Four Minute Test That Can Change Your Hair!
What does a porosity test have to do with healthy hair?
To address this topic, let’s start with the basics.
Our hair strands are like chains with links. Once a link is broken or damaged usually due to heat, wear and tear over the years, chemical over processing or over manipulation with hair styles, hair breakage occurs.
Porosity assesses how easily the hair accepts and releases moisture and the products and treatments you give it.
When your hair cuticle becomes damaged and is no longer tightly aligned, it will fail to provide proper coverage to the hair shaft and as a result your hair will be like a basket used to fetch water. No moisture will be retained!
To determine the porosity of your hair, there’s a quick and easy way to test that will take just ten seconds.
- Take some shed hair and drop it in a bowl of water. Then watch it either sink or float.
- If it sinks immediately then your hair is too porous which means it absorbs products and quickly loses the absorbed product to the atmosphere leaving the hair dry and brittle again.
- If your hair floats, then you have low porosity which means that your hair does not absorb products/moisture easily leaving it also dry and brittle and prone to breakage.
- If it sinks at a normal rate (between two to four minutes), this is the ideal place to be shows your hair is healthy.
So, if your hair is not sinking at a normal rate, what can you do?
Well your focus should be building the hair cuticle back.
These three methods can help.
- Keratin, a very important component of the hair that links hair bonds together, needs to be infused in your hair through regular protein treatments and specifically formulated hydrolized protien infused hair products.
- A porosity controlling hair product can also be essential to ensuring that hair porosity levels are put in place. They come in the form of hair conditioners or daily moisturizers.
- Finally, eating a well-balanced diet with lots of fresh fruits and raw vegetables can help with this issue. Limit the amount of starches, fatty and processed foods you consume and drink plenty of water, with that your hair porosity should be under full control.
Have you ever tried this simple hair test?
What were the results?
Let us know in the comments section!
Written By Daboju Ogburu of Savvy Chic
Wow, glad I read this article. Thank you Daboju for this piece. I just did the strand test and found out my hair falls into the low porosity category. Could it be the reason why the back side of my hair is longer and curlier than the front part which is more kinky and short due to massive breakage? Please can you recommend a hair product that best suit my hair type (inexpensive)? Am a 4c and was contemplating having the big chop before I stumbled on your article.