What Is Hair Porosity?

Hair porosity is a term that defines how much our hair is capable of absorbing water and maintain the moisture and the substances from the products and treatments we use for hydration, nutrition, and reconstruction, which are part of the capillary schedule.

This condition is determined by the cuticles of our hair, which are the hair fiber’s external layers. They can be very closed, half-open, or overly open, causing problems at different levels, depending on the type of porosity, which varies from the dryness, breakage, and frizz of the strands.

Did you know that 7 to 10 layers of cuticles form our hair? They work as scales that together form a protective “ring” around the wires. And it is this “ring” that will determine how easy the substances from the hair products penetrate the hair fiber and the water necessary to maintain the hair’s hydration.

In general, capillary porosity is genetic inheritance. However, some external factors, such as pollution, humidity, excessive sun exposure, and chemical processes, such as a hairdryer, and flat iron, can also make our locks even more porous.

Types Of Capillary Porosity

As we said earlier, each hair has a different type of porosity, which will determine the problems of each hair and what care must be taken to treat them. Capillary porosity can be high, medium, and low. See what the characteristics of the hair on each level are:

Low porosity

The hair with low porosity has very closed cuticles, which end up making the process of absorbing water or any substance and nutrients present in the hair products that we use daily very difficult.

Medium porosity

Hair with medium porosity has half-open cuticles, facilitating the process of absorbing water, nutrients, and substances from the hair products we use daily. In this case, we are talking about normal or healthy hair.

High porosity

High porosity hair has its cuticles exaggeratedly open. It can absorb the water and nutrients just as easily as they are lost. This process leaves the hair with frizz, extremely dry, and brittle.

Capillary Porosity Test – Step by Step

After understanding what capillary porosity is, you must ask yourself: “After all, how do I know the porosity of my hair?” The answer is simple! For this, you will need to do the capillary porosity test, which is very easy to do. Check out the step by step below.

Step 1: The first thing you need to know is that to do the porosity test, your hair needs to be clean, so the best is to wash it on the same day.

Step 2: Then, you will need a glass with water and a hair shaft. You don’t have to get it out of your head! Just pick one that fell after combing your hair.

Step 3: Place the hair inside the glass with water and wait for about 10 minutes. Identify if the hair had any of the following actions:

The results:

If your hair floats, it has low porosity. If it sinks halfway through the glass, your locks are with medium porosity. Your hair can also sink to the bottom of the glass. In this case, its porosity is high.

What Care Should I Take With Porous Hair?

With the capillary porosity test, you can identify which level of porosity is your hair. Now, you need to understand what care you should take. For each type of porosity, according to each stage of the capillary schedule, there is specific care, which you already know from this post. Know what they are:

High porosity hair = Reconstruction

Hair with high porosity is a hair with a lot of damage, as the cuticles are overly open and, therefore, susceptible to all possible damages in everyday life.

Therefore, it is necessary to invest in a capillary reconstruction to reconstruct the damaged capillary fiber. The tip is to do this procedure with a concentrated mask or with liquid keratin.

Medium porosity hair = Nutrition

Medium porosity wires are porous at a normal or healthy level. They have their cuticles half open and can absorb water and nutrients from hair products normally, without any difficulty, which keeps them nourished while being protected.

In this case, just increase the days of nutrition in your capillary schedule to remain your hair healthy. Use a concentrated mask or invest in oils.

Low porosity hair = Hydration

The hair with low porosity has the cuticles very closed, making it difficult to absorb water and nutrients present in the hair products we use daily. In this case, you need to bet on more hydration days to try to return the water and nutrients.