Low porosity has been a major issue for a huge populace. Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of this problem, we shall explain what the term hair porosity means.
Hair porosity is the ability of hair follicles to soak and conserve moisture and oils. Hair which is low in porosity is not healthy as there is no moisture retention and oils are also not absorbed optimally. Low porosity can be treated with multiple solutions like using low porosity hair products. The moisture is neither absorbed nor retained easily in the hair shafts. This leads to rapid saturation of the hair follicles when washed.
The repulsion facets of such low porosity hair make it difficult for them to be managed and styled. We shall look closely at other factors of low porosity hair.
What is low porosity hair?
To understand this advanced concept, you must be aware of the fact that hair follicle is nothing else but three layers of dead cells arranged distinctively.
These 3 layers are:
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Cuticles:
The cuticle is the outermost layer of a hit follicle. These resemble the structure and arrangement of tiles put over one another in a way that they overlap.
-
Cortex:
The thickest layer of second to the cuticle is the cortex. It is responsible for hair color and constitutes proteins and pigments.
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Medulla:
The innermost layer in a hair follicle is the medulla.
When there is a low porosity condition, the tiles of the cuticles of the hair are very tightly packed and leave little to no space for the moisture to be absorbed. This lack of absorption of moisture, oils, conditioners, and other hair products makes the hair rough and damaged in appearance.
Generally, low porosity is an outcome of the genetic makeup of an individual. Low porosity isn’t caused by the use of heat and chemicals.
As a matter of fact, contrasting, heat and chemicals lead to high porosity and now the other way around. Meaning, the hair cuticles are impacted in a way that their tiles spread apart and make more space than usual. This again, makes it difficult for the hair follicles to absorb and preserve moisture.
What does low porosity hair look like?
There are several issues that pop up because of low porosity hair.
We are here to discuss some of these:
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Products sitting on hair:
Instead of getting absorbed, the hair products that you use sit on the hair follicles as it is. For instance, the products like oil or moisturizer when put on the hair follicles tend to sit there for long and can be felt as being greasy. The absorption is minute and the scarcity can be felt amply.
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Washing and drying are longer than usual:
Water hardly generates your hair follicles thus making it a tedious task to wash your hair. Then, if wet, air drying might feel like a task of ages. It usually takes very longer than general to dry the low porosity hair even with a blow dryer.
Testing your hair:
Here’s a test you can take for your hair to check if it has low porosity.
- The first step would be to wash your hair off any products and get them all clean and natural.
- The next very obvious step is to get them completely dried – air or hair dryers your choice.
- Next up, when fully dried, pull out a strand of hair from the whole bunch and put the lower portion in a glass of clear water.
- As you put your hair in the water, there are a number of possibilities that could happen.
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- If the hair floats for some time and then sinks into the water, then you likely have low porosity.
- If the strand floats somewhere at the middle of the glass, it has got medium porosity.
- Hair strand that sinks deep into the glass pretty quickly accounts for the highly porous hair trait.
Ok, but what to do?
To take care of the low porous hair, one can choose from different options- oils for low porosity hair, shampoos for low porosity hair, deep conditioner for low porosity hair. Now here is a detailed description of how you should take care of your low porosity hair and how to moisturize low porosity hair that is too stubborn to get it done in a regular trial.
Now you might think that putting extra hair products might be one of the solutions. But here’s a tip- there is no point in dumping your hair with additional product.
No matter how much product you soak in your hair, it will not be absorbed completely.
- Make sure that the products have the correct formulation to be used for low porosity hair.
- The ingredients of the products must have a high penetration value.
- Applying hair products when they are wet is a great way to get started with the treatment of low porous hair. Heat lifts the hair cuticles a little which provides space for the product to set in.
- The shampoo for low porosity hair should be the one that has honey and glycerin in it. Try brands like Kinky curly, Garnier Fructis, Neutrogena, etc. Food better results.
- Diluting conditioner while applying it to your hair is the best way to use the conditioner In low porosity hair. Brands like Davines Ol and Deva curls are great for this purpose.
- For deep conditioning, you can even try putting up the conditioner on your hair follicles and letting it sit for an ample amount of time by capping it with a shower cap.
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