I saw this on Naturallycurly in the General Discussion and thought it’d be fun (and informative) to do here! Below, the overly porous ladies will check in and share their hair biographies and next week, we’ll check in with the low porosity divas. Hopefully the responses of others may help YOU and give you a starting place for a routine.
Here are some links to help you figure out your hair properties:
Porosity and Why it Matters
Not Every Natural is Coarse, Of Course
Live Curly Live Free – Curly Hair Basics How to type hair using the Fia system | eHow.com What hair elasticity is and how to measure elasticity or hair stretch Welcome to Weather Underground : Weather Underground
Thickness of Strand: Fine, medium, or coarse
Curl Pattern: 3c,4b, etc.
Density: thin, medium, thick
Elasticity: low, normal, high
Characteristics: flat top/no root curl, easily weighed down, lots of shrinkage, etc.
CG/ModCG/not CG: If modified, state how you modified the method.
Hard water or soft water:
Average climate/dew points:
Protein section:
Do you PT? If so how often?
How long? 10 minutes, 1 hour, etc.
PT with heat or steam?
Favorite PTs:
Favorite products that contain protein? Conditioners, leave-ins, styling products, etc.
Proteins your hair likes? Wheat protein, collagen, keratin protein, etc.
Proteins your hair dislikes?
Moisture section:
Do you DT? If so, how often?
How long? 15 minutes, 1 hour, etc.
DT with heat or steam?
Favorite DTs:
Favorite products to moisturize your hair: Conditioners, leave in conditioners, styling products, etc.
Ingredient likes: behentrimonium methosulfate, glycerin, jojoba oil, etc.
Ingredient dislikes: shea butter, oils, cetrimonium chloride, etc.
Do you seal? If so, what do you use to seal?
Do you avoid humectants? If so, which humectants do you avoid? Do you avoid them at all dew points or only certain dew points?
Low dew point combos:
Normal dew point combos:
High dew point combos:
HG/Go-to Products: up to 5 products that are constantly in your rotation
Name the methods, techniques, and tricks that work for your porous hair? Spritz and condish, prewash treatments, sealing, etc.
As my southern peoples say… "greeat day"! That's alot of questions…lol
This is why we need a GANG of little black girls (and boys) to grow up and become chemists, physicists, and microbiologists, and start R&D companies to actually do the research needed to figure out what works best for whom. Pantene and Revlon have whole other companies of PhD's paid 6 figures working around the clock for what we part-time scientists are trying to do in a blog post.
Natural hair journey indeed… we got's some work to do. Hopefully it will inspire someone to actually do it.
Thickness of Strand: Fine, medium, or coarse
Curl Pattern: 4a & 4 b,
Density: thick
Elasticity: normal
Characteristics: lots of shrinkage (if I don't braid my hair while wet)
CG/ModCG/not CG: If modified, state how you modified the method.
Hard water or soft water: Love my Water Filter
Average climate/dew points: Love the Seasons (70's in town & 80's in country)
Protein section:
I don't do proteins unless it naturally occurs in a nut. (i.e. proteins are nuts and I like to use shea butter or almond oil.)
Moisture section:
Do you DT? If so, how often? Wet hair every day! Aloe and / or Water. Deep Condition on Sundays & Co~Wash on Wednesdays
How long? 1 hour
DT with heat or steam? Steam
Favorite DTs: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose or Homemade Shealoe Conditioner.
Favorite products to moisturize your hair: Homemade Shealoe Lotion & Homemade Shealoe Spritz
Ingredient likes: Aloe, shea butter, water, oils, glycerin, Cassia Obovata, & Alma
Ingredient dislikes: anything that is not organic or has fragrance
Do you seal? If so, what do you use to seal? 1. Water and then Aloe Spritz 2. Aloe & Oil mixture 3. Shealoe Lotion
Do you avoid humectants? If so, which humectants do you avoid? Do you avoid them at all dew points or only certain dew points? Trying to avoid all humectants, but my hair has become attached to jojoba, castor oil, and glycerin.
HG/Go-to Products: up to 5 products that are constantly in your rotation
1. Homemade Aloe Spritz
2. Homemade Shealoe Lotion
3. Homemade Aloe & Oil mixture
4. Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose
5. Cassia Obovata
6. Alma
7. Organic Oils
Name the methods, techniques, and tricks that work for your porous hair? Spritz and condish, prewash treatments, sealing, etc.
1. Aloe and Cassia Obovata are my best friends for addressing this issue.
Love them and can't do without them.
Thanks for the awesome post.
LLP~OGC
Thickness of Strand: Mostly fine, a little medium mixed in
Curl Pattern: 3c/4a
Density: Thin; medium at the crown
Elasticity: Normal
Characteristics: Flat top (except at the crown, which takes a little more to be weighed down since it's a bit denser)
CG/ModCG/not CG: I modify this method to make sure to include sealing in conditioner, as well as incorporating henna treatments once every 4 – 6 weeks
Hard water or soft water: Hard
Average climate/dew points: Humid, subtropical; dew points vary per season
Protein section:
Do you PT? If so how often? Yes, at least once a month
How long? 10 minutes, 1 hour, etc. About 30 minutes
PT with heat or steam? Heat
Favorite PTs: ApHogee 2-Step; Henna (acts as a protein)
Favorite products that contain protein? Conditioners, leave-ins, styling products, etc. ApHogee 2-Min Keratin; ApHogee Keratin & Green Tea Spray
Proteins your hair likes? LOVES keratin, silk, hydrolized wheat
Proteins your hair dislikes? Egg protein
Moisture section:
Do you DT? If so, how often? Once a week, but usually a moisture DC containing some type of protein. I only use a protein-free DC after henna or a PT
How long? Usually overnight
DT with heat or steam? No
Favorite DTs: Bee Mine DC (protein-free); Silk Elements MegaSilk
Favorite products to moisturize your hair: Donna Marie Miracurl leave-in and Moisture Mist
Favorite conditioners, styling products, etc. V05 conditioners, TJ NourishSpa, Aussie Moist, IC gel, Komaza coconut hair pudding
Ingredient likes: behentrimonium methosulfate, aloe vera juice, avocado butter, cones (surprisingly), grapeseed oil, safflower oil, vegetable glycerin (when it's warm out), honey, molasses
Ingredient dislikes: SLS, plain shea butter (by itself)
Do you seal? If so, what do you use to seal? I use avocado butter to seal. Oils don't work for me for sealing
Do you avoid humectants? I only avoid humectants when it's really cold out, but even when it's cool, there tends to be a good amount of moisture in the air
HG/Go-to Products: up to 5 products that are constantly in your rotation
Donna Marie Superlatherlicious Poo, Donna Marie Miracurl Leave-In, IC Gel, Jamila Henna, Donna Marie Super Buttercreme
Name the methods, techniques, and tricks that work for your porous hair? Lots of protein, cool water rinses, ACV rinses
Fun! I have never done a porosity "test" but it's obvious to me my hair sucks up moisture like a sponge, lol…
Thickness of Strand: Fine
Curl Pattern: 4b
Density: medium
Elasticity: normal
Characteristics: Cottony, fragile, dry, lots of shrinkage, super coily ends prone to knots 24/7
CG/ModCG/not CG: I cowash w/Giovanni condish (weekly). Wash with Giovanni Smooth as Silk poo 1:1 w/olive oil every few months. Henna Monthly.
Hard water or soft water: ? Not sure.
Average climate/dew points: Houston Humidity!!
Protein section:
Do you PT? If so how often? Used to doa formal PT treatment. Now I stick to Henna. But most of my condish's have protein. My hair loves them.
Favorite PTs: Most of them! (Vegatable)
Favorite products that contain protein? ALL Giovanni conditioners, Aubrey Org., AphoGhee Green Tea Reconstructer.
Moisture section:
Do you DT? Twice a month.
How long? 45 min to 1 hour
DT with heat or steam? Heating cap.
Favorite DTs: MyHoneyChild Honey Hair Mask, Giovanni Smooth as Silk, Aubrey Honey Suckle Rose.
Favorite products to moisturize your hair: On dry hair – SheaMoisture Curl Milk & Deep Treatment Mask!! Raw shea butter, 1:1 aloe gel + water spritz, Carol's Daughter Black Vanilla leave in. On wet hair – SheaMoisture Hibisucs Curl Smoothie or the Leave In Conditioner. Capuacu Butter.
Ingredient likes: Water, fatty alcohols, shea & Capuacu butter, coconut & avocado oil
Ingredient dislikes: Too much gylcerin, alcohol, dimethicone, propelyne gylcol, sulphates… I try to stick to 99% natural. My hair appreciates it.
Do you seal? If so, what do you use to seal?
Yes with coconut, castor or avocado oil.
Do you avoid humectants? If so, which humectants do you avoid? Do you avoid them at all dew points or only certain dew points?
Low, normal, high dew point combos: I don't vary my routine based on this – maybe I should! I do tend to use more humectants in the summer.
HG/Go-to Products: Shea Moisture Curl Milk, Giovanni conditioners – Tea Tree, 50/50 and Smooth As Silk (CANT.LIVE.WITHOUT.), Shea Moisture Curl Smoothie & Deep Treatment Mask. My homeade Blow Dry Lotion (Grapeseed oil, VIA Naturals thermal protectant, Giovanni Vita Pro Fusion leav in, and Shea Moisture leave in)
Name the methods, techniques, and tricks that work for your porous hair? Spritz and condish, prewash treatments, sealing, etc.
Prepoo's seem to to work well for me. They help me retain moisture throughout the washing process AND reduce shrinkage in the drying process. I mix equal parts castor, coconut, avocado oil with water to detangle + braid. Leave in for an hour. Then cowash with th hair braided. Then either air with Shea Moisture Curl Smoothie or Blow Dry on medium. I've tried other methods and this is the best for my hair.
My hair also greatly benefits from stretching!! My ends are hard to handle. They curl into themselves and it can be a mess. Braidouts are my world and so is a soft-core blow out on medium heat.
:0)
Ops sorry about the two back to back posts.
Nikki, thanks for clearing that up without getting up set with me. I am low porosity. I am still learning to care for my hair so I will be checking back to see what others with low porosity are doing for their hair.
Ok – thanks Nikki for clearing that up without getting upset with me. I am low porosity, I think. I am still learning how to care for my hair so I'l be checking back to see if I can get some tips from others with low porosity.
I have a question… when I put gel on my hair, ecostyler, ic fantasia etc., it seems as though it absorbs itself right into my hair and there is no shine or anything left after. Does this mean I have a porosity issue and if so which one?
heck yeah, we'll do LO-PO next week!
This is interesting, good post…I have low porosity, hopefully we can do something like this for the lo-po girls too 🙂
sorry chica, when I say porous, I mean medium to high… the kind that can't hold on to moisture. I'm overly porous and will be back to add my list!
Thickness of Strand: Fine
Curl Pattern: 3b/3c/4a
Density: THICK
Elasticity: Normal
Characteristics: Right side 3c less shrinkage more dense; left side 4a more shrinkage less dense; resulting in asymmetrical effect
CG/ModCG/not CG: Not sure
Hard water or soft water: Hard water
Average climate/dew points: spring 70 to 75 with mid level dew points
Protein section:
Do you PT? If so how often? Yes, maybe once every two months
How long? 30 minutes, like my regular deep treatments
PT with heat or steam? Heat
Favorite PTs: Aubrey Organics GPB
Favorite products that contain protein? Giovanni Direct Leave in, organic root stimulator
Proteins your hair likes? Wheat protein
Proteins your hair dislikes? Keratin
Moisture section:
Do you DT? If so, how often? Yes, every week; twice if I’m not lazy
How long? 30 minutes minimum
DT with heat or steam? Heat
Favorite DTs: Aubrey Organics Rosa Mosqueta, AO Honey suckle rose
Favorite products to moisturize your hair: Too many to name , but the Shea Moisture line is a fave.
Ingredient likes: glycerin, oils, butters
Ingredient dislikes: cones and parabens
Do you seal? If so, what do you use to seal? Yes, olive or grapeseed
Do you avoid humectants? If so, which humectants do you avoid? Do you avoid them at all dew points or only certain dew points? Only in the winter
Low dew point combos:
Normal dew point combos:
High dew point combos:
HG/Go-to Products: Giovanni Direct Leave In, aloe vera juice, Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo, Olive Oil, Aubrey Organics conditioners
If you are porous???? I thought everyone was porous being a person's hair is low porosity, high porosity or normally porosity. Just saying… : )