Low Porosity Experiment!

I am no scientist. I never liked the subject in school either. Yet, everything around us is a chemical reaction! The subject of hair is a chemical reaction! Think about it, the combination of hair products form a chemical reaction with our hair that results in various results. Subsequently, if you want healthy hair, start with understanding simple science. Porosity levels in hair are an excellent place to get to know the effects of moisture retention and Black hair. One day while on Facebook, I stumble upon the video blog called “The Curl” produced by Carol’s Daughter. I had never seen this series, since I was still very unfamiliar with the natural hair vlogisphere. The topic they were discussing was hair porosity. I had never heard nor ever paid attention to his topic. What is porosity? Porosity is an object ability to take in and retain moisture. Wood is porous, cement is porous, soil is porous, and Hair is very porous. Or is it! Hair porosity comes in three degrees, low, normal and high. This is very important to any Natural hair diva to understand, mainly because it effects how we maintain moisture levels. Since our curly hair is naturally drier, and it inhibits the natural oils from the sebaceous glands from sliding down our strands, we need to know how to keep our hair moisturized and in good condition. I never knew this! No one ever told me this. THIS is ground breaking information that changes everything!! How does one find out how porous their hair actually is? In order to test your hairs’ porosity, do the following: 1. Take a glass of room temperature water 2. A strand of shed hair( not broken hair) 3. Wait for results: a. If it sinks you have High porous hair b. If it floats about in the middle you have Normal porous hair c. If it sits on top of the water you have Low porous hair. Each of these describes the various levels of cuticle openings on a strand of hair. I like to think of the cuticles as window blinds. They adjust letting in various levels of light in an out of your house. High Porous hair is equal to having the blinds open all the time! It’s nice to let the light in but at night the light from your house is going out too plus all your privacy. Normal porosity hair is like allowing some light in and some light out, Low porosity hair is like never opening the blinds no light in and no light out. When I tested my hair, I discovered that my hair was low porous. It floated on top of the water for a whole day! What does this mean to me? Back to Google I went! What this meant to me was I had dry, dry hair! My hairs inability to accept moisture meant that my hair stayed dried. All that oil and grease I put on my hair made it worse because the oil blocked any water from ever getting in. My research came up with tons of websites and tons of remedies! With us Lo-Po people, we literally have to open up our cuticles in order to infuse moisture into the strands. One of the treatments I came across was the Cherry Lola. This consists of baking soda, plain yogurt, and liquid amino acids which you mix up and apply to your hair. It is suppose to help open the cuticle infuse nutrients and moisture to the strand. I tried it and found it very messy and not particularly helpful. I washed it out and had very hard hair. I had to sit and think what would work. I liked the Baking soda idea because it is known to open up the cuticle, so I would keep this ingredient. I also liked what Kimmaytube said about using Aloe Vera juice in hair because it seals the cuticle. It started to click in my head that I could somehow combine the two in one treatment. This is what I came up with: 1. I pre-pooed with Coconut oil because it has the ability to soak into the cuticle regardless of porosity. 2. I rinsed my hair with an 8oz combination of one part baking soda and three parts water. a. This opens the cuticle. 3. I follow with a moisturizing co-wash and a deep moisturizing conditioner 4. I sit under my bonnet dryer for a half an hour 5. After I rinse my hair thoroughly and follow with a Aloe Vera juice rinse to seal my cuticle 6. Follow with the L.O.C. Method and style my hair. I did this and it really worked. My hair was significantly softer and manageable. My hair was also very shiny! I would advise to do this only once every two months. Using baking soda on the hair is very extreme and can strip the hair. For people with low porosity hair, heat is actually beneficial. Steaming in the shower or with a Hooded Steamer your hair with a moisturizing conditioner is excellent and actually the safest. I like to use my bonnet dryer on my hair. In my city, it gets so hot I just use a plastic cap, a knit cap and the heat to condition my hair. Once I found out about Porosity it was easier to find products that encouraged moisture to my hair. One ingredient that I shied away from is GYCERINE! Yes curl juice! It’s amazing that this throwback 1970’s product that was abundant in the seventies was relegated to the dusty bottom shelf of my local Walgreens. In addition to my other routines, I was going to include this product too! Glycerin is extremely humectants and attracts moisture from the atmosphere. I created a moisturizing spray using half water and half Scurl spray! In addition, I no longer wanted a cream that offered curl definition; this was not important to me. The most important thing was Moisture! I started looking for products with Water, Aloe Vera, Coconut oil, Pathenol and Glycerin. These ingredients are good for adding and attracting moisture to your hair! Anything else is filler. Trying these techniques for a least a month began to make a great difference in the quality of my hair. The moisture level in my hair was greatly affected and began to break less. ! I didn’t have to trim my hair because it wasn’t breaking! YEAH! What did I learn? Regularly spraying my curls with water and sealing it with oil was most beneficial. Our hair does well when slightly damp! Get to know the porosity of your hair! It makes a big difference in the quality of your hair.