CurlTalk - Low porosity hair, should we final rinse with cold water?

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Low porosity hair, should we final rinse with cold water?

I have very low porosity hair, it takes forever to dry and I hate it, now I came across this:

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That stuff about how cold water as a final rinse reduces frizz? It also lays down the cuticle, which is horrible for lowly porous hair as it has a hard enough time getting moisture in.

Would this mean that it's better to skip the cold water rinse at the end of my shower cycle? Also, if i skipped it, would this mean my hair would dry quicker?

Any other tips are welcome too, I have short but thick (not very thick) hair and even after 6 hours it sometimes look (and more or less is) wet.. :sad1:

Thanks girls!

I'm surprised that your low porosity hair takes a long time to dry, unless you have a ton of it. My hair is highly porous and that is usally an issue with porous hair.

As far as will it take less time to dry if you skipped it? Probably not. Would it keep your hair from allowing the moisture in? Not if you have started off with warmer water to open the cuticle to allow the moisture in to begin with. Will it add shine? Definitely.

All in all, it's up to you.

eta the reason that the cold water rinse reduces frizz is that it does lay down the cuticle. That's also how it adds shine.

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Originally Posted by rymorg2 (Post 2025985)

I've always read the opposite. Low porosity is has difficulty absorbing and giving up moisture, high porosity absorbs and gives up moisture easily.

I have low porosity hair, and unfortunately not much of it thanks to age, thyroid and medication I take. My hair is chin length bob. I wet, use a rinse out and style every day. Wrap in Curlease towel while I dress, etc., use a CLU to scrunch out the water and diffuse for 5 minutes with a professional dryer. It still takes my hair several hours to dry. When I worked (and before I used products), it would still be damp 5 hours later without the curl towels.

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Originally Posted by kathymack (Post 2026003)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rymorg2 (Post 2025985)

It's TOTALLY not true for my hair. I do always follow with a cold distilled water rinse though, so maybe that has something to do with it in my case. Although it could also be the sheer volume of hair I have. I definitely absorb easily, and all my porosity tests have pointed to high porosity mostly due to coloring. Maybe it's time to retest.

eta I just retested and am changing my porosity to normal to high. Most of the hair other than where I have left over highlights has normal. If it weren't for the highlights it would all be normal. Which explains why my hair holds water so well if coupled with the amount I have.

OP: I usually hear that low porosity hair does take a long time to dry. Mine seems to take forever with product in it & dries fast if there's no product in it. As far as cold water rinse or not, I'm still unsure. It seems like if I'm going to apply something I want to absorb next, it should be warm water.

I have low porosity hair, and I actually rinse in hot water. I wash my hair, rinse in hot, apply conditioner and detangle, rinse in hot, and then I apply my leave-in. When I rinse in cold, my hair doesn't absorb my leave-in. Hot water opens it up to absorb the moisture. HTH!

Thanks for all the replies.

So theoretically speaking a final cold water rinse is less important/makes less of a difference for people with very low porosity hair? Do I understand this correctly?

I have low porosity hair. I rarely do a cold water rinse - mostly because I don't like cold water! My hair takes about 3 hours to dry completely, but looks mostly dry in about 2 hours....