What Is Hair Porosity & Everything You Need To Know

Does your hair constantly feel dry? Does it frizz easily? And, does every product you use leave you disappointed? Well, it all depends on your hair's porosity. It plays a major role in identifying the slew of products and treatments that you and your hair can benefit from. Hair porosity is highly overlooked when we discuss common hair woes. In fact, a lot of hair concerns stem from our hair not being the ideal kind of porous. Our hair doesn’t contain any live cells that can’t soak any of the hair care products we provide. The only way it can absorb anything is due to its porosity. Just like a sponge, our hair too has tiny holes that can soak up the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that hair care products contain. But if the tiny holes are too big, the formulation will simply fall out of it, and if the gaps are too small, the formulation will never get a chance to absorb, making hair porosity an important part of healthy hair.

Keep reading to find out what hair porosity is, what causes your hair to be high or low in porosity, how to determine the porosity of your hair, what one can do to remedy them, and finally, expert product recommendations to fix the porosity level of your hair without damaging them further.

What Is Hair Porosity?

Hair porosity is the hair’s ability to absorb and retain hydration. Your hair’s porosity levels affect how well oil and moisture can seep in and out of the outermost layer of your hair called the cuticle.

To understand the concept of hair porosity, it is important to understand the hair structure better. Hair is made up of 3 layers -

1. The cuticle is the protective outer layer
2. The cortex is the thickest layer containing fibrous proteins
3. The medulla is the soft centre of the hair shaft.

Moisture needs to pass through the cuticle to the cortex in order to remain healthy and hydrated. The arrangement of the cuticles decides the porosity of one’s hair. For a deep dive into the structure of your hair, click here.

Types Of Hair Porosity & How They Are Different

1. Low porosity - In this, the cuticle is tightly woven preventing moisture absorption and retention. Hair takes a longer time to get wet and dry. Products tend to build up on the hair rather than being absorbed.
2. Medium porosity - This is considered normal, where moisture enters the hair shafts and retains it too. This type of hair is responsive to chemical treatments like bleaches, colourants and relaxers.
3. High porosity - In this, the cuticles tend to have multiple gaps in them allowing easy entry and exit of moisture. High porosity hair tends to experience more frizz and dryness and breaks easily sometimes.

How to determine hair porosity at home?

To test your hair porosity at home, all you need to do is drop a freshly washed strand of hair into a glass of water. If the strand floats, it has low porosity. If it sinks to the middle of the glass, it has medium porosity. And if it sinks to the bottom, it has high porosity.

What Causes Hair Porosity?

Hair porosity levels indicate how absorbent your hair is in order for it to adequately absorb formulae and water to retain its strength and elasticity. Our strands are meant to be the right amount of porous for products to seep in but not easily seep out.

There are three levels of hair porosity that you might experience – high, medium, and low; let’s break it down for you.

High porosity hair refers to hair strands that are overtly porous. This suggests that formulas and nutrients immediately leave the strands without getting the chance to adequately absorb into the hair. High porosity hair is caused when you excessively style, dye, or bleach your hair. It may also be caused due to thermal damage, chemical treatments, UV exposure, or over-washing. High porosity hair tends to be damaged, dry, brittle, and frizzy.

Low porosity hair refers to hair that is too dense for any solution, water, or formulation to even enter. It gets easily tangled, loses all its shine, and takes a lot of time to air-dry. This condition could be genetic and may not be caused due to any chemical or mechanical reason. As you’d rightly guess, medium porosity hair is ideal.

How To Determine Hair Porosity At Home

To test your hair porosity at home, all you need to do is drop a freshly washed strand of hair into a glass of water. If the strand floats, it has low porosity. If it sinks to the middle of the glass, it has medium porosity. And if it sinks to the bottom, it has high porosity.

Characteristics Of Hair Based On Porosity Levels

If you have porosity hair:

• Hair products build up on your hair, rather than being absorbed
• It takes longer for your hair to air-dry
• Water takes longer to saturate your hair when washing

If you have medium/ normal porosity hair:

• It is easier to style and this type of hair holds hairstyles longer
• Hair looks healthier and glossier
• It takes colour well

If you have high porosity hair:

• Hair tends to be frizzy and dry
• It tends to break easily and is prone to tangling
• It air dries quicker

Care Tips According To Hair Porosity Levels

For low porosity hair:

• Look for shampoos with humectant ingredients like glycerine, hyaluronic acid, sorbitol, and honey among others
• Use protein-free/silicone-free conditioners and apply it to already wet hair for better absorption
• Avoid heavy hair care products consisting of oils because they take longer to penetrate through the cuticle. As per research, coconut-based hair oils increase the hydrophobicity of hair, have a porosity reduction effect, and have damage repair potential, too.
• Don’t use excessive amounts of products and apply them evenly across your hair’s length
• Use clarifying shampoos to remove product build-up, if any, at least once a week

For high porosity hair:

• Shampoos and conditioners with butters and oils work best to add extra moisture to your hair
• Slightly acidic shampoos and conditioners with silicone help form a coating on the hair, reducing the loss of moisture
• Use leave-in conditioners to help your hair retain moisture
• Pamper your hair with an oil massage with coconut, jojoba, olive or avocado oil regularly for nourishment
• Avoid using heated styling tools, and if you do, make sure to use a heat protectant spray to prevent damage

To conclude, while hair porosity is a lesser-known term in hair care, understanding it is important to give your hair the best care it deserves. Keep them looking strong and healthy inside out. Explore the best tips and at-home treatments to repair damaged hair.

Parting Thoughts

While hair porosity is a lesser-known term in hair care, understanding it is important to give your hair the best care it deserves. If you possess highly porous hair, make sure you give your hair a break from chemical treatments, dyeing, and bleaching, so it has sufficient time to heal and all your hair care products have a chance to work their magic. On the other hand, if your hair is low on the porosity level, avoid heavy hair care products that are oil-based and opt for water-based solutions as they may easily penetrate your hair shaft. Overall, check your hair quality from time to time to keep them looking strong and healthy inside out. Explore the best tips and at-home treatments to repair damaged hair.

Nykaa Product Recommendations

FAQs

1. What is hair porosity?

   Hair porosity is the level of absorbency your hair possesses. Medium hair porosity is ideal, while high and low hair porosity require repair. Highly porous hair will absorb all substances without retaining their benefits and low porous hair won’t absorb anything at all, owing to its density.

2. What are the types of hair porosity?

   There are three types of hair porosity – high, medium, and low. High porosity hair is when your hair strands are extremely porous and don’t retain any substances and low porosity hair is when your hair strands are too dense, failing to absorb essential nutrients.

3. How to repair hair porosity?

   The best way to balance hair porosity is by offering your hair protein. You can do so with serums and nourishing oils like coconut, jojoba, shea, and almond oil that enter the hair shaft to deliver essential nutrients.

4. How to prevent high porosity hair?

   Avoid over-bleaching, dyeing, and styling your hair with hot tools and gels, waxes, or creams. Once you cleanse your hair of these chemical-laden formulations, they would have stripped the hair of its strength and elasticity.

5. How to grow high porosity hair?

   Focus on conditioning and adding hydration to weak, highly porous hair. Add protein in the form of nourishing oils and air dry your hair. Use cold water to rinse the hair and keep thermal styling tools at bay.