Do you know what hair porosity is and what porosity has your hair?

Hair care is the most effective when it matches your needs. This is why cosmetic choice should depend on hair condition. Damaged hair needs entirely different cosmetics than the healthy one that needs to be protected so that its condition would not worsen. It is similar with straight and curly hair because each requires another type of cosmetics with a different action.

You should consider learning more about hair porosity in order to take better care of your hair!

Hair structure

Everyone should more or less know the hair structure. Underneath the skin are placed hair bulbs. These are the ones that determine future hair condition. The stronger and better rooted in skin the better. The part the grows over the skin is called the hair shaft. This is the part we tend to call hair. Inside the hair, we have medulla that is coated with cortex and cuticles. The last element is made of several layers and there are the one responsible for hair porosity.

WHAT IS HAIR POROSITY?

Hair porosity is nothing else but the level at which hair cuticles are raised. The porosity determines hair condition. The more raised cuticles the worse condition. Then, the delicate shaft of the hair is exposed and more susceptible to impact of harmful factors.
We differentiate three hair porosity types:

1. Low porosity – cuticles adhere to the shaft, hair is straight and smooth.
2. Medium porosity – cuticles are raised, hair is wavy and a bit dry.
3. High porosity – cuticles are raised to the maximum, hair is stiff and rough.

You have to know your hair in order to know what it needs. Effective hair care is based most of all on understanding the problem and finding a solution for it. The extensively open hair cuticles create most of the concerns. It is because then hair is frizzy due to humidity, brittle, more susceptible to damage caused by hairdresser’s treatments or even the sun. If you care about restoring hair with health, you have to know your hair porosity.

HOW TO DETERMINE HAIR POROSITY?

There are a few methods that allow determining hair porosity. The most effective is simply the observation. Hair with each porosity is different just by looking at it. Just like when you put damaged and healthy hair together. You will see the difference right away.

Low porosity hair is characteristic hair type to Asian women who have straight and dark hair. Hair is smooth in touch and quite heavy, lacking volume. There are no problems like dandruff, split ends or brittleness. However, it is easy to wet them and then dry. On the other hand, low porosity hair is not susceptible to styling, so any tie or curl is complicated.

Medium porosity hair has the majority of women all over the world. This hair is usually wavy and can be frizzy (especially due to humidity). Hair type that can possibly suffer from dandruff, split ends, brittleness. Its problem is oily scalp and dry ends. Medium porosity hair is rough in touch, lacks gloss and its colour is fading.

High porosity hair is the most damaged, rough and brittle. Frequently it is curly and weakens with hairdresser’s treatments. The characteristic thing about this hair type is increased brittleness, split ends, excess falling out, brittleness. This hair is devoid of gloss, and it is frizzy and extremely dry. It absorbs water immediately and loses it equally fast.

There are also different methods to determine hair porosity:

• water test (take a piece of hair, place it in the water and observe how fast will it absorb it and fall down to the bottom of the glass; high porosity hair will sink fast, low porosity hair will float),
• coconut test (cover your hair with coconut oil and observe its reaction; if hair is frizzy, you have high porosity hair, and if hair gets smooth, you have low porosity hair).

The best diagnosis you can get by going to see the Trichologist. Some hair salons have trichologist stations where you can watch your hair under the microscope. This method is the more precise method to determine hair porosity. A specialist can tell you more about not only the hair cuticles condition but also of your scalp.

WHY SHOULD YOU KNOW YOUR HAIR POROSITY?

Knowing your hair porosity is necessary when you want to choose the best hair oil. The oil’s properties are various depending on the fatty acid content. There are three basic types:

• Oils for low porosity hair with a high content of essential saturated fatty acids. Here are mostly vegetable butter types with small particles that can easily penetrate hair structure.
• Oils for medium porosity hair contain mostly monounsaturated fatty acids, i.e. omega 7 and omega 9. Here particles are bigger and oils are described as semi-drying.
• Oils for high porosity hair with polyunsaturated fatty acids, i.e. omega 3 and omega 6. These oils are non-drying because here particles are the biggest.