IT FLOATS!!!! Testing your hair for health...

[Lucky's Mom]

Hey ladies I tried this experiment and was happy to see that my hair floated - a sign of health!
Porosity of Hair
Porosity of hair is the ability of the hair to absorb liquid or moisture. It is important when doing any sort of chemical treatment that the hair is not overly porous as it can soak up the chemicals too quickly and damage the hair.
If the hair does not have the same porosity over the entire head, some areas will process too fast. An easy test for porosity is to take a lock of hair and let it float on water for two minutes. If it floats, the outer layer is healthy. If it sinks, the outer layer is too open and will allow chemicals to absorb too quickly—in this case don't process with any chemicals until treated with the proper reconstructors.

(copied and pasted from lifetips.com)
thought this was good know where you hair is at!

 

[locabouthair]

Mine floated for over 5 minutes but my hair has low porosity. Its resistant to relaxers and conditioners.

 

[tadeja]

Mine floats as well, the problem is. it never sinks. I waited for I don't know how long waiting for that sucker to sink, and it just merrily stayed on top of the water. I went back and checked hours later, still floating.

 

[ladylibra]

floating!

*okay, 5 minutes later and still floating. i pushed it down to the bottom of the bowl and it came right back up. it looks like it is treading water. the root/white bulb is floating, the majority of the coil is right near the surface and the end is also floating. WEIRD!!!

 

[anon123]

Mine floats as well, the problem is. it never sinks. I waited for I don't know how long waiting for that sucker to sink, and it just merrily stayed on top of the water. I went back and checked hours later, still floating.

yeah, i tried this a long time ago and left it in for hours. it just stays at the top. does anyone's really sink?

 

[4evaRays]

Mine floats as well, the problem is. it never sinks. I waited for I don't know how long waiting for that sucker to sink, and it just merrily stayed on top of the water. I went back and checked hours later, still floating.

Mine does the exact same thing. What does this mean?

 

[sunshinelady]

I have a feeling that this test doesn't work on natural hair or something. Mine never sunk either.

 

[NaijaNaps]

Over an hour and mine's still floating.

It's funny because I always thought that my hair was very porous

 

[ladylibra]

i am gonna test this on my sister's hair later on today... we'll see how her relaxed hair does.

 

[kweenameena]

Mine sunk

Nevermind it's floating at the top of the water I thought it was gonna go all the way down but it came back up.

 

[NaijaNaps]

Mine sunk

Nevermind it's floating at the top of the water I thought it was gonna go all the way down but it came back up.

This happened to me too. I almost started freaking out.

 

[morehairplease]

Once my hair gets some more length to it, I am so going to do this test.

 

[LynnieB]

jumping onto the "when will it ever sink" ship.

mine only floats.

 

[honeybadgirl]

i'll have to try this!!!

 

[daniemoy]

Glad I read this thread, because it reminded to do a porosity test. When I first began in november my hair sank like a rock. I am proud to report now that it floats

 

[HERicane10]

Glad to say, I'm riding at the top too! YAY for us! Note to self: Keep up the GREAT work!

 

[silkii_locks]

I'm relaxed and mine never sinks. Doesn't this mean that your can't soak up anything from the conditioners either??

 

[LadyKaypnyc]

Thanks for the tip Samantha! I am definately going to try this

 

[SheenaVee]

mines relaxed n it doesnt sink either, i thought it was a bad thing erplexed but seeing as it happens to many others im not too worried.

 

[Songbirdb]

Mine floats as well, the problem is. it never sinks. I waited for I don't know how long waiting for that sucker to sink, and it just merrily stayed on top of the water. I went back and checked hours later, still floating.

same here!

 

[Swanky]

Floats like a butterfly!

 

[SoOoNY]

ok so this was a great thread for me cause i always wanted to kno if my hair was porous or not... well i got my answer

my 6 months of ng from transitioning floated and my relaxed hair just wouldn't budge from the bottom...

Guess i need to do some more protein treatments before i get the highlights i want so bad in may... maybe i should also push the highlighting back to July...

 

[PhonyBaloney500]

What are y'all floating your hair in? The sink? A big bowl?

 

[Demi27]

What are y'all floating your hair in? The sink? A big bowl?

I was wondering the same thing because, if you have one strand of water in a large sink or basin, wouldn't it float anyway (in comparison to there being so much water)?

I'm just asking. I don't want to test my hair in the wrong amount of water and get a "false positive." LOL.

 

[Wildchild453]

hot or cold water?

 

[Jhuidah]

My hair never sinks either, and I've tested it a couple different times: once I dropped the shed hair from my detangling comb into the toilet bowl after a shower, and once I tested a clean strand in a cup. Vastly differing amounts of water with the same result.

What are y'all floating your hair in? The sink? A big bowl?

 

[ladylibra]

What are y'all floating your hair in? The sink? A big bowl?

one of those little dishes that you color Easter eggs in...

I was wondering the same thing because, if you have one strand of water in a large sink or basin, wouldn't it float anyway (in comparison to there being so much water)?

I'm just asking. I don't want to test my hair in the wrong amount of water and get a "false positive." LOL.

i don't think it matters, really... a rock will sink in a puddle or in the ocean... same with your hair strand.

hot or cold water?

i tried it with cold water yesterday... hot water this morning... same results both times...

 

[HoneyDew]

erplexed

Mine floated. Then I pushed it down in there and IT STAYED.

I pulled it out and sat it back on the water and it is floating now.

Could it be that I need some protein. That may me. I relaxed a few weeks ago and I never use protein treatments anymore.

Maybe I need to do a mild protein rinse. Hardcore dries my hair out.

 

[HoneyDew]

What are y'all floating your hair in? The sink? A big bowl?

I did in a big bowl.

 

[Lucky's Mom]

Anyone done this lately?