does terrible, terrible things to my hair if i use it as a hold gel, or mix it into my deep treatment. it didn't when I was still transitioning and had a lot of heat damage, but now? UGH.
I really have to neglect my hair a lot in order to have difficulty detangling it these days. I mean i have to leave my hair out loose and curly for three days, or my depression days when i would put it in one braid and just leave it. i can detangle it dry with my fingers, easily. I stood in the water spray of the shower pre conditioner and combed it, and it was easy.
back in the olden days, I pretty much gave up using lye-based hair relaxers, because they DIDN'T WORK. seriously, I would go and get it done and my hair would be straightened more because of the heat styling afterwards, and then I'd wait and wait and waaaaaait to wash it afterward - and my hair would be only slightly less curly than it was before. I declared relaxing an expensive waste of time, and the drugstore home kits worked better than salon treatments.
Colour was ineffective too. my hair would lift with peroxide quickly, but colour (I used punky colours and manic panic) would fade very quickly. Heck i used Black dye from the drugstore and it would fade!i don't really know what silicones do to my hair, as i don't use them.

so this is my challenge: protein is bad, but i'm realizing that glycerin and probably oils and butters are bad too. I need to find a CHEAP hair gel for my curls, because at the length it's at now I wouldn't be surprised if i would need 1/3 cup to cover it all.
we have similar hair then, my hair cannot take ANYTHING well, so far only Suave Ocean Breeze works...no glycol, no protein, no silicone. Oil doesn't work because it's coarser..SIGH. I just got over moisturized..so what gives?? Hate being in the in betweens of things.

[gthlvrmx]

I don't believe in these tests....they contradict each other, that or my hair is nuts.
It's rough when i rub the other way, and i mean like my fingers cannot pass, it gets stuck....
But then it has characteristics of low porous characteristics...it just floats in water. It doesn't sink, some hairs do, but most stay floating.
I don't trust one of these tests, they don't make sense.

[CurlyMopTop]

I thought that the water test was for moisture and the rubbing of hair strands was for porosity. :o
My hair squeeks when rubbed against the grain. I've done the floating test too, after 10 hours, it was still floating. I accidently overconditioned my hair, so it loved protein for a while, but it hasn't been long enough to tell if my hair will like protein long term. I can say that I can not wait to find the perfect balance!! :)

[einna]

Does anyone else think porosity is important enough to enter in the side bar? It seems to effect so much.

I think so! I know it is very important to my hair health, as I am batteling dryness from high porousity constantly.

[YepLilly]

I like the sponge analogy to understand all this. A sponge with large holes = high porosity. A sponge with normal holes = normal porosity. A sponge with tiny holes = low porosity.

With low porosity, moisture has a hard time entering the hair, but once inside, it stays there. With high porosity, moisture enters quickly, but leaves quickly as well.

I'm pretty sure my hair is high porosity. It gets wet fast and dries up fast. It has a tendency to being frizzy (moisture escapes it easily). I've read that if your hair is fine, curly, damaged, or dyed it has a tendency to be more porous.

ACV rinses and cool water rinses have helped me a lot (love ACV!) They are supposed to close the cuticle, which is something that high porosity hair needs.

[cmg]

I actually have a bit of a theory about cones and porosity. My idea is that hair with cuticles that tend to be open (porous hair) is more likely to have cones get jammed under the cuticle and end up tangly/easy to damage/not shiny while using cones... whereas hair with a cuticle that tends to be closed (non-porous hair) is more likely to have cones wrap on top of the cuticle and keep hair shiny and easy to detangle.

Not sure how far my theory flies though
Huh, never thought of that. Makes sense to me.



That wasn't my experience at all, it was the exact opposite. When I went cone free is when I had the tangles and breakage from dryness.
That also makes sense.

Here's my theory: If you make the cuticle stick better to the hair shaft by ACV FIRST, and THEN condition, would this be the ideal procedure for the porous hair type? I will try this for a while and se what happens. I have done so for my last two hair washes, but then it rained cats and dogs and I can't really tell how it works. I'll have to do some more washes and let you know.


However, if I wasn't using this I would have to use one product for my roots and a totally different one for my ends to make my hair look alright.
I have to do that all the time. I have a damaged mat on top of everything, that I have to treat differently from the rest of my hair. I also use (not so much since I started COwashing) a straight silicone serum sometimes. This was before I discovered Ccocnut Oil overnight treatments.


My hair is naturally coarse and wavy.
it has also been bleached, then dyed, then hennaed twice, then dyed on top of that.

It floats.
C! You have a lot of cuticle layers to start with. Others are not so blessed.


The last 1-2 inches are diferent though. They always feel rougher than the rest of my hair, and if I oil them dry, they get very crunchy, but the rest of my hair loves it...
I call it the dead zone. :cool:

The finger test makes my hair squeak.

[Lianna]

I think porosity isn't in the side bar because it can change easily. Like if you use many chemical treatments, your hair will be more porous. For some people with fragile hair, one time is enough.

My hair is chemically treated but the porosity didn't change, it's still normal to low. I don't think the float test is that acurate, I prefer to use the stretch method.

[MinderMutsig]

I think porosity isn't in the side bar because it can change easily. Like if you use many chemical treatments, your hair will be more porous. For some people with fragile hair, one time is enough.

My hair is chemically treated but the porosity didn't change, it's still normal to low. I don't think the float test is that acurate, I prefer to use the stretch method. Stretching is for elasticity and to determine if your hair needs moisture or protein.

Gliding your hair up a single strand of hair is the only method I know of to determine porosity except for putting it under the microscope. The float test is nonsense. Hair can't really break the surface tension enough to sink down and things like oils, sebum, freshly washed hair, use of shampoo or conditioner, cones etc. will also greatly influence the float test. There are too many variables to make it reliable.


I think porosity definitely is important. Yes it may change overtime if it was caused by damage but that doesn't negate the fact that high porosity hair needs a different kind of treatment than low porosity.

Also, not all high porosity hair is caused by damage. I've always had highly porous hair and my hair has only been dyed once in my life and has since then grown out. Or actually, the permanent dye faded within three weeks. But still, that part has since been trimmed and my hair has returned to its normal, highly porous self.

Besides, hairtype can also change overtime and needs to be handled differently then and it's still in the side bar. There are tons of people on this forum who suddenly discovered they were curlies after their hair reached a certain length.

[Lianna]

Stretching is for elasticity and to determine if your hair needs moisture or protein.

Besides, hairtype can also change overtime and needs to be handled differently then and it's still in the side bar. There are tons of people on this forum who suddenly discovered they were curlies after their hair reached a certain length.

You are right about the stretching, but that result can lead to conclusions about the porosity. If needs protein, it's porous.

And yes hair type can change but it's less common. Most curlies that "changed" their hair type were curly all along, just cared for the hair differently that appeared straight. If I "just comb" my 2c hair looks 1c...

And I didn't say all porous hair are damaged hair. It's okay to have naturally porous hair.

[celebriangel]

You are right about the stretching, but that result can lead to conclusions about the porosity. If needs protein, it's porous.

And yes hair type can change but it's less common. Most curlies that "changed" their hair type were curly all along, just cared for the hair differently that appeared straight. If I "just comb" my 2c hair looks 1c...

And I didn't say all porous hair are damaged hair. It's okay to have naturally porous hair.

Length goals and current length change, though, so it would be okay to have something else that changes...

And i'm pretty sure my hair is low porosity. For such fine hair, it will stand up to a shocking amount of abuse, it's hard to make hair dye "take" and impossible to remove it, even the semis, and I need seriously heavy conditioner to make my hair feel moisturised. Even CO doesn't really do it - I need to add EVOO in large quantities to my heavy conditioner. I wonder if this is why it's so easy for me to wash huge amounts of oil out of my hair?

I also noticed bascally no difference in detangling ease/"slip" when I went cone-free, which was really odd because everyone said I would. My hair detangles easily. I wonder if this is because of the low porosity? Hmmm...

[Sunshineliz]

Length goals and current length change, though, so it would be okay to have something else that changes...

And i'm pretty sure my hair is low porosity. For such fine hair, it will stand up to a shocking amount of abuse, it's hard to make hair dye "take" and impossible to remove it, even the semis, and I need seriously heavy conditioner to make my hair feel moisturised. Even CO doesn't really do it - I need to add EVOO in large quantities to my heavy conditioner. I wonder if this is why it's so easy for me to wash huge amounts of oil out of my hair?

I also noticed bascally no difference in detangling ease/"slip" when I went cone-free, which was really odd because everyone said I would. My hair detangles easily. I wonder if this is because of the low porosity? Hmmm...

Strange, I'd decided my hair was low porosity and because it was well-sealed if I use too much moisturizers I look like a greaseball no matter how well I rinse. DD5 on the other hand I decided has high porosity (she's also getting curlier by the day it seems) and I can slather all those moisturizers and her hair just soaks it up. She's never looked greasy even when I do and we've done the same routine.:shrug:

[celebriangel]

Strange, I'd decided my hair was low porosity and because it was well-sealed if I use too much moisturizers I look like a greaseball no matter how well I rinse. DD5 on the other hand I decided has high porosity (she's also getting curlier by the day it seems) and I can slather all those moisturizers and her hair just soaks it up. She's never looked greasy even when I do and we've done the same routine.:shrug:

I'm really not sure. I'd just heard that low-porosity hair was difficult to moisturize, but doesn't become dry easily if you manage, and this is how my hair behaves, so...I figured that the reason I can easily rinse oil off my hair is because everything just slides off my hair - including other hair.

My hair feels smooth - sort of like glass - when I do the rub-against-the-grain thing. It also hates protein. I'm a bit confused... because it can be poofy and volume-y because of the curls but it does not frizz.

[Sunshineliz]

I'm really not sure. I'd just heard that low-porosity hair was difficult to moisturize, but doesn't become dry easily if you manage, and this is how my hair behaves, so...I figured that the reason I can easily rinse oil off my hair is because everything just slides off my hair - including other hair.

My hair feels smooth - sort of like glass - when I do the rub-against-the-grain thing. It also hates protein. I'm a bit confused... because it can be poofy and volume-y because of the curls but it does not frizz.

I bet you do have low porosity, but perhaps you also have drier hair? I always thought I had dry hair and needed to moisturize a lot, but that was mostly based on my horribly damaged hair after a perm when I was a kid and my mom did lots of hot oil treatments on it. Just like me to think that just because my hair was that way once it always will be.:rolleyes: My experiments lately probably just show me that my hair is oilier than I thought. (And that of course my hair was more porous after a perm.)

But I still say that high porosity generally needs lots of moisture because they lose it easily. Hence why DD5 can just soak it all up.

[Lianna]

Length goals and current length change, though, so it would be okay to have something else that changes...

I'm not oposed to having it in the side bar. I just said what I said because it might be something that they factored in.

Changing current length isn't of the same level as changing hair structure.

Perhaps most people have normal porosity too? With normal porosity, porosity isn't that much of a big deal.

Again, I would not mind at all if we had this feature. :blossom:

[luxepiggy]

Perhaps the reason porosity is not in the sidebar is because there doesn't seem to be a commonly accepted consensus on how to define/determine porosity?

If you think about it, the other sidebar items have standardized definitions - a specific wave or curl pattern to look for, the circumference of the ponytail, etc. People may fall in between categories, but nobody's going confuse 1a hair for 3c, KWIM? In contrast, there don't seem to be any standardized guidelines for porosity. I had no difficulty determining that I was 1a / M / i-ii when I first stumbled upon LHC, but I remain uncertain about the porosity level of my hair.

[StephanieB]

I too have very fine, thin, high porosity hair.

It wets down fast and it dries just as fast. Three seconds after stepping into the shower, my hair is soaking wet. Less than an hour later, it'd completely dry just by hanging down my back in regular room-temp air. It frizzes out frightfully in humid air or weather.

My hair loves ACV rinses, cold water rinses after washing/conditioning, and hates anything that lifts/opens the hair's scales while loving anything that closes the hair's cuticles.

If I get caught in a light drizzle (even the slightest drizzle), my hair still gets soaking wet, as if I'd been in a hurricane's rainstorm.
OTOH, I can wash and fully dry my hair in just over an hour without using heat or any special drying tools or techniques... just by letting it hang there. So I can wash my hair virtually any time I want and not be too short of time.



I like the sponge analogy to understand all this. A sponge with large holes = high porosity. A sponge with normal holes = normal porosity. A sponge with tiny holes = low porosity.

With low porosity, moisture has a hard time entering the hair, but once inside, it stays there. With high porosity, moisture enters quickly, but leaves quickly as well.

I'm pretty sure my hair is high porosity. It gets wet fast and dries up fast. It has a tendency to being frizzy (moisture escapes it easily). I've read that if your hair is fine, curly, damaged, or dyed it has a tendency to be more porous.

ACV rinses and cool water rinses have helped me a lot (love ACV!) They are supposed to close the cuticle, which is something that high porosity hair needs.

[luxepiggy]

I too have very fine, thin, high porosity hair.

It wets down fast and it dries just as fast. Three seconds after stepping into the shower, my hair is soaking wet. Less than an hour later, it'd completely dry just by hanging down my back in regular room-temp air. It frizzes out frightfully in humid air or weather.

My hair loves ACV rinses, cold water rinses after washing/conditioning, and hates anything that lifts/opens the hair's scales while loving anything that closes the hair's cuticles.

If I get caught in a light drizzle (even the slightest drizzle), my hair still gets soaking wet, as if I'd been in a hurricane's rainstorm.
OTOH, I can wash and fully dry my hair in just over an hour without using heat or any special drying tools or techniques... just by letting it hang there. So I can wash my hair virtually any time I want and not be too short of time.

You see, this is why I'm confused! My hair is near-impossible to wet - I have to really separate all the strands in the shower to make sure the underlayer gets wet. Otherwise water tends to just "sheet" off the surface of the canopy instead. However, it also air-dries really quickly like you described - just by letting it hang there.

Piggy's perplexed by porosity (*(oo)*)

[cmg]

I think porosity isn't in the side bar because it can change easily. Like if you use many chemical treatments, your hair will be more porous. For some people with fragile hair, one time is enough.

My hair is chemically treated but the porosity didn't change, it's still normal to low. I don't think the float test is that acurate, I prefer to use the stretch method.
Sure, it can change, maybe that is why it isn't in there. I have to try the water test under different conditions. I think it can be manipulated with treatments :stirpot:.

[YepLilly]

StephanieB: It seems we are porosity twins! :beerchug:

[dRummie]

The float test is nonsense. Hair can't really break the surface tension enough to sink down and things like oils, sebum, freshly washed hair, use of shampoo or conditioner, cones etc. will also greatly influence the float test. There are too many variables to make it reliable.The test I know involves sinking the hair first, so surface tension shouldn't be a factor. Also, maybe it should be approached the same way as hair typing - products influence the latter greatly as well, which is why for a typing picture one generally clarifies, uses no products, and air dries without touching. I'm sure a more reliable float test can be done at the same time. At any rate, it's only one of the many indicators that together point towards a porosity level.

Which leads into this:

With normal porosity, porosity isn't that much of a big deal.Having it on the side bar would probably only benefit people whose hair falls decidedly on one end, so really only those with very high, or very low, porosity. Still, I think for those people it would be helpful enough that it'd do much good to have it included. If someone doesn't know, or can't decide, they're always free to leave it blank.


Perhaps the reason porosity is not in the sidebar is because there doesn't seem to be a commonly accepted consensus on how to define/determine porosity?This makes a lot of sense to me... Interesting, though, that over at NC many people have it in their signatures. I wonder why they don't have so much trouble. Perhaps the information is there, and just needs to be found?

[luxepiggy]

Another difficulty that arises with porosity, and one that is especially relevant for long hair, is that UV exposure measurably increases porosity (discussed in this study overview (http://journal.scconline.org//pdf/cc2007/cc058n05/p00579-p00580.pdf))- so for those whose length represents 5+ years of growth, the porosity of their ends could be markedly different from that of their newer growth.

[MinderMutsig]

Which leads into this:
Having it on the side bar would probably only benefit people whose hair falls decidedly on one end, so really only those with very high, or very low, porosity. Still, I think for those people it would be helpful enough that it'd do much good to have it included. If someone doesn't know, or can't decide, they're always free to leave it blank.

Isn't this also true for fine, medium and course hair? Fine hairs and coarse hairs have their issues but medium is just... medium.

[cmg]

Yes, I think so too.

[luxepiggy]

The test I know involves sinking the hair first, so surface tension shouldn't be a factor. Also, maybe it should be approached the same way as hair typing - products influence the latter greatly as well, which is why for a typing picture one generally clarifies, uses no products, and air dries without touching. I'm sure a more reliable float test can be done at the same time. At any rate, it's only one of the many indicators that together point towards a porosity level.

Which leads into this:
Having it on the side bar would probably only benefit people whose hair falls decidedly on one end, so really only those with very high, or very low, porosity. Still, I think for those people it would be helpful enough that it'd do much good to have it included. If someone doesn't know, or can't decide, they're always free to leave it blank.

This makes a lot of sense to me... Interesting, though, that over at NC many people have it in their signatures. I wonder why they don't have so much trouble. Perhaps the information is there, and just needs to be found?

Given the nomenclature, I suspect that normal porosity is the "norm," and that a majority of the general population can be expected to have hair of normal porosity.

Does curly hair have a materially higher probability of exhibiting either high or low porosity? If so, then it would follow that a larger percentage of the membership at NC would be concerned with porosity than would be the case in the general population. Perhaps that's why porosity gets more airtime there?

[cmg]

Given the nomenclature, I suspect that normal porosity is the "norm," and that a majority of the general population can be expected to have hair of normal porosity.
No not necessarily. For example, normal skin is not the norm.


Does curly hair have a materially higher probability of exhibiting either high or low porosity? If so, then it would follow that a larger percentage of the membership at NC would be concerned with porosity than would be the case in the general population. Perhaps that's why porosity gets more airtime there?Curly hair is more prone to porosity. The bend in the curl itself does it. Imagine bending a roof with tiles on it. And due to the fact that the hair strands can catch onto each other, and the cuticle gets damaged because of this, it can become an evil circle. A person with thicker hair (=more layers of protein in the cuticle) would presumably be better off here, able to counteract the effect with good care. A thin haired person like me has to face the facts - when the damage is there, its there to stay until new hair grows out.

[TrudieCat]

My hair feels rough when I run my fingers from the end to the root, and it acts porous generally - by soaking up anything I put on it, frizzing out horribly in humid conditions, and it soaks up water very easily.

It takes foreverrrrrrrr to air dry, like it'll still be damp at the end of the day if I wash it in the morning. I always attributed this to its extreme thickness and the fact that I use a lot of leave-in, which holds on to moisture longer. I never wear my hair naked, so I don't even know how it would act that way. :shrug:

But I think I'm a pretty standard porous head and I've been searching for good products to use. So far, I seem to have luck with conditioners with no protein (I have coarse hair) and only one or two humectants lower down on the ingredient list. I also use a lot of argan and jojoba oil and Nightblooming vegan Panacea on dry hair, and my hair basically never looks greasy.

[xoxophelia]

I would say I have mixed porosity. Part of my length was previously colored multiple times and was heat styled on a regular basis. It seems quite possible that my natural hair is more towards the low porosity end of the spectrum though. Would be a great time to own a microscope.. :3

The differences between my preLHC and LHC hair:
-Dry time-the virgin hair will literally stay wet for 4-10 hours on the underside if I am not careful. This is made worse by any amount of oil or cones. The preLHC hair will be dry in 1 hour.

-Shine-the virgin hair has a natural shine while the preLHC hair is generally dull even with cones

-Tangling-my natural hair hardly tangles at all.. the preLHC hair also doesn't tangle much but it clings to itself more so.

-Poofiness-My virgin hair is much more likely to go limp and flat which I can't wait to see through my whole length

-Frizz-the virgin hair does still curl up a little more in humidity but it is much more frizz resistant. Before I would be a puff ball.

I think you can look at all of these factors to determine where your hair is on the porosity spectrum and it seems to be easier to just see changes over time on one's own head.

[cmg]

It seems quite possible that my natural hair is more towards the low porosity end of the spectrum though. Would be a great time to own a microscope.. :3
I have some microscopic hair pics :eye: but I get an error every time Im trying to upload them. Dont know what to do about that. I now have an empty album here :(


The differences between my preLHC and LHC hair:
-Dry time-the virgin hair will literally stay wet for 4-10 hours on the underside if I am not careful. This is made worse by any amount of oil or cones. The preLHC hair will be dry in 1 hour.
Funny, it was almost the exact opposite for my hair!

[CurlyMopTop]

I found that this was the best explanation of porosity that I've found thus far. It's part of a serious so if you read the other parts, she explains what porosity has to do with how we care for our hair and why it may or may not like certain products. The series is geared towards people with fine hair. :)

http://www.curlynikki.com/2011/02/so-fine-natural-hair-part-3.html