What is Hair Porosity and Why It's Such a Big Deal!

| Hair porosity is something that's not talked about until there's a hair problem. However, its very important to the overall health of your hair. Porosity is dependent upon your hairs ability to absorb moisture past the cuticle layer of your hair, into the cortex layer. |
If something's overly porous, it can absorb moisture very quickly but the downfall is that it also has the ability to lose moisture just as fast. That's why it's vital that your hair is not too much, not too little, but 'just right'!

Blonde hair is naturally more porous than darker hair colors but all hair is generally porous to some degree. If it wasn’t, moisturizing hair products couldn’t permeate into your hair strands and wouldn't help your hair at all. The trick to controlling porosity lies in treatments that help close the cuticles of your hair. To understand why, you’ll need to know some hair basics. Hair Porosity 101
Most hair has 3 layers. The cuticle is the outer layer, the cortex is the inner layer, and some thicker hair textures have an additional inner layer called the medulla. When your hair cannot absorb or retain moisture, your hair has poor porosity. The outer layer of your hair is called the cuticle. Hair cuticles are either open, closed, or somewhere in between. The cuticle layer has little scales or barbs on it that stick out if they’re raised even slightly. When your hair’s cuticles lay down properly, your hair looks and feels smooth and silky. If scales are raised, over time, your hair can feel dry and look poofy or frizzy. Lifted scales do not lay flat against the other scales, which allows moisture to escape easily. Regular shampooing, conditioning, and chemical processes increase poor porosity. Hair ends are always more porous than roots or the mid shaft hair simply because ends the oldest, most exposed, and most abused. If your hair won’t cooperate with you when you curl or style it, won’t accept chemical treatments, feels dry even when you moisturize regularly, dries quickly when it’s soaking wet, or looks frizzy and poofy all the time, you need to correct the porosity of your hair. Causes of Poor Hair PorosityThere are many things that contribute to hair being overly porous. Some of them include: Regular use of heating tools. Repeated use shampoos and conditioners that contain harmful chemicals. Environmental contributors like wind, sun, and extreme hot or cold temperatures. Abuse from chemical processes. Regularly pulling or tugging wet hair. Genetics also have a role in your hair type and the kinds of problems you have with your hair. Chemical process abuse is probably the biggest contributor to overly porous hair. The process forces the cuticle layer to open, in order for your hair to accept the chemical application. If done too often, chemical processes degrade elasticity and the tensile strength of your hair. If chemicals are abused, even regular conditioning can’t mend the degradation. The harsher the chemical process, the more porous hair becomes and the more breakage and damage your hair is likely to have. Bleach for example, is one of the biggest contributors to poor porosity. For this reason, great care must be taken to fix hair porosity before it completely obliterates your hair. Check out this page if you need to correct or improve the porosity of your hair! Improve Hair Porosity and Give Your Hair a Lift!
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