Tuesday, March 1, 2011 2:00 PM
Posted by GG | Filed under Healthy Natural Hair
I'm still
1. My hair porosity is low. I took a strand of my hair and put it in a glass of water and it floated. Check out this informational post over at Natural Selection for how to evaluate your hair porosity.
Here's what Naturally Curly has to say about low porosity:
Hair described as having low porosity is characterized by a very tightly bound cuticle layer, where the individual cuticle scales lie flat and overlap one another. Low porosity hair is often quite shiny, especially if it is a darker color. Overall this type of hair is considered to be quite healthy. If your hair repels water when you attempt to wet it, that is a good indication that it has low porosity. It can be quite difficult to process, because it resists penetration of the chemicals being used.
Low porosity hair is more prone to an excessive accumulation of protein if deep conditioning products are used and will feel very stiff and straw-like. It requires products rich in moisture and emollients and also benefits most from products that contain humectants, which attract moisture to the hair and hold it there. If hair with very few or very small openings becomes dry for some reason, it can be more difficult to restore proper moisture balance to it. In this case, a deep conditioning treatment with moderate heat would be a good way to ensure the cuticle is sufficiently opened up to allow moisture to enter into the cortex.
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2. Henna is not made of protein like I thought, after all (thanks anonymous reader for educating me!) However, there is a chemical in it called Lawsone (which also is the ingredient that dyes your hair) that coats the hair and fills in the "holes" where the hair cuticle is raised. This chemical is attracted to protein. It doesn't penetrate the hair, it attaches itself to the hair cuticle. This explains why my hair feels heavier, appears thicker and shinier after a henna treatment. I got this infro from this series on The Natural Haven called How Henna Works.
3. I recently started using Fermodyl 619 for Curly, Coarse hair and I'm looking into Roux porosity control products to ensure that my hair is absorbing moisture as it should. I also plan to continue periodic henna treatments.
Is this all old news to you? I'm excited because I know the more I learn the more I'll be able to work smarter and not harder on keeping my hair healthy and happy. Oh and big. Healthy, happy and big.
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I'm just learning about porosity too. I've been natural for 4 years now & I have a hard time retaining moisture. But this was the case when I was on the creaky crack too. I tired the water test last week & my hair just floated to the top & never sank. It was pretty cool to see the strand curl up in the water, shrinkage I guess there's no way to avoid it. So like you I'm obsessed with finding out any & everything that will help my hair retain moisture. You post was a good start for me.
Where have I been??? This is my first time learning about porosity. This is going to really help me understand what is good for my hair. Now I'm off the try the test :)!
Thanks for this info, GG! I will have to do that porosity test tomorrow for me and my daughter. I have a feeling I have low porosity hair though. My hair loves humectants and it doesn't seem to absorb water at all.
BTW ~ Love the pink dress picture.
♥☺ CC
I remember reading about it a bit early in my journey. I was on Curly Nikki's site and I recall thinking that it was just too much to process at the time. I figured I'd get around to it one day and here I am. I'm glad you ladies are enlightened by this too! I think being aware of it will help us make better decisions about what we put in our hair.
@Carmen The pink dress is heavenly isn't it??? I love everything about that picture.
Great post! I am not sure of the porosity of my hair, but I plan to do the test your described as soon as I finish writing this. Thanks for sharing!
Your welcome Jessica! :) Glad this helps.