Porosity Perfected: Understanding Your Hair’s Needs

Hair porosity is a term that’s used to describe how easily your hair is able to soak up and retain moisture. Depending on how porous your hair is, it may be classified as having high, medium, or low porosity.
If you have high porosity hair, it means that water, oils, and other types of products can be easily absorbed by your hair. On the flip side, because your hair is highly porous, it may not be able to retain moisture as well as other types of hair.
If you want to get a better understanding of highly porous hair, how to care for it, and the types of products to use, this article may have the answers you’re looking for.

What is High Porosity Hair?

To grasp hair porosity, it’s helpful to understand a bit about your hair’s structure.

Each hair strand is composed of three layers:

-Cuticle: The outermost protective layer
– Cortex: The middle layer, which provides strength and color
– Medulla: The innermost layer

The cuticle layer is made up of tiny, overlapping scales that control how much moisture, products, and chemicals can enter and exit your hair. When these cuticles are tightly packed, moisture has a hard time penetrating the hair shaft—this is known as low porosity hair.

In contrast, high porosity hair has cuticles that are more widely spaced. While this allows moisture to enter easily, it also means that moisture escapes just as quickly, leaving the hair dry and brittle.

High porosity hair can be hereditary, but more often, it results from damage due to heat styling, chemical treatments like bleaching, and other hair processing techniques. These treatments can cause the cuticles to lift or become damaged, creating gaps that increase hair porosity.

Understanding your hair’s porosity can help you tailor your hair care routine to ensure your locks get the moisture and nutrients they need to stay healthy and vibrant.
What are the characteristics of high porosity hair?
You may have high porosity hair if your hair:
looks and feels dry
tends to be frizzy
tangles easily
is prone to breakage
air dries very quickly
absorbs products quickly
rarely looks shiny
Key Ingredients:
Protein Treatments (Keratin, Collagen, Silk Protein): High porosity hair often benefits from protein treatments, which help to fill in the gaps and holes in the hair shaft, strengthening the hair and reducing breakage.

Natural Oils (Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Jojoba Oil): These oils are excellent for sealing in moisture. Coconut oil, in particular, has the ability to penetrate the hair shaft, nourishing and moisturizing the hair from within.

Shea Butter: Rich in fatty acids, shea butter is great for sealing moisture into the hair. It also provides a protective layer that can help reduce moisture loss.

Aloe Vera: Aloe vera can hydrate the hair and smooth the cuticle surface. It also has a pH level that is similar to that of hair, which can help to balance the pH levels of high porosity hair.

Honey: As a natural humectant, honey attracts moisture and helps retain it in the hair. This can be particularly beneficial for high porosity hair that loses moisture quickly.

Apple Cider Vinegar: Using an apple cider vinegar rinse can help to flatten and close the hair cuticles, making the hair smoother and less prone to moisture loss.

Antioxidants (Vitamin E, Green Tea Extract): These help to protect the hair from environmental damage and can assist in repairing some of the damage to the hair cuticles.