Hair porosity – check it out!

To be fully conscious of how to take care of your hair, what is needs to grow strong and healthy, you must know porosity it has.

This is the most important criteria determining the condition of your hair. Additionally, it allows to match proper cosmetics and preparations – and most importantly – choose the appropriate hair oil. Hair oiling with the use of suitable oil will regenerate even the most damaged hair. The knowledge of hair porosity will also guide you how to deal with it – what to avoid during daily treatments and what type of care to choose.

What is hair porosity? 

Porosity is a term categorising hair on the basis of the degree of how microscopic scales located on their surface are raised. That degree is very important because it tells about the extent of destruction of hair and its condition. The more scales are parted on the surface of the hair, the more it is destroyed. Healthy hair has tightly bound cuticle layer with overlapping scales that lay flat. It is forming a smooth surface which protects hair from damage and does not allow toxic components to penetrate into the interior of strands.

The porosity of hair is a bit like the petals of flowers – the more they are tight to each other, the younger and firmer the flower is. The more the petals are parted, the older the flower is – the cup opens up to completely wither and lose petals. Hair cuticles work in a similar way. The more parted, the more “wither” your hair is.

How to check hair porosity?

The best way to determine hair porosity is to….drown a hair.

Take one clean hair. Make sure it is free of any silicones and simply put it into a dish or glass filled with water (remember that this water must have room temperature). After about 10 minutes, have a look at what has happened to your hair. If the wisp is still drifting on the surface, it means that your strands are healthy and have low porosity. Furthermore, if the wisp dived a little bit, but it stays in the middle – you hair is of medium porosity. However, if your wisp went all the way to the bottom – your hair has high porosity and the cuticle layer is loose. In this case, do not wait any longer but immediately start your treatment with natural oils.

Types of oils recommended for particular hair porosity:

• Low porosity hair: use babassu, coconut or palm oil.
• Medium porosity hair: choose argan, macadamia, sesame or avocado oil.
• High porosity hair: buy grape seed oil, sunflower, pumpkin seed, linseed or corn oil.