Unpopular Opinion: I don't think hair porosity is what we have made it seem :bs:

[lapushka]

It's a reasonable conclusion after months/years of a very moisturising routine if the hair still behaves like high porosity.

Could be. It's still all a puzzle to me though. I must admit. Porosity has me very confused!

If virgin hair has split ends or white dots (which is often inevitable with very long hair), then I think it means they have high porosity ends (damaged cuticles on that part of the hair shaft) from long-term daily wear and tear.

I hope I could clarify it a bit

Makes sense! Thanks! I still can't make that much sense of it, though, but every little bit of an explanation helps!

[Fimu]

Could be. It's still all a puzzle to me though. I must admit. Porosity has me very confused!



Makes sense! Thanks! I still can't make that much sense of it, though, but every little bit of an explanation helps!

I hope this article can give you more clarification: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.co...-hair.html?m=1

[lapushka]

I hope this article can give you more clarification: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.co...-hair.html?m=1

Thank you!

[KokoroDragon]

I watched a YouTube video on porosity once (I don't remember who the creator was). I think they rated hair from 1-5, with 1 being the lowest porosity and 5 being the highest. Most people fall between 2 and 4, 1 is a very small portion of people and 5 is extreme damage. IIRC, they said the only time porosity affects how your hair likes to be treated is if you're a 1 or 5. The rest of us needn't worry about porosity, because it just doesn't matter that much.

[Bri-Chan]

I think people naturally adjust their hair routine around - also - prosity. I mean, I think that it is in someway intuitive.
On the other hand, I think that it's too simple to choose a product or a routine that is supposed to work on every hair with that level of porosity because there are a lot of other factors involved.
In my specific case, my hair is bleached so high porosity, all over. But what I do is supposed to work on medium porosity hair, because that works better on me.

[florenonite]

I don't think it hurts to be aware of porosity and understanding different types of hair damage that can occur, but one needs to keep the big picture in mind and understand that there is much more to hair than porosity.

I certainly notice three different porosity levels (on top of the other cumulative damage) throughout my hair as I grow out bleach damage. I've got very high porosity ends, a relatively nice medium porosity section, and then my virgin hair which very much seems like low porosity. But contrary to people saying that long drying times are a sign of low porosity, I think it can also go the other way. My roots dry the absolute fastest, and I think that could indeed be because of porosity: since the cuticles are so tightly shut together, the hair doesn't even get very soaked in water and therefore not much needs to get out either.

My roots dry the fastest, too, but I think that's the warmth from my scalp more than anything else; if I'm wetting my hair enough to get a good lather from the shampoo, I'm wetting it enough that it gets absolutely sodden. That said, I have hard water and very dense hair, so I can easily spend five or more minutes just lathering and rinsing my hair; it doesn't take nearly so long to dry if, say, I just get caught in the rain and the water doesn't really penetrate.

ETA: My damaged ends dry about as fast as my roots, and it's the healthy length between that takes the longest, so the higher porosity hair at the end definitely takes less time to dry. That said, given that my hair is dense, I think it also takes less time to dry at the scalp/roots simply because it's less dense there compared to at the length, where it tends to clump together more.

[AutobotsAttack]

Interesting post! I have no idea what porosity my hair is. I would be interested to know your views on water only washing and hair porosity - how does sebum affect it? My hair dries quickly yet takes a while to get wet.

I don’t really mind water only washing. I have highly textured, and processed hair, so it’s gonna take a while for the sebum to reach a length that’s even remotely noticeable or beneficial. That’s if it’ll even ever reach the very ends of my hair.

Sebum in general is mostly hydrophobic, but it does exhibit some hydrophilic tendencies in that it will hold onto a certain amount of moisture to keep the hair from drying out quickly.

I’d say in a completely virgin head of hair, one possessing maybe short-ish, medium length, water only washing could prove extremely beneficial. Or even longer heads of hair, in which the sebum is mechanically distributed as far down as possible.

As far as hair taking a while to get wet, it varies between individuals, and whatever magnitude of “getting wet” one experiences. If you jumped in a pool, or completely submerged yourself in a bathtub I’m sure your entire head of hair would be soaking wet quite quickly. So there’s a lot of factors at play. Espeacially by how you wet your hair in the shower.

Dry time also varies. The temperature in your own home can fluctuate, as can the humidity, etc. sometimes my roots dry instantly, sometimes they’re still damp the next morning.

So again, I feel like hair isn’t really set with one type of porosity, and I don’t really think the degree of said porosity is constant either.

[ynne]

I guess I'm one of the people who are affected by this aspect of hair a lot! Most of my routine is built around managing its porosity. It's still far from perfect or reliable, though.

Fimu, I think my hair must be high porosity, and it's not caused by damage, it just grows that way. I can't really think of any other aspect that could affect it to this degree, especially around the roots where sebum should have an easier time spreading. It doesn't really feel great that some people go as far as to equate the two even if it were technically correct. :/

[Fimu]

I guess I'm one of the people who are affected by this aspect of hair a lot! Most of my routine is built around managing its porosity. It's still far from perfect or reliable, though.

Fimu, I think my hair must be high porosity, and it's not caused by damage, it just grows that way. I can't really think of any other aspect that could affect it to this degree, especially around the roots where sebum should have an easier time spreading. It doesn't really feel great that some people go as far as to equate the two even if it were technically correct. :/

It would be interesting if "hair porosity" would be redefined so that it will mean something different than the degree of cuticle damage.

On a side note in general, if the hair is processed with chemicals, the fatty layer is removed from the cuticle layer but it doesn't always mean the cuticles are broken off more quickly.

[Fethenwen]

Sure, there are many other factors to consider than just porosity. I guess if you fall into the middle or perhaps have mixed porosity, it doesn't really matter much if hair porosity is not taken that much into account.

My hair on the other hand is low porosity, so there are some things that I found works so much better since I learned that. As an example, like oiling my hair. If I oil on dry hair = hair disaster. Oil too often = hair disaster. Oil when there isn't enough humidity and haven't moisturized before oiling = hair disaster. That's because oil tends to build up really quick and prevents moisture from entering the hair shaft. Also a reason why cones do not work for me. I still love to use oils, if used sparingly they can do wonders and increase hair growth.

Also ... without clarifying shampoo, I think I would be stuck at shoulder length hair!