Hair Porosity Test

What is "porosity"?

According to The Webster Dictionary, porosity means: "The quality or state of being porous." Essentially, hair porosity is about your hair's ability to absorb and retain moisture. The porosity of your hair affects how well oils and moisture pass in and out of the outermost layer of your hair, known as the cuticle.

HOW TO TAKE THE POROSITY TEST

Step 1) Wash your hair
Step 2) DO NOT condition your hair
Step 3) DO NOT towel dry, let air dry
Step 4) Put clean strand with NO PRODUCT in it in a room temperature glass of water
Step 5) DO NOT touch the strand, let is sit for 15 mins
If your strand floats, it is low porosity. If it immediately sinks or sinks before 15 mins, it is high porosity. If it is in the middle, it is medium or normal porosity.
Results are only accurate if you followed the above steps. After doing this scroll down to our PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS!

Low Porosity Hair 

If you have low porosity hair, it doesn't necessarily mean you have unhealthy hair. It just means you might not be moisturizing correctly. According to Byrdie's interview with Chambers-Harris, "The cuticle layer is intact, but you're not moisturizing it properly, so it becomes dry and tangled."

One of the easiest ways to ensure your hair is getting the moisture it craves is to wash and condition it once a week (twice a week tops). "When you're thirsty, you don't drink conditioner or oil—you drink water." Aside from washing your hair weekly, she shares a pro-tip that can help get your wash day off to a good start: "Use an oil that can actually penetrate your hair strands before you shampoo. If you look at ancient cultures, they always tended to oil their hair before [cleansing]."

"Normal" Porosity Hair

Normal porosity hair is the easiest hair type to maintain because the hair cuticles tend to be more loose, and because of that, moisture penetrates the hair with ease. We recommend using our avocado hair mask and protein rinse to keep your hair balanced. Every week or bi-weekly use our deep conditioning hair mask. We recommend using the rice water infused protein rinse once a month to build protein/strength. 

High Porosity Hair

If your curls are experiencing excessive dryness, frizz, and snap easily, these may be a sign that you have high porosity hair, or hair that has a raised and porous cuticle. According to Byrdie's interview with Chambers-Harris, "With high porosity [hair], you can take in water, but you can't retain the water. Because of the protein structure of your hair, the cuticle layer is damaged from coloring, relaxing, etc. and you can't hold onto it." Chambers-Harris says how you treat your hair can affect your hair's porosity. "Let's say you have dyed your hair, you have a relaxer, or you're out in the sun a lot, then [the hair] tends to be high porosity." She says that doing anything that is damaging the cuticle layer often—even coloring the hair once or getting too much sun or chlorine—could leave you with high porosity hair.

No matter the porosity of your hair, Angelic Organics can help restore and maintain healthy hair. We recommend you use our avocado hair mask before you shampoo, use the organic chemical-free shampoo with our organic aloe vera conditioner to balance your hair strands, and follow up with a water-based moisturizer. Stay consistent, be patient, and listen to your hair.

Sources: Healthline, Byrdie