Let’s Talk Porosity

If you spend anytime engaging with curly hair groups online, you will have definitely heard the word “porosity” being talked about.

So what exactly is porosity, and how does it affect you?

Porosity is your hair’s ability at absorbing and retaining water.

There is low porosity, which means your hair has a very hard time absorbing water.

There is high porosity, which means your hair retains water easily, but can’t hold onto it.

Finally there is medium porosity, which means your hair can absorb and retain water fairly easily.

Why does it matter if my hair can absorb/retain water?

Water is what our hair craves (please go check out my last blog post about frizz. I go into all the fun science behind why our hair likes water!)

What influences our hair’s porosity levels?

The BIGGEST one is GENETICS. Some people are born with hair that is naturally lower porosity, while other’s have hair that is naturally higher porosity.

(Also, I would like to quickly note that porosity is totally a scale, and there is NO perfect number or anything like that.)

Other things that can impact your hair’s porosity, is chemical services like color, bleach, perms. Also styling tools like flat irons, curling irons, etc.

Deep breath, I am going to share my unpopular opionion.

IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR YOU TO KNOW YOUR HAIR’S POROSITY!!

Yep, I said it. (Did you just go, “ummm excuse me, WHAT?!”

I have had the privilege of taking curly hair education classes from experts in the industry. I promise, this is true!

The only person who needs to know your hair’s porosity is…drum roll everybody, YOUR HAIRSTYLIST!

There are many factors that affect our hair in all kinds of ways, including porosity. As your hairstylist, it is important for me to ask the questions to understand your hair’s history. That information will influence what kind of color services I do for you, what products I recommend, etc.

So what DO you need to do about your hair’s porosity?

My advice is to partner up with a curly specialist who can help you navigate the muddy waters of curly products, and can help you to find a simple and consistent curl routine that works for you.

Xx,

Joy