How to Improve Hair Porosity and Give Your Hair a Boost

Hair that’s been compromised doesn’t look or feel silky or smooth, but hair that's got plenty of moisture, looks and feels terrific!

If your hair doesn’t retain moisture well, your hair is said to have low porosity. Moisture absorption and loss are the major contributors to hair that's overly porous.

Improve Hair Porosity for Healthier Hair

Porous hair looks and feels dry, but strangely enough, it can absorb great amounts of water. Healthy hair can absorb roughly 30% of its weight in water, while overly porous hair can absorb up to 40-50%! The more porous your hair is, the more water it absorbs. This may seem like a good thing but its not. Unfortunately hair that absorbs that much moisture, also loses moisture as quickly as it gains it.

One of the biggest problems with poor porosity is because of hair’s ability to absorb water. When your hair is full of water, its weight can compromise hair structure. Hair that stretches beyond its limit of 30% gets very weak.

If this process occurs too often, damage to the cuticle and cortex layers of your hair cannot be reversed. Hair eventually breaks under stress. This is why it isn’t a good idea to keep hair in a perpetual state of wetness. Moisture is only beneficial to hair that can absorb it. Too much moisture on overly porous hair can stress it beyond repair.

Poor porosity is most often the result of raised cuticles and damage to scales that run along the hair cuticle. Patching scale damage and closing cuticles helps to improve hair porosity.

Your hair has the ability to absorb up to 50% of its weight when its wet. The absorption of moisture naturally lengthens and adds more weight to your hair. In this way, your hair is very much like a sponge.

When a sponge is fresh and new, it is able to absorb and hold a lot more moisture than when its old and has been used more. Over time, the pores in a sponge become over-saturated which naturally stretches them out. The sponge becomes less able to hold moisture and loses its original shape. Because an old sponge cannot hold the same amount of water it once could, it is said to have higher porosity than a new sponge.

If your hair behaves similarly, you'll need to correct and improve your hair's poor porosity!

Correct Hair Porosity to Improve Hair

The fastest way to improve hair porosity and repair damaged hair is by using protein treatments. Keratin (protein) is the basic structure of hair. Added protein helps to fill in any gaps that have been caused by hair stress. Protein binds to and helps to temporarily mend cuticle scales. Regular protein conditioning can improve hair porosity by reinforcing the cuticle layers. This allows your hair to hold onto the moisture it’s given, which helps your hair to behave the way it’s supposed to. Too much protein however, can make your hair become dry and brittle so don’t be overly zealous. Doing lots of protein treatments won’t mend your hair more quickly. Protein treatments should be done slowly, over time. This helps create the perfect environment for hair to naturally repair itself. To keep your hair from becoming dry and brittle, its best to use protein treatment with moisturizers or hair reconstructors with moisture. Optionally, you could also do deep conditioning treatments after protein treatments. These solutions help improve hair porosity.

If you use chemicals on your hair regularly, always, always follow them with a conditioner for chemically treated hair. This helps to restore hair porosity by closing hair cuticles. Conditioners also help maintain your hair’s proper pH balance.

Hair glazes are also a good way to maintain hair porosity after protein treatments. Clear or colored hair glazes contain proteins that bind to and patch the hair shaft. Use them to enhance your current hair color, or use clear glazes if you'd rather keep your current color and add shine only. Sebastian Cellophanes and Redkin Shades EQ are hair rinses that will help in correcting hair porosity. Glazes help mend and protect your hair. Use them about once a month, as you would a semi/demi permanent hair color.

Occasionally, you should also clarify your hair. You can buy clarifying shampoos or use an apple cider vinegar rinse. This helps to improve hair by getting rid of product build up and cleaning your hair.

Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse