A balanced porosity level is what determines a hair that looks vibrant and lush, and that looks unkempt and heavy.
How to Fix Porous Hair
Everything boils down to how the hair absorbs moisture. Lamentably, our hair goes through a lot in different circumstances.
Chemical treatments like bleaching and coloring are the primary drivers of porous hair. However, damage from fabrics and harsh weather can exacerbate the issue. The first step on how to fix porous hair is to identify the kind of hair porous and comprehend how to restore its health.
Low Porosity vs. High Porosity
High porosity hair holds an excessive amount of moisture. This happens once the hair cuticle peels, allowing more moisture than necessary.
Healthy air absorbs approximately 30% of its water weight while high porosity hair takes up to 50%. While you might need to keep up some degree of moisture, excessively porous can lead to various issues.
Excessive water begins to weaken and stretch your hair strands. The pressure causes it to lose the snapback capability, and your hair loses shape and becomes unhealthy. This is the reason you ought to never put your hair in a steady wetness state— it becomes challenging to fix.
Here are some more attributes of exceptionally porous hair:
- It’s easily tangled
- Dries out easily
- Reacts to the weather; frizzy when wet and dry when dry
- Easy to dye; however, the colors wash out quickly
Here are some features of low-porous hair:
- Doesn’t retain moisture
- Very tight cuticles
- Feels as if hair product “sits” on top
Ideally, you prefer hair that’s somewhere between the two. Fortunately, there are approaches to alter hair porosity.
Fixing Porous Hair
The following are some of the best products and methods to balance your hair moisture levels and repair the cuticle.
1. Deep Conditioning
Regardless of whether you have balanced hair, a protein-rich profound conditioning treatment ought to be a piece of your regimen.
It’s stuffed with proteins and basically what strands need. The large part of the hair is protein; thus, you need to use such products.
When fixing porous hair, there’s little you might do concerning the ends. Rather, give close consideration to your underlying foundations.
Give the roots an additional couple minutes of scalp massage to improve the circulation. You don’t need the hair adjacent to the roots to have the same porous status.
2. Aloe Vera Gel
An incredible method to improve the state of your scalp is with a limited quantity of aloe vera gel.
You can use it as an independent item or within your conditioner.
Studies have demonstrated that aloe vera is probably the ideal approach to balance the scalp pH level and to assist in promoting a better flow.
3. Olive Oil or Coconut Oil
Including some amount of coconut oil or olive oil can aid in sealing the hair cuticle to resist moisture better.
It is among the few oils that can really infiltrate the hair shaft. Once it penetrates, it strengthens the hair structure.
You can likewise attempt shea butter. While the latter is heavier, both have a similar impact.
Fixing Low-Porous Hair
Utilize a heat treatment to assist in opening your cuticles. Search for dense moisturizing products that can penetrate fussy hair strands. Applying deep conditioning helps in opening cuticles over time.
Be patient when handling under-porous or highly porous hair. If you’re uncertain about whether your hair is porous or not, you should take the test.
If you need to get results, you should stay reliable with your daily practice. Deal with your eating routine, remain hydrated, and show restraint. You’ll see the outcomes you need if you follow the right procedure.
Fixing High Porosity Hair
The vast majority who just have an easygoing enthusiasm for their hair normally think about its appearance and the conditioner they love most.
It implies most individuals don’t consider the entirety of the variables that make their tresses have a fashionable look.
Other than density and texture, porosity determines how your hair carries on. These features regularly describe high porosity hair:
- Frizz
- Extreme dryness
- Lack of sheen or shine
- Easily tangles
- Inability to hold any style
- Sucks water quickly, and loses it fast
Underlying Causes of High Porosity Hair
- Using harsh products
- Over-manipulation
- Chemical processes, particularly overprocessing
- Thermal styling, especially high temperatures and/or using frequently
Your hair behaves that way because healthy cuticles that lay flat are now lifted and aren’t in an optimal condition.
If that’s the condition of your hair, it will take effort and time to make it healthy. You might need to quit engaging in those practices that got your hair into that state.
Working on High Porosity Hair
Damaged hair won’t mystically fix itself. Thus, you need a major trim or cut to begin the journey of restoring your hair.
To fix your hair, you’ll limit your heat utilization, and just have chemicals applied. If you must apply chemicals, only do so within a salon setting.
If you possess anything containing sulfates and that isn’t a clarifying cleanser, hurl it out. You need ultra-saturating chemicals that have no drying or harsh sulfates.
You next need a protein dose soonest possible. There’re various forms of protein treatments.
If you’re encountering extreme breakage because of high porosity harm, you may require an emergency product. ApHogee Two-Step Protein Treatment is a good example.
For an intense treatment, apply it once and cautiously follow the entire guidelines to avert further damage.
You can manage less severe damages by using maintenance protein products such as Ouidad’s Curl Moisturizing Conditioner.
While protein will reinforce your hair, more conditioning is required since the hair is also drying.
Apply something such as Joico’s Defy Damage Masque. Healthy black hair needs a lot of moisture. Thus, whenever, it’s high porosity, even more, moisture is necessary.
Start week by week deep conditioning, by applying mild protein treatments once or twice every month.
The objective here is to deal with your harmed tresses while advancing healthy and new growth ones that don’t turn out to be high porosity.
While you moisturize hair, don’t allow the entire conditioning work to get wasted by not retaining the moisture.
The L.O.C. strategy will ideally work on high porosity hair, particularly with heavy butter such as mango or shea as “cream” sealants. If your hand is relaxed, utilize a lighter hand holding the butter.
Ensure you focus on the tresses endings, each night whenever necessary. For high porosity hair, here are the good oils to apply:
Relaxed
- Jojoba
- Grapeseed
Natural
- Mango butter
- Shea butter
Relaxed or Natural
- Almond
- Coconut
- Avocado
It might take several weeks before you see any difference. But insofar as you’re exercising the recommended hair care, your tresses will, in the long run, get sound once more.
Keep in mind to limit heat and utilize chemicals wisely or not a must. Also, treat your tresses using TLC and hold on to moisturizing products.
Rather than living with frizz and breakage, you can revive the damaged high porosity hair into normal or medium porosity.
What’s Your Hair’s Porosity?
Without much of a stretch, you can test the porosity of your hair by utilizing a freshly washed strand that’s dry and a clear bowl or glass of water.
Hair porosity test
- Fill water in a clear bowl or glass
- Put the hair strand in the water
- Watch to perceive how rapidly it sinks to the base.
Results
- High porosity hair sinks to the base rapidly.
- Medium porosity hair floats in the middle part of glass before sinking to the base.
- Low porosity hair floats at the top for quite a while before gradually sinking.
By comprehending your hair porosity, you can find a way to guarantee that you’re overseeing it effectively and utilizing ingredients and products that are appropriate to your hair.
How to Fix Porous Hair and Prevent It
As referenced above, damage can be the cause of high porosity hair. Regardless of whether your high porosity is hereditary, you can aggravate it by harming your hair.
Chemical damage and heat damage are the two major causes of harm when dealing with high porosity.
Prevent heat damage
Some people must use heat to style their hair. They’re often curling, straightening, or drying it. The challenge here is doing it regularly, you’re obliterating with time.
While the damage might look small, with time, it causes major damage to your hair. You can try to use less heat whenever you’re styling it.
Prevent chemical damage
Some chemicals can ruin the cuticle layer of your hair. One of the worst cases is bleaching it. Do you use products with sulfates? Consider replacing them for less drying ones.
You need moisturizing hair products, and when shopping, go for the natural options. If you’re going for a chemical treatment, let a trained professional at the salon do it. It makes a significant difference in your hair’s safety.
You now comprehend how to fix porous hair, and thus you shouldn’t suffer more with unhealthy hair keeping styles.
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