Having textured hair means constantly battling to keep our hair moisturized. Some of us even go on quests to find the perfect regimen and holy grail products that will keep our tresses happy for days on end.
But coily hair has it’s own unique moisturizing challenges. Because the circumference of coily hair is smaller than that of curly hair, natural scalp oils take longer to travel down the hair shaft, leaving coils more prone to dryness and breakage.
Keeping your coils well hydrated doesn’t have to be complicated, however. It’s as simple as understanding your hair’s porosity and knowing what to use for your curl pattern.
Hair Porosity and Moisture
Your hair’s porosity is the measure of its ability to absorb and hold onto moisture, and the best indicator for how you should moisturize it. In order to find out your hair’s porosity, take one of your shed hairs and place it in a glass of water. If it floats quickly to the bottom, then your hair has high porosity. If it takes forever and a day to sink, then you have low porosity hair. Lastly, if it sinks at a pace that is neither too fast nor slow, then you have normal porosity hair.
MORE: How to Find Your Hair Porosity & Density
This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2012 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Care Methods, Kinky Hair (Type 4a), Kinky Hair (Type 4b), Kinky Hair (Type 4c). You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.
August 19th, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Wow!!! This page is really teaching me a lot about my hair. I’m 6 months into transitioning. I’m learning hair types and I had no idea about porosity. I always wondered why my hair wouldn’t take moisturizer. Thanks for this article.
August 21st, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Thanks for the article. I tried the porosity test last night. It is key to know that in order to choose the right products. This is in reference to articles where people complain that they don’t want to get on the band wagon and use butters or wet their hair. Don’t do it if your hair is not that type. It is not just about the curl pattern. My hair seems to be high porosity. I now use SheaMoisture brands cream and gel on my hair in addition to my favorite leave-in, thanks to articles and vlogs on this website, and my hair looks great! Thanks too to the stylist at livecurlylivefree.com. I love helpful, factual information. Thanks!