Many suffering from low porosity hair share the same complaint – product just sits on top of the hair and never absorbs. Low porosity hair is slow to absorb moisture because the cuticles are tightly closed. Today you will learn how to infuse moisture in your dry low porosity hair.
My Battle with Low Porosity Hair
When I first started my hair journey, I began treating my hair for high porosity because I was under the misconception that chemically treated hair was weak, worn and damaged. I treated my hair with Roux Porosity Control each week without success. Roux Porosity Control is designed to close the cuticles and best suited for high porosity hair. Low porosity hair has cuticles that are tightly closed so using Roux Porosity Control would close them even tighter and make it even harder to moisturize. It wasn’t until I understood the basics of low porosity hair did I see a turn in the health of my hair.
Avoid Hard Water!
Hard water deposit minerals and sediments on the hair which eventually leads to dry hair. I use a Sprite Water Filter on my shower head to filter out impurities. It doesn’t filter out everything but it filters out enough so that my hair isn’t suffering from dryness. I only change the filter once every six months so it’s very cost effective.
Related: Stop Hair Breakage with Sprite Water Filter
Minimize Protein Treatments!
Low porosity hair holds on to protein for longer periods than normal and high porosity hair. Therefore, protein treatments should be used in moderation. Low porosity hair tends to respond best to gentle protein treatments like Ion Effective Care Treatment, Aubrey Organics GPB
and Komaza Protein Strengthener. Do what’s best for your hair but you might want to stay away from hardcore protein treatments.
Deep Condition With Heat!
Using heat while deep conditioning opens the hair cuticles to allow product to deeply penetrate the hair strands for maximum hydration. To kick it up a notch, the moist heat of a hair steamer can be used to deliver an extra boost of hydration to your hair.
Related: DIY Hair Steaming Method to Increase Moisture
Quality Products Rock!
Most of us are guilty of trying to save a few bucks here and there by opting for cheaper products. Going forward, don’t skimp on quality. Quality products have better ingredients that can penetrate, protect and hydrate the hair deeper and better than lower quality products.
Additional Tips and Tricks
- Look for quality products that work without having to doctor it up.
- Know what ingredients your hair likes and dislikes. [Example: Hydrolyzed wheat protein makes my hair dry.]
- Lightly misting hair with water before moisturizing and sealing will force hair to absorb moisture.
- Be careful with products containing glycerin as they can be drying to low porosity hair.
- Aloe vera is hit and miss and can be very drying to low porosity hair.
- Focus on applying moisturizer and/or deep conditioner on hair closest to the scalp to ensure its properly moisturized.
- Product layering helps low porosity hair absorb moisture.
- Moisturize and seal using the liquid (L) – oil (O) – cream (C) method.
- Baggy for 30 minutes after applying products. Heat will open your hair cuticles and allow product to absorb.
Related Article: Managing Low Porosity Hair
I love your hair treatment tips. You are awesome. After your posts I started to buy better quality products.
Oh great! Hope your hair is getting healthier with each day.
Yayyyyy. I learnt that I have low porosity hair the hard way. Your tips are really on point. Keep it up.
Hey Babs! Hope all is well. Thank you for the compliment. I hate you had to learn the hard way but hope your hair is on point now.
My Hair is that way, I love it !
🙂