Porosity question

Myrna

After all this time, you'd think I would know my hair properties, wouldn't ya? but I dont.

Question: When I get out of the shower and go to blot my hair - with a curlease (non microfiber, non terry cloth) towel, there is actually very little water on it.

Is this Low or High?

WavyKfromNJ

I think it depends on how much you scrunch before you use the towel and any products you use.

I determined my porosity as high because my hair soaks up water instantly when I wash it.

HTH,

Myrna

I barely scrunch at all
Almost no water is on the towel.

curlypearl

Myrna, my hair is high porosity partly because I color it, which damages it somewhat. Since you don't color your hair, and from what you say about drying it after a shower, you probably have low or medium porosity.

Isn't there some kind of test involving placing strands of hair in a dish of water? Not sure how accurate that is. Hopefully others will chime in and also I think on youtube there maybe videos of testing for hair porosity using the water in a dish method. Let us know!

Myrna

Hi, Curlypearl:

I have thought for a while that my hair may be LP. It behaves like LP; it dislikes oils and weighs down easily. However, it does not take forever to dry as many curlies report; but this could be due to the fact that it is not very long, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I did not use a hair dryer on it and I wash it daily. I know it does not do well with glycerin. Yes there is the floating hair test but I hear that is not very reliable. You have LP hair if it floats and does not sink. I have never wanted to take the time and spend the money to get it analyzed. But honestly, my hair does hardly drips at all w hen it is soaking wet.

Therese1

I have come to the conclusion that my hair is low porosity even though it doesn't take forever to dry either. I attribute that to the fact that it is very fine. But sometimes I can feel conditioner sitting on top of the hair when I apply it in the shower, and it needs time to sink in. Also, when I spritz my hair with water to refresh, it often takes a lot of scrunching to work the water into my hair, because the water wants to bead up on top and just sit there. These are signs of low porosity.

I find that sometimes low-po hair can feel dry right after showering because the water rolls off the hair, since the cuticle is so flat. That may be what is happening in your case, and why you have so little water on your towel.

Guide 65

The strand float test is inaccurate for sure, and I think the dry time test is inaccurate as well. There are so many different factors that can affect the dry time. How much water you remove with your towel, how much product you put it your hair, what kind of product, the density of your hair, whether you clip or not, etc. etc. I can vary my dry time from under 1 hour to 4 + hours, just depending on how I treat it.

I determined my porosity by the fact that no product ever "sinks in" or gets absorbed. It just sits on top of my hair, sliding around. Oils, conditioners, creams, doesn't matter. I have to use such a small amount of everything otherwise it gets weighed down.

Myrna

Janiegirl, I think that too would vary depending on whether one's hair is coarse, medium or fine. My hair is coarse.