Hair Porosity 101: Why Is It So Confusing? (Instructions On Proper Testing)

One of the most ‘surprisingly’ common aspects of hair analyses (link here to purchase one) besides strand-width properties is porosity. 

Before continuing to read this article: if you are truly confused by your hair than I highly recommend a hair analysis by Wendy. Not only can she determine all of your hair properties, she can also determine which ingredients, etc. that your hair dislikes it. I recommend these 100%! The more you know, the better your hair will be! It will also be easier for members in our Facebook community to help you with your specific problem(s)/issue(s)!

Just as with dew points and strand-widths: porosity as a whole is often one of the most poorly misunderstood terms in reference of our hair. Just like dew-points and and strand-widths: it also plays a huge factor because it highly impacts how our hair behaves.

Oftentimes within the textured haired community: you will see people recommend the 'basic' float test. This is the test that you will see mentioned briefly online, in videos, etc. without any type of scientific backing to its claim of validity. 

I never recommend this test and often will admit that I have an immense dislike of it because of how bad it often is in its results. 

Wendy of Science-y Blog also discusses the issues of the test, as well. She mentions here how it is often not reliable and then here in the follow up post explaining how to make more accurate. 

However as she mentioned at the top of her secondary post (second link): Wendy gives recommendations on how to make it more reliable and how to make it have scientific verification.

Here’s are Wendy’s recommendations below.

“Make the float test more accurate: 

• Start with clean hair - swish it around in some water with a drop of detergent if your hair has any products (including oils and leave-in conditioner) on it, then rinse and let it dry before testing.  

• Make sure the hair will not come in contact with the edge of the container the water is in.  

• Dunk the hairs quickly (and completely) under the surface of the water to break the surface tension. 

• If your hair has chemically-treated ends and un-treated roots of significant length, cut the hair in half and test those areas separately.  

• Instead of using individual hairs, tie 15-20 hairs together (with a hair if you can) because individual hairs have very little weight - a greater mass of hair can take on more water if it's porous for a more obvious result.  

Interpret your result (if following the instructions above):  

• Hairs float at 5 and 10 minutes: Low porosity or low-normal porosity. Henna may give a low porosity result. Or may also be lower porosity roots and more-porous ends. Re-test the ends and roots separately!  

• Hair partly floating, partly sinking: Possibly more-porous ends than roots if just one end is sinking, or porous hair if half or 2/3 of the hair seems to want to sink. Re-test the ends and roots separately!  

• Hair partly sinking or seems to be just under the surface at 10 minutes: Porous.” [This text is copyrighted and owend by the Science-y Hair Blog and I own no rights to it. I am merely sourcing it for my post. The source is linked here, as well as above. I own no claims to her research, nor her blog.] 

I believe in using her method. However besides Wendy’s method, I also believe in the important to dissecting specific questions for porosity. While I firmly believe that her method perfects the 'water dunking': I also am a firm believer in questions and answers also (which I call 'listening to own's hair') in terms of porosity. 

Why? 

Just as with any ‘diagnosis’ in the medical field: you need to ask questions. Science — just like its medicinal sister — is based on not only testing proofs, but also clinical physical diagnostic proofs. Just as in the medicinal field: it’s also very easy to ‘false diagnosis’ as well without the proper testing. 

Let’s say for instance that you did the instructed regular ‘water dunk’ test which is the one that majority of curly girls use. As stated by numerous scientific sources: it's been debunked as wrong majority of the time. When it is correct: it also depends upon variables such as clean hair which aren't always mentioned to "new curly girls."

So in this hypothetical case: your hair strand was not clean and full of product. Let’s say that you also often use heavy butters, waxes, and other insoluble ingredients which make it hard for water to penetrate your shafts because all butters create barriers; just like silicones. 

Your hair may appear shiny (usually tied to low-porosity), hard to wet (due to barrier), and doesn’t dry quickly (due to build-up and heavy products). Based off this logic and your ‘physical diagnostics’ per the basic water test: you will most likely label yourself as low-porosity and not understand why your hair does not like the generally recommend low-porosity regimen. 

This is a perfect example of why it is necessary to not only do the proper techniques as mentioned above, but also to truly understand how to test your porosity correctly. 

A big fact that I feel is very rarely discussed is that porosity is also a genetic factor! Another fact is that with textured hair: it will be more porous than naturally straight hair. So — for instance — a low-porosity curly girl will be more porous than a low-porosity perfectly straight haired girl. It’s also why low-porosity girl with 4A hair can tolerate heavier products much easier than a 2B low-porosity girl. The tighter the curl, the naturally genetically porous the hair will be regardless of its damage.

There’s three forms of porosities that you can fall under: low-porosity, medium-porosity (also known as ‘normal-porosity’) and high-porosity. 

What makes these different porosities so different? In scientific terms: not only does porosity affect how porous our hair is, but also the state of our cuticles. Let's examine some different forms of porosities below. 

As you see in the photo to the top: there’s huge differentiation between all three levels of porosity.

Here’s an imagery also of a damaged cuticle in comparison to a healthy cuticle which would be considered normal-low porosity as notated in the photo.  

Once again: here's another visual of a porosity difference. You may be scratching your head and wondering what these different cuticles all mean? The cuticles as you see above are all indicators of your hair's porosity, as well as health. A healthy cuticle (low-porosity) will feel smooth due to its cuticles being sealed. Hence why you often hear that low-porosity feels 'smooth and silky' in comparison to high-porosity which is 'bumpy' due to its cuticles being damaged and or raised.

Another important factor to remember — especially — with porosity is that just like our curl pattern and strand widths that it is also VERY LIKELY to be mixed porosity. 

While this often does not get discussed often outside of people discussing their hair analyses: an understanding of porosity is highly integral to our curly haired journey, as porosity plays a huge facet in our hair regimens. 

Just as I often spot mixed strand-widths, I also often spot mixed porosity patterns on curly girls. You may notice that a very common issue that you may see is, “My crown seems to always get weighed down,” — even by confirmed high porosity curlies.A common factor to that is often that the new growth is low-porosity hence not being able to tolerate the same products that the more porous areas can handle. 

You may also notice where some low-porosity curly girls complain that their top layer seems to always “frizz,” and “absorb product.”As we know: our top layers are exposed the most to environmental factors which can have an overall effect on our porosity, so it’s possible for UV rays to affect our cuticles and make them more porous. 

In both of these hypothetical cases: these are examples of mixed porosity!  

MY DRYING TIME TEST (NAKED HAIR) TO DETERMINE POROSITY:

1. 8+ hours to dry is low.

2. 2-4 hours or less is high-porosity

3. In between is normal porosity hair; generally leaning towards 5-6 hours.

This must be done on naked hair without product.

After following Wendy’s advice above as linked: I want you to answer these questions as well. 

These questions — combined with the method mentioned above — will give you a scientific based testing that is far more reliable than the standard dunking which I do not recommend, nor advocate for. 

• What is your actual strand width(s)? 
• Do you dye your hair? If so: what do you use when dyeing? 
• Do you have any form of chemical treatments like perms or relaxers on your hair; i.E, such as a keratin straightening treatment or traditional relaxer? 
• Do you expose your hair often to the sun and are in a high UV area? 
• Do you manipulate your hair while its dry with extreme measures such as dry combing often? 
• Do you have hard water or soft water?
• How often do you expose your hair to choroline?
• If you were to freshly wash your hairs (no product) and sprayed water: do you get 'beads' on your hair?
• Are your shafts bumpy or smooth? (Please remember that coarse shafts can be mistaken for porous shafts due to its texture.)
• How long does your hair take to dry?
• Do products sit on your hair?
• How does your hair respond to proteins?

By answering these questions and following Wendy's test (as posted above), I can direct you to your proper porosity. Please also remember that porosity is often variated throughout your hair; it's generally more porous towards the ends than crown. However UV can take an impact on our porosity as I know first hand. If you have any questions: please feel free to comment here or in the group!