Hair Porosity
Determining hair porosity
First, what is hair porosity?
Hair porosity is the hair's ability to absorb and retain moisture.
Hair porosity is a scale from low to high.
Characteristics of low porosity: Takes a long time to dry. Hair can seem dull. Water beads up on the hair and takes a while to be absorbed.
Characteristics of high porosity: Absorbs water immediately. Hair dries very quickly. Hair tends to be very dry and frizzy often.
Tests to find out:
H2O test: spritz CLEAN hair with water if it beads up on the surface your hair is likely low porosity. If the hair absorbs it then your hair is higher porosity
Float test: CLEAN shed hair. Place hair in a cup with room temperature water. Wait 2-3 mins. If the hair is floating then you have low porosity. If it stops in the middle it is medium porosity. If it sinks all the way to the bottom then it is high porosity.
Now that you know your hair porosity you are ready to get the products best suited for your hair.
- Low porosity: mango butter, olive oil, jojoba oil, argan oil, honey
- High porosity: mango butter, shea butter, olive oil, hemp seed oil, castor oil, peanut protein, hydrolyzed protein
4Curls has a line based on your hair type Strengthen and Restore for high porosity. And Moisturize and Hydrate for low porosity hair.