Are your hair-care regimens giving you no results? If this is the case, there is clearly a problem. The reality is that porous hair could be the source of many of your problems.
If you want to get the most out of your hair care products, the first step is to identify your hair porosity level. By knowing this, you will be able to invest in products that are more suited to your hair type and enhance the overall condition of your hair.
In this article, I will explain what hair porosity is and how to do a hair porosity test quickly and easily at home.
Table of Content
What Does Hair Porosity Mean?
You’ve probably heard the term “hair porosity” and wondered what it meant. Hair porosity refers to your hair’s ability to absorb and retain liquids or moisture in the cuticle. Your strands appear to be a single, long strip, but they are actually made up of many layers known as cuticles.
Your cuticles will lose moisture faster if they are open and raised, making your hair frizzy and dry. When your cuticles are close together, they prevent liquids from absorbing, making it harder to hydrate and cure your locks.
Hair porosity is mostly inherited, although it may also be influenced by other factors such as exposure, heat treatments, and chemical processing. In essence, your hair’s porosity determines what it requires and does not require.
What Are the Different Types of Hair Porosity?
Hair Porosity can be broken down into three categories –
- High Porosity
- Low Porosity
- Normal Porosity
1. High Porosity Hair
If your hair dries quickly after moisturizing, you most likely have High Porosity. Hair with high porosity absorbs the most moisture, oil, or water easily, but it is unable to retain this moisture, which is undesirable because you want to keep your strands hydrated.
This can cause frizzy hair that is prone to breakage and damage. You may use a deep conditioning mask once a week to reduce frizziness.
2. Low Porosity Hair
For those with low hair porosity, product buildup on the scalp might be noticeable since oils and other treatments aren’t easily absorbed. It might be difficult to get moisture into your strands if your hair has little or no porosity.
However, when you can, it can maintain long-lasting moisture, which keeps it from looking dry and damaged.
3. Normal Porosity Hair
Normal porosity hair is the easiest to manage since the cuticles are looser, enabling moisture to infiltrate the hair more easily. This type of hair takes the least amount of upkeep.
It doesn’t frizz, isn’t prone to buildup, dries quickly, and holds hairstyles better. Your hair seems to be healthy, full, and shiny.
After you’ve learned about the different types of hair porosity, check out some simple methods for doing a porosity test in water.
How To Do a Hair Porosity Test in Water?
The way to healthy hair is all about getting to know your hair from the inside out. Porosity is no exception, and it might be the key to resolving many of your hair issues.
There are several simple tests you can do at home to determine which porosity group your hair belongs to.
1. Floating Test
The Floating Test is the most often used and recommended hair porosity test. You can simply test your hair porosity with a dry, freshly washed strand of hair in a transparent glass or bowl of water.
Steps –
- Fill a clear, clean glass halfway with water.
- Take a few strands of your hair put it in the glass of water and see how it reacts.
- It’s better to collect strands from different areas of your head. As mentioned, your hair porosity might alter based on your style habits and the products you use
- Finally, observe where it settles in a glass.
Results
1. Hair with high porosity will immediately sink to the bottom.
2. Hair with medium porosity will most likely float in the middle of the glass for a time before sinking to the bottom.
3. Low porosity hair will float at the top for a short period of time before gradually sinking.
You can’t rely completely on this floating test only. So you will need to repeat the hair porosity test using another method.
2. Absorption Test
It’s also one of the most popular ways to test hair porosity with water. It works by observing how your hair absorbs water and products.
The cuticles of low porosity hair are firmly closed, it takes longer to absorb moisture and products, whereas high porosity hair absorbs moisture and products extremely rapidly due to the open cuticles.
For determining hair porosity follow the below steps:
- Fill a spray bottle with water.
- Spray some water on a portion of your hair.
Results
1. Your hair has normal porosity if water remains on the hair surface for a few seconds before being absorbed.
2. If the water droplets on the hair persist for a longer period of time, your hair has low porosity.
3. Your hair has a high porosity if it absorbs water quickly.
Let’s move on to the last simple test for determining hair porosity type.
3. The Slip and Slide Test
This method is a little questionable in terms of accuracy. You should perform this test with others to be certain of your porosity level.
You can also use this test to determine if your hair has an overabundance of protein or whether it needs some. If your feels stiff or hard, it has excess protein whereas if it feels limp or stringy, your hair requires protein.
To know your hair porosity, all you have to do is the following thing-
- Take a strand of hair and place it between your fingertips.
- As you feel your strand of hair, slowly glide your fingertips up towards the scalp.
Results
1. You have low porosity hair if it feels smooth.
2. You have high hair porosity if you feel bumps along the way.
Summing Up: Hair Porosity Test
It is important to understand the porsosity your hair is in order to select the best product and hair care regimen.
Knowing what type of hair porosity you have may help you manage, treat, and care for your hair better. And this can result in stronger, healthier hair.
So that you know how to do a hair porosity test in water, follow this guide and start testing!
