How to Determine your Hair Porosity

When it comes to natural hair, there are so many new terms and technicalities to learn about! One of the things that confused me at the start of my hair growth journey was hair porosity. To save you from confusion, I’m going to make this concept easy for you! Moisture is everything for healthy hair and knowing your hair porosity can help you determine the exact type of care your tresses need.

Hair porosity is a measurement to determine your hair’s ability to absorb and hold in moisture.


There are three types of Hair Porosity: 
Low, Medium and High. 

To determine your porosity, use the float test below!

The Float Test
Take a strand of clean hair from your comb or brush and place it in a cup of room temperature water. 
Let it sit for a few minutes and check to see if it floats or sinks.

Low Porosity: Hair strand floats at the top of the water
Medium Porosity: Hair strands floats in the middle of the water
High Porosity: Hair strand sinks to the bottom of the cup

Why?

Low Porosity
Cuticle layer is tightly bound
Moisture is difficult to escape hair strands once penetrated, but also difficult to absorb

Medium Porosity
Cuticle layer is looser
Moisture is kept at a balance, preventing too much from escaping or being absorbed

High Porosity
Cuticle layer has gaps and holes
Moisture absorbs and escapes hair strands too easily

Have you tried this test before?

No comments :

Post a Comment

By leaving a comment you are consenting to your email being collected for communication purposes only**