Does Porosity Change with CG?

gardencurls · 10-21-2011, 09:54 AM

Before starting CG last summer I think my hair would have been in the very high porosity category. My hair has been colored treated for around 30 years...It was so damaged it dreadlocked itself overnight. I cut a lot off and I've been CG for two months.

I just learned about the "porosity test" with a glass of water. I took 4 strands of hair from different places on my head and put them in water. I assumed they'd sink instantly, but they all float. Within 5 minutes, only one of them has sunk to the bottom of the glass...Even when I shake the glass, the hair don't sink, they just float around like little snakes.

Am I doing something wrong? It doesn't seem possible that my hair could have low porosity...But I don't really understand how porosity works.

Eecen · 10-22-2011, 02:15 PM

Taken from this link: Live Curly, Live Free: Hair Porosity

Quote:

Hair with high porosity is considered "overly porous" and is the result of previous overprocessing. Other factors that can also affect porosity include heat damage, chlorine/hard water/mineral saturation, sun damage, or use of harsh ingredients. Overly porous hair is damaged in some way, and is dry, fragile and brittle.

Quote:

Unfortunately, porosity issues stemming from irreparable hair damage CANNOT be permanently corrected. Only time can truly mend damaged hair.

Since you said you color treated your hair often, and that it was dreading itself at night I'm going to out on a limb and say that your hair has healed itself, and that it's natural porosity is in fact low.

I'm not sure about the testing method you mentioned, but maybe try this one in combination?

Quote:

You can check porosity on dry hair by taking a strand of several hairs from four different areas of the head (front hairline, temple, crown and nape). Slide the thumb and index finger of your other hand down each hair strand from end to scalp. If it is smooth, you have normal porosity. If your fingers move very fast up the hair strand and it feels exceptionally slick, dense and hard, you have low porosity. If your fingers "catch" going up the strand, feel like they are ruffling up the hair strand, or if the hair strand breaks, your hair is overly porous.

Hope that helps

shainala · 10-25-2011, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gardencurls

I just learned about the "porosity test" with a glass of water. I took 4 strands of hair from different places on my head and put them in water. I assumed they'd sink instantly, but they all float. Within 5 minutes, only one of them has sunk to the bottom of the glass...Even when I shake the glass, the hair don't sink, they just float around like little snakes.

Am I doing something wrong? It doesn't seem possible that my hair could have low porosity...But I don't really understand how porosity works.

You're doing the test correctly. I did that test and left my hair strands alone in the glass of water for over an hour and nothing.... They just floated. I was sure I'd done something wrong because someone told me all 4a/3c kinky hair is by its nature high porosity. So I recently I decided to send some strands in for a lab test at Curl Wizard and the float test was confirmed. I have extremely low porosity hair. I literally have to smooth water into my curls.

gardencurls · 10-25-2011, 07:17 PM

Shainala, your post got me thinking...So much of what I thought about my hair for my whole life was based on assumption because I knew my hair was dry, color-treated, etc. I can't remember a stylist ever mentioning porosity, or even texture. I can't say I'm overly experienced with stylists or salons, though, other than the years when I wore my hair very short. During those years, my goal was "not to look like a poodle", so stylists obviously wouldn't have been recommending products that were optimum for my natural texture.

The strangest thing, to me, is that it seemed like stylists considered my hair to be fine, porous, and thin... But a single strand of my hair is very visible, and you can't see my scalp when my hair is pulled back, except a little at my temples. When I was a kid, my neighbor used to thin my hair out with a razor, but over the years I guess damaged my hair so much I never knew what it could do!

It's ridiculous, isn't it, the amount of hassle we've gone through to make our appearances fit into an unattainable, air-brushed idea of "pretty"!

That being said, I'm going to check out Curl Wizard!

Gilly07 · 10-26-2011, 01:29 AM

I checked my porosity this morning, I put the hair in a glass of water and went off to do other things after 10-15 mins I checked and they were all still floating happily!
I then tried the test where you run your fingers ofer the hair from the ends to the root, I used hair from the same areas, it felt nice and smooth but when I pulled on it, it snapped.
What does this mean???
I am 2a/b, natural blonde, very fine hair that is VERY prone to frizz and fluff!