Hair porosity: what hair routine should you adopt?
When you have curly, kinky or frizzy hair, you need to use specific products to moisturise and nourish it. However, despite a solid hair routine, with quality products, it can still be dry or even greasy. If this happens to you, keep calm, you are not alone. And above all, it's not serious or irreparable. In fact, it is due to the porosity of the hair. And as long as you don't know how porous your hair is, you can't adopt the right habits to take care of it. Fortunately, to determine the degree of porosity - low, normal or high - you don't need to go to the hairdresser or resort to complicated methods. All you have to do is perform a test at home.
How do you know if you have porous hair? And what does it mean?
Are your attempts to make your hair less dull and dry unsuccessful? This is probably due to the porosity of the hair, i.e. its capacity to absorb moisture. This depends mainly on your hair type, but it can be accentuated if your hair has been weakened (by straightening or colouring for example). To find out whether yours is weak, medium or strong, there is a simple test to perform. Put a few clean, dry strands of hair in a clear glass of water (there's no need to pull out a strand, it can be painful! Take one on your brush), then wait 3 minutes:
- if the strand remains on the surface, the porosity of the hair is low
- if it flows smoothly and stops in the middle of the glass, it is normal;
- if it sinks quickly to the bottom of the glass, it is strong.
In concrete terms, if your hair is not very porous, this means that it does not absorb moisture well and cannot withstand chemical products and treatments (such as colouring). If it is moderately porous, it is ideal in a way because the water is well absorbed, which guarantees good hydration. On the other hand, if it is very porous, it retains too much moisture and humidity... and when it dries out, it releases the moisture which results in dehydrated hair.
Our tips to moisturise and take care of your hair
As you can see, to choose the best hair routine, you need to take into account the porosity of the hair. Whatever the degree, you can find suitable care products that allow you to fight against this dry, dull appearance. First of all, avoid chemical aggression - colouring, bleaching, straightening - and external aggression, such as the sun, brushing too hard, rubbing with scarves. Then, choose silicone-free products. Then, take into account the degree of porosity to adopt the right gestures:
- if it is weak: heat is your ally when applying your masks or treatments. Avoid heavy, thick styling products and opt instead for light vegetable oils (jojoba or sweet almond for example).
- If it is average: no particular restrictions. You can keep your usual routine. Just limit colouring and straightening.
- If it is strong: use vegetable oils and butters (shea, macadamia, castor ...), protein treatments and rinse your hair with cold water.
And if you are looking for natural products that do not damage the hair fibres, please visit our online shop! We have a range of products suitable for porous hair.