Who doesn’t want healthy, strong hair! Your journey to healthy hair begins by understanding your hair from inside out. Do you have to constantly deal with hair frizz? Does your hair break every time you brush it? If these are some of your common hair concerns, then maybe it’s time to bring hair porosity into the picture for you to understand your hair problems better. In fact, this can be the root cause of most of your hair care woes.
Before we tell you how to take care of hair porosity, let’s understand hair porosity better.
What is hair porosity?
To put it simply, hair porosity refers to how much moisture your hair can absorb and retain. This also depends largely on your hair type. For instance, curly hair tends to be more affected by porosity than other hair types since it loses moisture quickly. This does not imply that other hair types are immune to problems posed by porosity; it impacts different hair types in different ways. You can easily understand this if you know the structure of your hair better. Your hair is made of three layers:
• The cuticle: This is the tough, protective outer layer of your hair composed of smaller cuticles that overlap each other.
• The cortex: This is the thickest layer of your hair that contains fibrous proteins and the pigment that gives your hair its colour.
• The medulla: The medulla is the soft, central part of the hair shaft.
Hair porosity is divided into three broad categories:
• Low porosity: Hair that has low porosity has cuticles that are close together.
• Medium porosity: Hair that has medium porosity has cuticles that are less tightly bound.
• High porosity: Hair with high porosity has widely spaced cuticles.
For your hair to remain strong and healthy, the cuticle needs to absorb oils, water, and other hair care products to reach the cortex. However, if your hair has cuticles that are bound together closely, it becomes difficult for the products to penetrate your hair. Your hair doesn’t get enough moisture. Plus, when the cuticles are far apart from each other, your hair will have a tough time retaining moisture.
How can you find out your hair’s porosity levels?
Finding out your hair porosity level can help you find the best hair products that suit your hair type. The easiest way to do this is to take the ‘float test.’ First, you’ll have to wash your hair with shampoo and remove any product build-up. Fill a glass with water and drop a single strand of your hair into the glass. If the strand floats at the top before sinking, you have low porosity hair. If the hair strand floats somewhere in the middle, you have normal or medium hair porosity. And if the hair strand sinks quickly to the bottom, this means you have high porosity hair.
How to take care of porous hair?
Indeed, hair porosity does not get the attention it needs and is often overlooked for other serious hair care issues. However, when you take care of hair porosity, you are ensuring that your precious hair remains protected from any future damage.
• For low porosity hair
People with low porosity hair often complain about how their hair product just ‘sits’ on their hair. It is not absorbed into your hair, and this often leaves your tresses dry. Your hair needs something that can penetrate its core and hydrate it from the inside. This is where deep conditioning comes in. Deep conditioners are more powerful than your regular ones and give your hair the much-needed dose of hydration it needs.
You can use Pantene Gold Series Deep Moisture Hair Mask that is infused with Argan oil, Pro-V antioxidants, and lipids to give you deeply nourished and hydrated hair. This hair mask brings extra moisture, softness, and manageability to hair that needs immediate hydration. When you use your regular conditioner after shampooing your hair, you can dilute it with some water as it makes it easier for your hair to absorb it.
If you are looking for the right shampoo for low porosity hair, then Pantene Daily Moisture Renewal Shampoo is the best option. This moisturising shampoo contains three times more moisturisers than your regular shampoo. It gently cleans your hair and nourishes dry hair that needs hydration. Plus, this Pro-V shampoo strengthens your dry, brittle hair from inside out.
• For medium porosity hair
You actually don’t have a lot to do if you have medium porosity or normal porosity hair. Your hair already does a good job of absorbing and retaining moisture, which keeps it healthy and hydrated. If you are looking for the perfect shampoo for your hair to stay clean and nourished, you can use Pantene Micellar Gentle Cleansing Shampoo. This gentle cleansing shampoo removes the impurities in your hair without stripping your hair’s natural moisture. Follow this up with Pantene Micellar Gentle Nourishing Conditioner, as it contains moisturising lipids that moisturise your hair without weighing it down.
• For high porosity hair
Hair with high porosity can easily absorb moisture, but retaining it is quite the problem. Since the cuticles are spaced quite far, you lose moisture easily. You’ll need something that will be absorbed into your hair but continue to keep your hair hydrated. In short, you need a leave-in conditioner. Enter Pantene Love Your Smooth Leave-In Crème. This moisturising leave-in crème is created with an enriching Pro-V formula that deeply penetrates your hair and seals in moisture to give your hair the hydration it needs. Do you know what this means? No frizzy hair!
Hair porosity shouldn’t get between you and a great hair day. With the nourishing properties of the right hair products and some TLC, you can flaunt gorgeous, hydrated hair every day.