What Is The Porosity Of Hair & Why Is It Important?

There’s a chance that you may know what the word porosity means, but what does it mean when it comes to our hair? In this post I’m going to break down what hair porosity is as well as explain why it’s important when it comes to hair care.

What is porosity?

Before we begin relating porosity to our hair, we first must understand what porosity means to begin with.

Porosity is the means that an object has to absorb liquids. Essentially if an object is porous, it has tiny holes in it that absorb water or other liquids.

If an object is highly porous, this means that it has lots of tiny holes in it and it will greatly absorb the liquid, like a sponge. If it’s not porous, the object is more dense and will not absorb the liquid as easily, like a rock or other hard surface.

Why is the porosity of hair important?

The porosity of your hair is important because it determines the integrity, or condition of your hair.

Each hair strand has an outer layer that resembles fish scales. This layer is called the cuticle. I’m not going to dive deep on the layers of the hair shaft here, but I do on this post here.

If hair is highly porous, this means that the hair is damaged and has lots of holes in the hair shaft that will suck liquid up. If it is not porous, the cuticle scales will lay down smooth, making it harder to absorb liquids.

Healthy hair is smooth, shiny, and has a low porosity. Damaged hair is frizzy, dry, and has a high porosity.

I do want to point out that for some, low porosity hair can cause them to lack volume. This is because the hair is so healthy that it is weighed down and slick to the head. Sometimes, a little bit of damage can be helpful if you’re looking to achieve volume in your hair.

A higher porosity will also allow you to go longer between washes because your hair will absorb the oil from your scalp better than if it has a low porosity.

To combat this dilemma of low porosity, highlights are a useful way to open the cuticle slightly to achieve a little volume. Just make sure that you don’t overdo it and cause damage to the hair.

How do you know your hair porosity?

Here are a few key indicators that will help you figure out what porosity your hair is.

Hair that has low porosity:

• Appears healthy
• Is shiny
• Feels strong
• Is hydrated
• Holds onto hair color well
• Takes longer to dry
• Is likely virgin, or not color treated
• Can sometimes lack volume because it is so smooth and weighed down

Hair that has high porosity:

• Appears frizzy, damaged, and straggly
• Feels dry
• Breaks easily (especially when brushing)
• Has split ends
• Tangles easily
• Air dries very quickly
• Takes hair color too dark to begin with, then fades very quickly
• Unpredictable results with hair color
• Is likely over-processed from bleach
• Is likely damaged from heat tools

Porosity test

A basic test to determine what porosity your hair has is the water test. It is best to perform this test on hair that is dry with no product or leave-in conditioners present.

• Fill a clear glass with water
• Lay a strand of hair in the glass
• If the hair floats, it has low porosity and is healthy
• If the hair floats, then sinks slowly, it has medium porosity
• If the hair sinks quickly, it has low porosity and is likely damaged

What should I do if my hair porosity is bad?

If you have high porosity, this means that your hair is damaged. In this case you’ll want to take extra measures to improve the integrity of your hair to stop further damage and rebuild broken bonds.

To learn more about how to make your hair healthy, see my post here.

***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***

Habits to heal your hair:

• Avoid washing more than every 4 days
• Avoid heat tools
• Use thermal protection if you do use heat tools
• Turn your iron temperature way down
• Cover your hair from the sun and tanning beds
• Don’t get your hair wet in the ocean or pools
• Avoid rough towel drying and towel turbans
• Avoid messy buns, high pony tails, and tight elastic rubber bands
• Be extremely careful when brushing, starting from the bottom
• Use a boar bristle brush to detangle dry hair
• Use a nylon brush to detangle wet hair
• Regularly trim your hair to avoid breakage off of the ends
• Avoid bleaching your hair
• Consider getting a keratin treatment (protein treatment)
• Follow my product routine recommendations below

Product recommendations to heal your hair

First, alternate between a bond building shampoo and conditioner and a moisturizing or repairing shampoo and conditioner.

• Olaplex no. 4 & no. 5 – Bond building shampoo and conditioner
• Pravana Intense Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner – Repairing shampoo and conditioner
• Aquage Silkening Oil Shampoo and Conditioner – Moisturizing & smoothing shampoo and conditioner

Next you’ll want to alternate between a bonding treatment and a moisturizing treatment. For extremely porous hair, I recommend doing a treatment every time you wash your hair.

• Olaplex no. 3 – Bond building treatment. This is to be applied before you shampoo and condition.
• Olaplex no. 8 – Moisturizing treatment. This can be done after your regular conditioner
• Pravana Intense Therapy Treatment – Repairing treatment, can be done after you shampoo and condition.

After your shower, you’ll want to use a number of leave-in products. This step is as important as moisturizing your face after washing it! For highly porous hair, I recommend using a leave-in conditioner as well as a hair serum.

• Olaplex no. 6 – Bond building leave-in conditioner
• Olaplex no. 9 – Bond building serum
• Pravana Intense Therapy Leave-in – Repairing leave-in conditoner
• Aquage Silkening Oil Treatment – Silkening leave-in serum

After your hair is dry, you can use a dry conditioner to smooth your cuticle down. You should also use a thermal protection spray if you are going to iron your hair.

• Aquage Beyond Shine – Thermal spray that adds shine
• Kenra Dry Conditioning Mist – Dry conditioner to smooth dry hair

Conclusion

Porosity is an objects’ ability to absorb a liquid. When it comes to hair, high porosity means that the hair is likely damaged and frizzy, while low porosity means that the hair is healthy and smooth.

Hair with low porosity appears healthy, shiny, strong, and hydrated. It holds onto hair color well and usually takes longer to dry. It is likely virgin and not color treated. Low porosity hair usually lacks volume because it’s so smooth, and you’ll likely have to wash it more often than if it had a higher porosity.

Hair with a high porosity appears frizzy, dry, damaged, and straggly. It usually tangles and breaks easily, as well as has split ends. It often dries very quickly and can be unpredictable when it comes to coloring. High porosity hair will take color very dark to begin with, and then fade super quickly. It’s often over-processed from bleach or damaged from heat tools.

To correct high porosity, you’ll want to take measures to avoid causing more damage as well as heal the integrity of your hair.

If you have any further questions on the porosity of your hair, leave them for me in the comments! As always, Have A Good Hair Day!