Hair Porosity

How Hair Type and Porosity Relate

Curlier hair tends to be drier because of how difficult it is for scalp oils to make their way through the coils from root to tip, but this doesn’t always mean that all highly textured hair has the same porosity. This means you can’t ask, “Is 4C hair low or high hair porosity?” and get one clear answer. Two people, both with 4C hair, can have very different porosities.

How Do You Test Hair Porosity?

Now, what can you do about your hair porosity? Is coconut oil good for low porosity hair? Not quite. You’ll actually want to steer clear of oils like coconut and castor oil and other products that are made to seal the cuticle, because they’ll work against your efforts to get moisture inside. Also, highly acidic products like an apple cider vinegar rinse work to keep the cuticle closed, so they’re not ideal for hair with low porosity either.

Do you find yourself asking, “What is my hair porosity?” Luckily, it’s pretty easy to find out with a quick hair porosity test. Start by filling a glass with water. Grab one or two strands of hair and drop them in the glass. If your hair immediately sinks to the bottom, then it’s highly porous. If it floats in the middle, then it’s in the medium to normal porosity range, and if it sits on top, then it has a low porosity. Now that you’ve identified your hair porosity type with this easy hair porosity quiz, let’s dig into how to care for your hair.

How to Care for Low Porosity Hair

What does low porosity hair look like? Just as there isn’t one hair type that will have less porous hair, you can’t expect low porosity hair to have a specific look. What you may see is that hair with low porosity looks weighed down. This is because when you put products on low porosity hair, they just sit on top of the strands.