Spinoff: Anyone with low porosity hair?

[bb09]

Low hair porosity has to do with pH balance, where as high porosity is because of heat damage. I had very low porosity hair until I started using ACV + lavender, peppermint and rosemary oils as a post-poo/pre-con. When I started my LHHJ and started deep conditioning on every wash day I retained length for a couple months, then stopped and I couldn't find out why. Not only did my hair products seem to stop working, my hair/scalp didn't feel clean no matter how many times I washed it and I'd notice it would take me a long time to get my hair wet and it would be dry pretty quickly.

I did research and found out most hair products are alkaline-based while hair is mostly acidic. Most hair products leave build-up that clogs up the pores and prevents products from doing their jobs. I also have naturally oily hair/scalp anyways so I'm sure that made things worse. I tried ACV diluted with water mixed a few drops of lavender, peppermint and rosemary oils as a post-poo before DC-ing and the porosity returned in one wash. For the first time in months my scalp actually felt clean, I slept like a baby that night and my retention returned. I now use it on every wash day and have recommended it to my mom and sisters who love it.

I've seen a lot of posts from ladies who've tried ACV and it hasn't worked which is fine, everyone is different but it's vital to maintain your hair's natural pH balance. If not with ACV then something else acidic.

It's interesting that you could use the ACV both b4 and after your DC. I only ever did it afterwards. I might try it before my DC though

 

[bb09]

@bb09, then the only conclusion I can come up with is your hair is porous not from having a raised cuticle but from having a missing cuticle from either chemical processing or just wear and tear from regular handling.


Now I don't know when you started your HHJ or learning how to do right by your hair. If you started it from a BC and have been kind to your hair then this may not be your story. But if you have hair from back when you didn't really have tools for good hair care, it could be that your hair is at one of those stages of damage and it will only be your new growth--or the hair you grew since you started doing right--that will reap the fruits of your good works. So it may be that you will see your hair acting right after you have trimmed/cut off the damaged hair.

Remember we talked about dusting. If that's something you haven't done in forever, it'll take a good cut in order for any dusting you start to make a difference. And that's for the same reasons explained above. Damaged hair cannot be fixed the way you can fix a break in a toy with glue. So sometimes it takes a do over to get it right. Not saying you should cut your hair but putting it out there so you can recognize when you're flogging a dead horse.

Thank you Nonie. I'm starting to think texlaxed hair (mine atleast might equal open cuticles, or something). I retain length well in my nape. The rest of my hair retains ok -a bit sloowly. I just need the moisture to stay in my hair !

 

[bb09]

@bb09, @Nonie nailed it. When I first started my HHJ, I did a water test and my hair floated for days. I didn't understand what that symbolized at the time. Truthfully, I thought I did the test wrong. Therefore, I water tested several other times at random periods with the same result. Eventually, I learned floating hair meant I have low porosity.

Another sign is that it takes a lot of water exposure to get my hair soaking wet. I actually wash my hair twice on wash day and even then, sometimes it's still not soaking wet. My hair is tricky when it comes to drying. If it's naked with no product, it will dry in a snap -Same-, partly because it wasn't soaking wet to begin with :scratchch. Once my hair is finally soaking wet, it takes a while for it dry. If it's soaking wet and there is product in my hair (i.e., leave-ins), it will take a very long time for my hair to dry, especially in the winter. The summer it's not too bad because I live in FL and temps are 100+ so that helps to dry it quickly, even with the low porosity.

To manage my low porosity hair, I stopped using Roux, which made a big difference. I shampoo my hair twice on wash day and I steam my DCners.

I use to feel that my hair was always dry and never moisturized. I think I posted a few times that products always felt like they were sitting on top of my hair rather than absorbing in my hair. Now that I'm doing the items listed above, I feel that my hair accepts and retains moisture better.

Ok, my hair floated as well! How does your hair do with protein? Do you ever DC on dry hair, or do you always shampoo first? Your whole wash day /results is interesting.

Honestly I might just try something similar, so I can hopefully yield decent results as well.

 

[suns4i6e]

@bb09 You can do the water test where you put a shed hair in a glass of water? Porous hair will sink while low porosity hair will float. Normal may float first then sink.

Your hair sounds porous to me (high porosity). Hair that is porous will not hold onto moisture. That your hair holds onto moisture when you use AO GPB tells me that protein and ceramides plug the holes that normally release moisture to the air and therefore your hair seems to hold onto moisture with that product but that fix is temporary and would have to be done regularly. Have you tried Roux? @Roux is a member here and if she comes to your house your hair gets fixed. (I'm kidding. I'm really referring to Roux PC. Besides having a low pH that closes cuticles, it's also got humectants that attract and hold onto moisture.)

Low porosity hair is hard to wet but once wet or moisturized, it holds onto the moisture for a long time so is hard to dry. That's because the cuticle is closed and so moisture has a hard time getting in and getting out. I tried to explain here: http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showpost.php?p=13569783&postcount=1177

I don't know if this was mentioned but I think using baking soda or a high pH shampoo (like a clarifying shampoo) before using a moisturizing deep conditioner may help open up the cuticle of low porosity hair so that moisture from the conditioner can penetrate the hair. I think baggying is also good for low porosity hair.

As per usual Nonie is on point!! Baking soda is key for my low porosity hair. I use a mixture of conditioner, baking soda, and braggs amino acid with heat. It opens up my cuticle and allows for deep moisturizing/conditioning.

 

[bb09]

Ok, my hair floated as well! How does your hair do with protein? Do you ever DC on dry hair, or do you always shampoo first? Your whole wash day /results is interesting.

Honestly I might just try something similar, so I can hopefully yield decent results as well.

divachyk -I forgot to tag /mention you

 

[NewHairWOWeave]

Umm yeah mee too.I could have sworn my hair has a high porosity UNTILL:Copy of 2cool: I did the test and my hair was like um yeah Im floating..

 

[divachyk]

@divachyk -I forgot to tag /mention you

Ok, my hair floated as well! How does your hair do with protein? Do you ever DC on dry hair, or do you always shampoo first? Your whole wash day /results is interesting.

Honestly I might just try something similar, so I can hopefully yield decent results as well.

Hey @bb09 - my hair didn't accept protein well throughout last year, or so I thought. Now that I'm using quality products (pretty much use salon grade everything), incorporated a different protein (last year I used Aphogee 2 min and 2 step; this year I use Ion Effective Care Treatment) and have better overall technique, my hair accepts protein nicely. I protein treat 1x monthly.

Last year I tried the DC on dry hair thing and really didn't see a benefit. My hair likes and takes to steaming better than any other method. I use a hooded dryer for protein and steamer for DC. I think my hair absorbs wash day product far better when using a heat source.

My regi is consistent each week: shampoo 2x, (insert protein here: under hooded dryer 1x monthly for 20 mins...ETA: warm rinse protein out of hair before moving to DC), DC with steam - 45 mins, let hair cool for 15 mins, cool water rinse, apply leave-ins to sopping wet hair, air dry.

When doing the water test, make sure you use a shed hair from wash day. The hair should be clean and free from product. Not sure if your hair was a shed hair from wash day and/or was free from product.

 

[bb09]

divachyk -thanks! Do you use a moisturising or clarifying shampoo?
I'm gonna have to try the home grown steam treatment again as well.

I redid the water test and the shed hair still floated.

 

[Krystle~Hime]

the fact to using a clarifying shampoo before DC for low porosity hair.... VERY INTERESTING, thanks for sharing Nonie.

 

[divachyk]

@bb09 - I use various shampoos:

Clarifying:
a) 1st wash after a relaxer. This usually works out to be 1 week post.
and
b) 1x a month before a protein treatment.
Product: Quantum Clarifying
Where: Sally's Beauty

Moisturizing AND Protein:
a) every week except for clarifying week
b) I use moisture first followed by protein
Products: Elasta QP for relaxed hair (1st wash); Joico Kpak Shampoo (2nd wash)
Where: EQP from Sally's Beauty and Joico from Ulta or Trade Secret
Why both? The EQP is a gentle cleansing, moisturizing shampoo. I use it for my 1st wash to cleanse the hair before using the protein shampoo. My hair barely lathers on the 1st wash because my hair doesn't soak up water easily. Therefore, I use the cheaper shampoo on the 1st wash and Joico on the 2nd wash after my hair has been cleansed of product from the 1st wash and have absorbed enough water for a good lather.

What do you feel the culprit is to what you're experiencing?

 

[Krystle~Hime]

but.. using an alki ph product isn't suppose to be harsh for hair???? :s

 

[bb09]

@bb09 - I use various shampoos:

Clarifying:
a) 1st wash after a relaxer. This usually works out to be 1 week post.
and
b) 1x a month before a protein treatment.
Product: Quantum Clarifying
Where: Sally's Beauty

Moisturizing AND Protein:
a) every week except for clarifying week
b) I use moisture first followed by protein
Products: Elasta QP for relaxed hair (1st wash); Joico Kpak Shampoo (2nd wash)
Where: EQP from Sally's Beauty and Joico from Ulta or Trade Secret
Why both? The EQP is a gentle cleansing, moisturizing shampoo. I use it for my 1st wash to cleanse the hair before using the protein shampoo. My hair barely lathers on the 1st wash because my hair doesn't soak up water easily. Therefore, I use the cheaper shampoo on the 1st wash and Joico on the 2nd wash after my hair has been cleansed of product from the 1st wash and have absorbed enough water for a good lather.

What do you feel the culprit is to what you're experiencing?

divachyk -thanks so much.
I don't know what the culprit/reason is. My hair's texlaxed & dense, but fine strands. I just don't retain moisture well.

I atleast want my NG (and the rest of my hair) to feel moisturised when fully dry. When it's damp, it feels so smooth & moisturised. When dry, it puffs out, shrinks right up lol, & my NG gets compact.

I actually have a qp shampoo.. wish there was a Sally's local to me !

 

[divachyk]

bb09 - my ng isn't as soft as the rest of my hair but it manageable. View my blog -- I use jbco on my roots on wash day and it softens the ng nicely. Not retaining moisture and dry ng can be a result of many things. I suggest you make small tweaks to your regi little by little. Don't overhaul. Overhauling only further complicates/confuses the process because you are unable to pinpoint specifics.

 

[Krystle~Hime]

bummppp !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bb09]

@bb09 - my ng isn't as soft as the rest of my hair but it manageable. View my blog -- I use jbco on my roots on wash day and it softens the ng nicely. Not retaining moisture and dry ng can be a result of many things. I suggest you make small tweaks to your regi little by little. Don't overhaul. Overhauling only further complicates/confuses the process because you are unable to pinpoint specifics.

@divachyk, thank you. No moisturising products work on my hair though. I just wish I knew how to retain moisture.. I'll try the castor oil for my NG though.

 

[Nonie]

but.. using an alki ph product isn't suppose to be harsh for hair???? :s

Krystle~Hime It depends on how alkaline it is. It will open up the hair cuticle and could make hair tangle, but for low porosity, opening up the cuticle might be one way to make the strands receptive to moisturizing/conditioning. A very strong alkaline will break down bonds (hence the high pH of relaxers). A mild alkaline solution may not harm your hair.

For me, I know alkalines are a recipe for tangles so I'm not a fan. But if I had low porosity hair, then I'd use them before conditioning and then follow with an ACV rinse to smooth the cuticles and lock in the moisture.

 

[divachyk]

bb09, as one final thought/suggestion: do you have hard water? I didn't sift back through the post history to see if this was mentioned. I have semi-hard water. It's not overly hard but not necessarily soft either. I purchased a shower head filter from Lowe's. Give it some thought.

 

[bb09]

@bb09, as one final thought/suggestion: do you have hard water? I didn't sift back through the post history to see if this was mentioned. I have semi-hard water. It's not overly hard but not necessarily soft either. I purchased a shower head filter from Lowe's. Give it some thought.

divachyk -yep, I live in London. I always do a final rinse with 1-2 cups (jug or bottle) with filtered water. Thanks so much . The water's definitely hard here.

 

[bb09]

Btw, I tried the castor oil (as an oil rinse). I don't think my hair likes straight oil at alll (matted sections, didn't give slip or moisture). AO GPB mixed with moisturising dc (any) for slip, and AO WC as a leave-in seems to work.

I just have to figure out what to do when I start using heat.

 

[divachyk]

bb09, I do apologize; I wasn't suggesting oil rinsing as that's a whole 'nother topic in and of itself. You have to use the right type and amount of oil in order to pull off oil rinsing. The right type of oil simply depends on what your hair likes. I apply Jamaican black castor oil to my roots on wash day. I don't use any other form of castor during this current stage of my HHJ. When I first came to LHCF, I tried regular castor but it didn't do much for my hair. It's trial and error. HTH.

 

[bb09]

@ OP, sorry for hijacking the last few pages

 

[divachyk]

Bump -- would love more feedback on this topic.

Low hair porosity has to do with pH balance, where as high porosity is because of heat damage. I had very low porosity hair until I started using ACV + lavender, peppermint and rosemary oils as a post-poo/pre-con. When I started my LHHJ and started deep conditioning on every wash day I retained length for a couple months, then stopped and I couldn't find out why. Not only did my hair products seem to stop working, my hair/scalp didn't feel clean no matter how many times I washed it and I'd notice it would take me a long time to get my hair wet and it would be dry pretty quickly.

I did research and found out most hair products are alkaline-based while hair is mostly acidic. Most hair products leave build-up that clogs up the pores and prevents products from doing their jobs. I also have naturally oily hair/scalp anyways so I'm sure that made things worse. I tried ACV diluted with water mixed a few drops of lavender, peppermint and rosemary oils as a post-poo before DC-ing and the porosity returned in one wash. For the first time in months my scalp actually felt clean, I slept like a baby that night and my retention returned. I now use it on every wash day and have recommended it to my mom and sisters who love it.

I've seen a lot of posts from ladies who've tried ACV and it hasn't worked which is fine, everyone is different but it's vital to maintain your hair's natural pH balance. If not with ACV then something else acidic.

ScorpioBeauty09, are you still using ACV with great success? What raios are you using?

As per usual @Nonie is on point!! Baking soda is key for my low porosity hair. I use a mixture of conditioner, baking soda, and braggs amino acid with heat. It opens up my cuticle and allows for deep moisturizing/conditioning.

@suns4i6e, are you still using baking soda with great success? What ratios of baking soda and amino acid are you using? What does the amino acid do for the hair?

 

[divachyk]

Ladies - do you deal with hair tangles as a low porosity head? My hair tangles badly and I can't figure out why. No matter how gentle with washing, it tangles back up.

 

[Evolving78]

Your right Loca, if you have low porosity then your cuticles are TIGHT! That is a good thing in sense of damage and what now but it can cause your hair to be dry.

As far as possible remedies......

One thing that helps many people open their cuticle up a little is demi-permanent color. Demi uses 10vol developer which can't lift your natural color, it just opens the cuticle up some. You can get a clear demi-color, it doesn't have to be a color persay but it will help make your hair more porous. Alot of white girls with really thick tight cuticles also do this. It will also help give you more body. Demi color is better for low porosity ladies since your cuticle will be able to hold on it longer than semi-perm which ladies like me with high porosity use to help seal the cuticle. Demi-perm color last usually around 28-30 shampoo's.

At relaxing......... Also, for the ladies that low porosity and are using no-lye or have hard water don't forget to chelate. Those mineral deposits can make it worse so make sure you chelate once and a while.

If you look in the archives here, you will see alot of the ol'heads lightly flatironing their newgrowth before relaxing. The ones that did that would do it to help their hair respond to the relaxer. The heat helped open up the cuticle some so that the chemicals could pentrate better. Now someone like me with high porosity wouldn't need to do this but it could benefit some of you that have tight cuticle layers.

divachyk
i am going to check out using a Demi perm color since i want to go blue black next time. also i really like using Mizani Butter Blends Chelate/Neutralizing shampoo. if feels very luxurious! it doesn't dry my hair out at all. i like this better than a regular clarifying shampoo.

but putting those drops of castile soap in my conditioner was fab.

Thanks for the tag! so glad to see more useful info on the subject!

 

[Evolving78]

Ladies - do you deal with hair tangles as a low porosity head? My hair tangles badly and I can't figure out why. No matter how gentle with washing, it tangles back up.

yes my hair tangles, like the when i put product in or if it is wet, it tangles/intertwine together. i can't do the twisting and washing in sections thing. it doesn't matter.

 

[divachyk]

shortdub78, I started feeling that I was all alone in that regard. I hate that your hair tangles because I know it's a pain but at least it helps put things in perspective for me.

 

[divachyk]

Ladies, I did an advanced search on the words "low porosity" and here are the search results(eta: for some reason the results didn't show, sorry ladies). It is my goal to read as much as I can to finally attack this issue vs. accepting the mindset it is what it is. Recently I've been getting annoyed with tangling and breakage. I hear others speak about how easy their hair is to detangle and I think, pssh, I wish. Perhaps if I can find methods that address low porosity that might subsequently improve the tangles and cause less breakage. One can hope, right?

 

[suns4i6e]

Bump -- would love more feedback on this topic.



@suns4i6e, are you still using baking soda with great success? What ratios of baking soda and amino acid are you using? What does the amino acid do for the hair?

Hi divachyk! Yup I absolutely still use baking soda and I don't see that ever changing. I use roughly a teaspoon of BS and probably same, maybe a little less amino acid. This is my adaptation of the Cherry Lola treatment (I use conditioner instead of yogurt). The amino acid is supposed to make this a strengthening as well as moisturizing treatment. It aids the hair's ability to retain moisture. Protein bonds are constructed of amino acid chains and many who are protein sensitive have an easier time using amino acids instead of more direct protein. My hair loves protein, so I do this in addition to protein treatments.

 

[suns4i6e]

@shortdub78, I started feeling that I was all alone in that regard. I hate that your hair tangles because I know it's a pain but at least it helps put things in perspective for me.

Another big tangler here. My hair tangles like that's its JOB and it's gunning for a promotion! I honestly don't know how much porosity plays a role for me, as I think my fine hair may be more the culprit. Tons of conditioner, patience, and nimble fingers are my friends.

 

[LightEyedMami]

Ladies, I did an advanced search on the words "low porosity" and here are the search results. It is my goal to read as much as I can to finally attack this issue vs. accepting the mindset it is what it is. Recently I've been getting annoyed with tangling and breakage. I hear others speak about how easy their hair is to detangle and I think, pssh, I wish. Perhaps if I can find methods that address low porosity that might subsequently improve the tangles and cause less breakage. One can hope, right?

Yep I struggle with tangles.....I have been extra careful with my hair lately (because i was being to ruff before)...Deep conditoning has been helping as well.