Hair porosity refers to your hair’s ability to absorb and retain moisture. Hair porosity is generally determined by genetics, but external factors such as heat exposure and chemical processing can affect and alter your hair porosity type.
Knowing your hair porosity is important, especially when you first start your natural hair journey. Not only does it make it easier to care for and maintain your hair, but it also helps you choose the types of products that will work best for your hair and the adequate haircare methods to use.
Types of Hair Porosity:
- Low Porosity
- Tightly sealed hair cuticles
- Hard to absorb moisture
- Takes a long time to dry
- Medium Porosity
- Normal hair cuticles
- Absorbs and retains moisture
- Curls are bouncy and have elasticity
- High Porosity
- Open hair cuticles
- Moisture is easily absorbed and hard to retain
- Hair is dry and frizzy
To learn your hair’s porosity, you can do two different tests.
The first test is the water test. In a glass of water, add a strand of freshly washed hair. If your hair strand floats, that means you have low porosity hair. If the hair strand sinks to the bottom of the glass, you have high porosity hair. If it floats in the middle of the glass, then you have a medium porosity hair.
The second test is the spray test. First, section your hair and spray one section. If your hair absorbs the water instantly, that means you have high porosity hair. On the other hand, if you see the water just sitting on your hair, then you have low porosity hair.
I hope this article was helpful and you are now able to tell what type of hair porosity you have. I will soon share an article on how to maintain your hair based on your porosity type.
xoxo
Noussaiba
