Beauty Front Benchers
You’ll never layer skincare serums the wrong way after reading this
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If you were to list down your haircare goals, you’ll likely find that moisturisation is your one-way ticket to ticking off all items on the wishlist. But not all strands are able to absorb moisture in the same way. This is where knowing your hair porosity can help you devise an everyday routine that maximises your hair’s moisture capacity.
In case you were snoozing your way through high school biology, here’s a quick refresher: porosity is generally used as a standard of measurement of the hair’s capacity to retain moisture. Once you’ve wrapped your head around this concept, the implications are easy to process. High-porosity hair tends to absorb moisture like a sponge dunked in water. Hair with lower levels of porosity, meanwhile, can make it hard for moisture to make the journey from the cuticle to the cortex, which is the thickest part of the shaft that lends the hair its strength and elasticity.
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Understanding the mechanics of hair porosity is only half the battle won—how can you understand which category your strands fall under? The good news is that you don’t need sombre-faced lab scientists hunched over test tubes to tell you what you need to know. Instead, a series of at-home tests can help you determine which level of porosity your hair can be categorised with. The easiest of these tests is the strand method.
Simply collect a few strands from your brush or comb in the morning before using any haircare products and dip them in a glass of water. If the strands settle on the bottom of the glass after a few minutes, you have struck the moisturisation lottery with high-porosity hair. Strands that float on the top can be identified as low-porosity, while those that hover somewhere in the middle can be categorised as medium-porosity hair.
So, now you know the level of hair porosity you are working with. The next question that needs to be asked is obvious: how can you apply this knowledge to ensure that your strands are getting the moisture that they need? Depending on your level of porosity, here’s how you can create a tailormade haircare routine.
Low-porosity hair tends to have its own unique quirks that need to be attended to—you may have noticed that water takes a longer time to penetrate your strands when having a shower and take more time to air-dry, too.
The key to caring for low-porosity hair is to ensure that you have minimal buildup by introducing clarifying shampoos into your haircare routine. Moisture may take a longer time to reach the cortex, but you’ll find lightweight leave-in conditioners to be a worthy ally. Self-heating haircare caps can also help the cuticles open up and allow moisture to pass through.
Somewhere in between the two extreme ends of the spectrum, you’ll find medium-porosity hair. While this hair type can absorb moisture to a certain extent, it can be affected by damage from heated hairstyling tools—something that causes its porosity levels to change over time.
Creating a haircare routine for medium porosity follows the same basics as lower levels of porosity. You’ll want to regularly detox with a clarifying shampoo to ensure that product buildup isn’t sitting on your cuticles. Hydrating oils and treatments can always help quench your strands’ thirst, but you’ll want to gravitate towards lightweight formulas that get absorbed quickly.
As with all other things in life, higher levels of porosity can be a double-edged sword. The good news? Your strands have zero trouble sipping on any moisture or hydration you send their way. However, this hair type can also be more frizzy and dry as it doesn’t retain moisture for longer periods of time.
So, what does your haircare routine need to look like? Think immensely hydrating hair conditioners, oils and salves that can get easily absorbed into the hair shaft. Hydrating masks that seal in the moisture are always welcome as well. Smoothing creams and finishing serums, meanwhile, will help you keep frizz and flyaways at bay during the day.
Understanding the mechanics of hair porosity is only half the battle won—how can you understand which category your strands fall under? The good news is that you don’t need sombre-faced lab scientists hunched over test tubes to tell you what you need to know. Instead, a series of at-home tests can help you determine which level of porosity your hair can be categorised with. The easiest of these tests is the strand method.
Simply collect a few strands from your brush or comb in the morning before using any haircare products and dip them in a glass of water. If the strands settle on the bottom of the glass after a few minutes, you have struck the moisturisation lottery with high-porosity hair. Strands that float on the top can be identified as low-porosity, while those that hover somewhere in the middle can be categorised as medium-porosity hair.
So, now you know the level of hair porosity you are working with. The next question that needs to be asked is obvious: how can you apply this knowledge to ensure that your strands are getting the moisture that they need? Depending on your level of porosity, here’s how you can create a tailormade haircare routine.
Low-porosity hair tends to have its own unique quirks that need to be attended to—you may have noticed that water takes a longer time to penetrate your strands when having a shower and take more time to air-dry, too.
The key to caring for low-porosity hair is to ensure that you have minimal buildup by introducing clarifying shampoos into your haircare routine. Moisture may take a longer time to reach the cortex, but you’ll find lightweight leave-in conditioners to be a worthy ally. Self-heating haircare caps can also help the cuticles open up and allow moisture to pass through.
Somewhere in between the two extreme ends of the spectrum, you’ll find medium-porosity hair. While this hair type can absorb moisture to a certain extent, it can be affected by damage from heated hairstyling tools—something that causes its porosity levels to change over time.
Creating a haircare routine for medium porosity follows the same basics as lower levels of porosity. You’ll want to regularly detox with a clarifying shampoo to ensure that product buildup isn’t sitting on your cuticles. Hydrating oils and treatments can always help quench your strands’ thirst, but you’ll want to gravitate towards lightweight formulas that get absorbed quickly.
As with all other things in life, higher levels of porosity can be a double-edged sword. The good news? Your strands have zero trouble sipping on any moisture or hydration you send their way. However, this hair type can also be more frizzy and dry as it doesn’t retain moisture for longer periods of time.
So, what does your haircare routine need to look like? Think immensely hydrating hair conditioners, oils and salves that can get easily absorbed into the hair shaft. Hydrating masks that seal in the moisture are always welcome as well. Smoothing creams and finishing serums, meanwhile, will help you keep frizz and flyaways at bay during the day.
Understanding the mechanics of hair porosity is only half the battle won—how can you understand which category your strands fall under? The good news is that you don’t need sombre-faced lab scientists hunched over test tubes to tell you what you need to know. Instead, a series of at-home tests can help you determine which level of porosity your hair can be categorised with. The easiest of these tests is the strand method.
Simply collect a few strands from your brush or comb in the morning before using any haircare products and dip them in a glass of water. If the strands settle on the bottom of the glass after a few minutes, you have struck the moisturisation lottery with high-porosity hair. Strands that float on the top can be identified as low-porosity, while those that hover somewhere in the middle can be categorised as medium-porosity hair.
So, now you know the level of hair porosity you are working with. The next question that needs to be asked is obvious: how can you apply this knowledge to ensure that your strands are getting the moisture that they need? Depending on your level of porosity, here’s how you can create a tailormade haircare routine.
Low-porosity hair tends to have its own unique quirks that need to be attended to—you may have noticed that water takes a longer time to penetrate your strands when having a shower and take more time to air-dry, too.
The key to caring for low-porosity hair is to ensure that you have minimal buildup by introducing clarifying shampoos into your haircare routine. Moisture may take a longer time to reach the cortex, but you’ll find lightweight leave-in conditioners to be a worthy ally. Self-heating haircare caps can also help the cuticles open up and allow moisture to pass through.
Somewhere in between the two extreme ends of the spectrum, you’ll find medium-porosity hair. While this hair type can absorb moisture to a certain extent, it can be affected by damage from heated hairstyling tools—something that causes its porosity levels to change over time.
Creating a haircare routine for medium porosity follows the same basics as lower levels of porosity. You’ll want to regularly detox with a clarifying shampoo to ensure that product buildup isn’t sitting on your cuticles. Hydrating oils and treatments can always help quench your strands’ thirst, but you’ll want to gravitate towards lightweight formulas that get absorbed quickly.
As with all other things in life, higher levels of porosity can be a double-edged sword. The good news? Your strands have zero trouble sipping on any moisture or hydration you send their way. However, this hair type can also be more frizzy and dry as it doesn’t retain moisture for longer periods of time.
So, what does your haircare routine need to look like? Think immensely hydrating hair conditioners, oils and salves that can get easily absorbed into the hair shaft. Hydrating masks that seal in the moisture are always welcome as well. Smoothing creams and finishing serums, meanwhile, will help you keep frizz and flyaways at bay during the day.
