Hair porosity is a great tool to use to determine what techniques to use on your hair. Porosity is literally a measure of how porous a thing is. When you think of pores, you think of holes. The strand test is useful because it is a quick way to see how water passes through the “holes” or open cuticles of your hair stand. So if your hair strand takes on the water and goes to the bottom of the cup, it is highly porous, or high porosity. If it floats it has low porosity because the cuticle is not open or porous. Damaged or chemically treated hair is typically highly porous because the processing causes it to damage the cuticle. Although, some folks have naturally highly porous hair, even when it is not damaged. Most naturals will find that their hair is low porosity, this can be a good thing, it means the cuticle is intact and the hair is strong. This can be a bad thing because it can make it hard for nutrients to penetrate the strand. In order for your products to penetrate a low porosity head of hair, you have to manipulate the cuticle with heat. Very simple concept. So unless you are dcing with heat, that product is just sitting there and never really penetrating the strand. For this reason low porosity gals tend to get product build up which can cause breakage. Another thing to consider when doing the strand test: water has a property called viscosity. That means the surface of the water likes to “stick” to itself. So when you do a single strand test, the strand may not be heavy enough to pass through the surface of the water and will seem to float. Do not mistake this for low porosity hair, simply give the strand a gentle push past the surface of the water and then see what it does.
My hair takes a long time to get wet and when I did the float test it floated. But then again my hair tangles easily and is always frizzy and when I did the rubbing the hair with two fingers I felt bumps and rigs. Lol so I'm don't know what I have I'm just lost lol
Hair will float because of surface tension. If you want to use the hair floating as a method for porosity detection, you need to push the hair down past the surface and see if it floats back up.
Omg...me too. It takes forever for my hair to get saturated and forever to dry. Hair dye and heavy products don't work or just weigh my hair down. On the other hand, it stays frizzy, tangles in seconds, and the strands are very fine. I don't use chemicals or heat, so it's not damaged. I just don't know. 😫
Your porosity actually changed depending on what you do to it. If you bleached the crap out of your hair, it's probably a level 5 porosity (porosity is graded, not just low, medium, high). Level 5 means that you have no cuticle left and the only way to "fix" it is to cut it off. Manes By Mell explains this really well and she's a certified hair professional and gets her facts from the board that certified her as a haircare professional.
Tip for the water test Poke your hair a little bit until it gets under water. Because if you don't do anything then the water tension will prevent the hair from sinking. :)
Aerosis Yep. You're right. Mine sat on the surface for hours but once I tapped the hair it sank to the bottom straight and would have continued going down if the cup were a pipe!
I have high porosity. Last week I tried to deep condition, my hair looked amazing the next day, the day after my hair went to being a dry Sahara desert.... sigh
I always thought I had low porosity hair. Just did the water glass test and my strand shriveled up and hit the bottom of the glass in seconds!😭 15 years natural and I’ve been wrong all this time! Thanks for the informative video. 👍🏾
this is so why I love this channel! this video just made me understand why my braids never stay weeks and the roots are just full of frizz!!!! high porosity hair is definitely my hair type! thanks Bianca
Low porosity. And giiiiirrrrrlllll...Shea Moisture's Low Porosity line is sent from the GAWDZ themselves. Hallelujah! I feel like I'm waking up to Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" every day since purchasing this line. 3c/3b ON FLEEK! Yas!! I can't keep my hands out of my hair.
I had zero knowledge about porosity for years and years, but I finally found Briogeo curly cream and use it on WET SQUISHY hair, then immediately follow it with Briogeo heat protection anti frizz. I don't use any heat products, but the sun is hot- hot- hot! I love these products! My hair was low porosity pre cancer treatments, but the curls did come back (with a few odd "whoopies" in my bangs 🙄). It is now very high porosity and the heavier creams work better for my curly pattern. My cousin has coiled hair, and she thinks I am full of it for buying the cream products I do, LoL. This is good information.
I am so excited I found you! you are adorable and informative! I have a 13 year old biracial daughter who had super soft curls until she began hitting puberty a few years ago. she has refused to wear her hair down since because unfortunately we do not live in a diverse area and she does not like the attention her hair gets. I have tried so many product lines over the years and watched videos and read blogs to no real change...my daughter recently has wanted to start wearing her hair down and natural but it is a mess from years of wearing it in a tight bun day & night. we do use the shea moisture line and do apple cider vinegar rinses...after watching some videos recently, I believe she may have protein overload and i believe she has low porosity hair. I have tried to instill in her that her natural hair is beautiful and I want her to feel proud of who she is and love herself. if you have any advice for us, I would be grateful! I am going to have her watch some of your videos too!
hiii, I know it's been a few years but i'd still really like to know if and how fast her curls recovered from always wearing them up etc.? thank you in advance:)
This was the BEST explanation of Hair porosity~ Now I actually know what I'm working with! High Porosity all day! Thanks for the info Sis!!! Your hair......#HairGoals~ Beautiful!
Thank u i just subbie to u. Never saw u before today. I was glue to WATCHING u. Trying to learn all i can for my very kink , dry, hair. I have grown it out for ten years & am so tempted to put in a perm. I have bee. Tidying my hair up for 10 years with scarfs. Now i am ready to wear it out. grace to all
This really helps a lot now that I know what accidental products I bought. Turns out, they're all right for my hair and I think it's safe to say I have High Porosity hair. Thanks!
That means you are low porosity just like me. I have the same problem but my hair is 4b. I noticed when I used Shea Butter for a twisout it left it mad greasy bc my hair doesn’t absorb products well so try to use creams and lighter products instead.
saaaame; I have the same hair texture, curls, whatever. Whenever I apply oils and stuff to my hair, it makes it super greasy; yet when I don't, my hair frizzes to shit and doesn't keep its curls as well.
So my hair floats, has beads when I spray, takes a long time to get fully wet, and it's thick. But it has a bumpy texture and tangles easily so what am I???
My strand of hair actually, not only sat on top of the water, the little part of the strand that was below the water had water droplets/bubbles on it! (yikes, plus when I run my fingers along the strand of hair, its totally smooth, unless there is probably a single strand knot at the end. Talk about closed hair shafts). All this time I thought I had High porosity hair. The one good thing I was doing, was using an apple cider vinegar rinse each week, prior to washing/cowashing my hair, to cleanse all the product build up from my hair weekly. Thanks for this video. Its very helpful!
Wow. I thought I was high porosity and I’ve done the float test twice. But apparently that’s not reliable. I noticed I was getting a lot of product build up recently and the thicker products would slightly work but then if I reapplied it , there came the build up. So i tried spraying my hair with water. My ends took it in a little but the rest of the hair just had beads of water sitting there. 😳😳 this explains so much! Thanks Bianca!!
I am LITERALLY in the middle. Some days I'm high, some days I'm low. I do use Shea Moisture and am currently using the Argan oil and Almond milk smooth and tame shampoo/ conditioner. I also oil my hair once every week; I mean dripping saturation, with a combination of: almond oil, coconut oil, sometimes shea butter, castor oil, black jamaican castor oil, kalonji oil and pure peppermint oil. I leave it in for 1 or 2 days then shampoo and condition. I've also been using a new product: OYIN handmade juices and berries hair tonic as my daily leave-in. I LOVE it! I've been oiling for 2 months and have seen a huge difference in my hair. Oyin I've been using for a week and my hair has never been softer. I've done the ACV rinse once last month and will probably do it again next month.
admatd1234 same I'm not normal but between the two at times, mostly low though. I went on this journey of figuring it out because toner washes out of my hair
I’ve heard you should do the porosity tests on freshly washed hair so that the product and oil build up become a non-issue. That way the result may be closer to the truth.
technically shampoo lifts or relaxes the cuticle more than it would naturally, so the strand would absorb more water. If you're low porosity the test would then indicate that you're medium or maybe even high porosity in some instances.
This makes so much sense. I’ve notice that I have an easier time washing my hair when I use really hot water. I’m pretty sure from one of the tests that I have low porosity. Thank you so much this video was so helpful
No questions on my part! I definitely have low porosity hair! My "virgin" hair (that's supposed to take color very easily) ... didn't, even my hairdressers complain that my hair takes *forever* to dry, it's difficult to get my hair completely wet to wash it. Thanks for the tips!
Girl... you literally just gave me everything I need! Like every time a question popped up in my head you just immediately answered them. THANK YOU for doing all the research for me. GOD BLESS YOU CHILD! (btw I totally yelled out "high porosity" when you asked us to... I'm cool. ToT
I liked this video, not because it answered the question about porosity, but because it posed the question. Most of know and have experienced that a hair product that works wonders on one person does not work at all on us. I think porosity may be one of the crucial elements. I also feel that the porosity of my hair varies with the health of my hair. As I watched the video I remembered times when I was getting dominican blow outs to the point I felt I had no porosity. And other times when I was keeping my hair in braids when it seemed extremely porous. It appears that the question of porosity is a good way to gauge the health of your hair and the products you should use.
This video helped so much! I think I'm a Low to medium porosity. I have been seeing girls on youtube put on a bunch of gel into their hair and when I tried that it worked okay be after only a few days my hair felt so grows. I also can't stand putting my products on soaking hair damp hair seems to be better. Or if I put a product on my hair in sections like I see some girls do I can get weighed down too. When I did the water test for my hair most of it sat on the water but like one strand sank a bit. Thank you!!
i have a hooded dryer....was definitely needed when I wore dreads (for 10 years) -- took forever to dry. Cut it off about 18 months ago, but I still love to use my hooded dryer. Best $100 bucks ever!
High porosity , I use a lot of different oils. creams etc. Coconut and kukui oils work great. I stay away from any products that contain alcohol, mineral oil and sulfates.
Thank you so much... I finally found out what me and my daughters hair is... I'm high with my 5 year old and my teenagers are low.... I appreciate this so much... ❤❤❤❤💯💯💯💯💯
Thank you for breaking this down I'm new to all this and want to get back to being consistent with the maintenance of my hair as I've been natural for years and love it, again thank you!
Thanks for the video! I have a question: My thick hair does exactly as you said for low and high porosity hair. Low: The butters I put on it just sit on top and makes it extremely oily and takes hours to dry that up. High/ my hair tangled easily within strands and I have to use oil to detangle the ends. It also dries water out super fast. That said, how would I know what type of porosity hair I have if it falls between these two? Also, my wash and gos have been wash and no’s lol probably b/c of the porosity thing. My hair is super curly wavy where the back curls perfect but the front looks like leaves of a willow tree 🤷🏾♀️
I definitely have high porosity hair! Now I'm 100% for sure. I met every single one of the high porosity test. Now I can take better care of my hair. Thank you! So now I'm going to go give my self a good hydrolyzed protein treatment!
After all that I'm still confused, I have to spray my hair with water many times before it gets wet so is that low porosity?but my hair dries pretty fast I think in about a hour 1/2, My hair is always frizzy though so I still don't know
My hair does that too! It doesn't take days to dry (maybe 3-4 hours maximum but I usually use the diffuser because it is cold outside so only 1-2 hours) but it takes forever to get wet... When I use a spray bottle with hot water it just sits on top... The same with leave ins: When they are to heavy, they make my hair super greasy and the volume is gone (because of my fine hair I need the volume). I'm experimenting with diluting my leave in with water to get rid of the frizzy ends but keep the volume.
So mine is definitely low porosity. Sine we are home i had my teen test hers too and she too is low porosity however she is clearly a 2 and I am a 3. Taking time today to figure out more. Thank you for your lovely detailed video.
I think all woman planning on transition to natural should watch this video,I learnt so much in just 10 minutes and will save you a lot on experimenting with products that dont match your hair type
I knew it! I have a patch of hair directly in the center front of my hair that is a completely different texture than the rest of my hair. Its smoother and when I do braid outs or twist outs, it doesn't hold the curls easily. It comes out kind of wavy curly and looks really smooth. I tried the strand test just now where u go up and down on the strand with hair from the front and hair from the rest of my hair and the hair in the front was really smooth while the rest has the bumpy feel. So I have low porosity in the front part and the rest I think is high porosity. Its good to know the reason y that hair is different but now I have to invest in protein treatments and stuff to try to fix the rest of my hair😭 I barely have enough money to get the little products I do have🥺
Thank u BiancaRenee! This was very very helpful! Found out I have low porosity hair! Always wondered why it took so long to wet my hair in the shower when washing!
Hi Bianca I noticed your video I watched was 3 years ago but I never knew about the hair porosity test and I just took it my hair floats in the middle so that would make it medium porosity thank you for the tutorial
I feel I have a mixture of low and high. My hair takes 4 hours to air dry and its only above the shoulders, when I spray water it sits there or drips. But in the shower it gets wet really fast it loves coconut oil but if too much then it gets greasy and it holds only up to 2-3 days before needing to wash and product build up. It feels like the roots are greasy and the ends dry, previously one product was enough for me and that was coconut oil, now it takes 3 products for the same results! So where do I stand?
High porosity! I couldn't even wait to finish the video I paused, pulled out a few strands and did the water test. It sank right in 😀. Thank you it has really been helpful info!
2:22 The way I checked off everything on that list. My hair has all that. 😭😂 Now I know what porosity my hair is and what to do with it now! So thanks for the video! 😄
My hair is normal porosity. It has always taken color and (curly) perms well, so... A lot of people these days claim to be low porosity, but that cup test is way inaccurate. If your hair has been permed in the past and it took the perm well, or the color, then there you go, it's normal porosity.
This isn't accurate either lol. Hair can be trained. Especially since people who go natural just came from chemical straighteners. If they've been doin it all their life up until they went natural then they wouldn't have noticed really. Especially if they've been relaxed all their childhood. If they got a bleaching treatment after they went natural then this would be more accurate. But to tell you the truth a microscope might end the debate.
I thought I was alone in the normal porosity team! My past hair stylist told me that I had normal porosity because my hair took bleach very well, he was so surprised because he usually encounters alot of high porosity clients.
SM Low Porosity line was horrible for my hair. The shampoo STRIPPED MY HAIR (in my Yuri voice) and the conditioners did not condition even with sitting under the dryer. I guess it works for some body but not for me. In fact SM products do not work on my hair AT ALL.
Thank you for your time and effort in making this video. I was getting frustrated with my hair & I was just picking you tubers products that didn’t work for me.
Well I'm confused. My hair dries really quick when I wash it. It's smooth to touch, but floats on top of the water in the hair porosity test. I'm not sure of I am low or high porosity.
OMGOODNESS thank you for this video very informative simple & straight to the point OMYGOODNESS thank you thank you. DON'T know why i never saw your video 2yrs ago but so blessed I've seen it thank you for being a blessing to me 💖🙏👏 please make more video's so much great info & i enjoyed how you made it witty yet so informative.
I feel like I have low porosity hair. I have been trying to grow my hair out for years and it never seems to get any length. Do you have any tips on hair growth?
Good video, thanks For getting right to the point , I enjoyed the information I have high porosity hair always have to close my cuticles, & then the product just lays there. ( have to use tiny amount & build as the week progress)
I know the video is older, but it helped me a lot! I now know I have high porosity hair. No wonder my hair loves the Shea Moisture Jamaican black castor oil leave-in. No more breakage and it grew about 5 inches this year! It pays to know your hair. Oh, I have the bumpy ridges on hair strand. Like you said it loves protein as well.
Doesn't necessarily mean it's damaged. Your ends have been on your head longer so something you're doing is probably changing your porosity, which again, is not necessarily a bad thing. I recommend checking out Curl Ninja's channel. Bianca got a few things wrong (much of it common mistakes as porosity is actually kinda fluid and complicated). Ninja is a professional curly hairstylist do does an amazing job teaching porosity concepts.
We had a hooded dryer growing up even though we were low-income. It was a hair-care regimen staple. When I lived in a dorm one of the first things I did for my hair was purchase a hooded dryer. It was the natural thing to do. Now I just use a heat cap 🤷🏽♀️
When she was describing high porosity test I was like “Yh that sounds like my hair” then I did the cup test and my hair was floating on top of the water 😭
My hair has all the signs of high porosity hair except that when it’s wet (like fully wet not just from light mist. as soon as a decent amount of h20 touches it though- it’s *soaked* soaked.) it usually takes a real long time to fully dry out. Hair washing in the evening is an absolute no-go. Has to be morning or early afternoon
Same for me. But I think in my case the taking very long to dry thing may be because I have a LOT of hair/my hair is high density. I'm just starting out and figuring this out is confusing 😅
Wait.....I love the work you're doing and I'm only one video in....🥺🥺🥺🥺 I got so overwhelmed when people started mentioning porosity when I was researching bleaching my hair I got scared cause I didn't know, THANK you for demystifying!
I did mine, I have not washed my hair in three days as of right now and it just laid on top of the water! So then I washed the two strands I used from different sections of my scalp, with my Shea Moisture curl and shine shampoo, rinsed them off, put them back in the bowl of water and now parts of the strands are at the bottom of the bowl and parts of the strands are in the middle just floating, not sitting on top like it was! So I would wash your hair before trying this💖 #curlyhairforlife💓😍
Im so confused! My hair floats when I do the water test, but I feel ridges and bumps on my strands. My hair dries quickly too but I also see water beads sitting on top of my hair. Hellllp? Lol
It takes me 20 minutes to blow dry my hair but 3 hours for my hair to fully air dry. I have thick or voluminous hair, which has a lot of frizz. When I try and use a little bit of lotion (on the ends or a little bit higher than the ends but not roots because my hair gets oily easily) It stays frizz-less for like a minute then goes back to being frizzy. I use to have super super fine hair. My hairstylist would always say your hair is so pretty and fine. Then I got older and my hair is not fine anymore well it's not really dense. My hair does not hold that much curl either. You could put the tightest curls in my hair then in 3 hours, they would fall out. My mom would curl my hair (using a 1-inch barrel) then spray it with hairspray and in 20 minutes they would fall out. I could go 2 days without washing my hair before my hair gets oily at the roots. I honestly don't know which one I am. I feel like I am both but I lean more towards the low porosity side.
I'm sorry gurl but the reason why your hair was floating was because of the water surface tension even the most high porosity hair would have floated on there when you lay it on there like that so u gotta dunk it in
Julia Pulala I felt a bit guilty dunking my hair but it was just sitting there on the surface after about 5 minutes, lol. (It was even still floating right below the surface but I figured it was the air bubble attached to the strands)
Julia Pulala ok so i tried both ways laying it on water and dunking it in. When I layed it in only half of my hair went in the water and half of it floated. When I dunked it in it slowly floated down.
"Say it out loud"
Me: "i don't know"
this genuinely made me laugh LOUDDDD😂
hahahaha that was me too 😂😂😂😂😂
Lol same
Lmaooo i said “🤷🏽♀️”
DRY DRY DRY THIRSTY HAIR
Hair porosity is a great tool to use to determine what techniques to use on your hair. Porosity is literally a measure of how porous a thing is. When you think of pores, you think of holes. The strand test is useful because it is a quick way to see how water passes through the “holes” or open cuticles of your hair stand. So if your hair strand takes on the water and goes to the bottom of the cup, it is highly porous, or high porosity. If it floats it has low porosity because the cuticle is not open or porous. Damaged or chemically treated hair is typically highly porous because the processing causes it to damage the cuticle. Although, some folks have naturally highly porous hair, even when it is not damaged. Most naturals will find that their hair is low porosity, this can be a good thing, it means the cuticle is intact and the hair is strong. This can be a bad thing because it can make it hard for nutrients to penetrate the strand. In order for your products to penetrate a low porosity head of hair, you have to manipulate the cuticle with heat. Very simple concept. So unless you are dcing with heat, that product is just sitting there and never really penetrating the strand. For this reason low porosity gals tend to get product build up which can cause breakage. Another thing to consider when doing the strand test: water has a property called viscosity. That means the surface of the water likes to “stick” to itself. So when you do a single strand test, the strand may not be heavy enough to pass through the surface of the water and will seem to float. Do not mistake this for low porosity hair, simply give the strand a gentle push past the surface of the water and then see what it does.
Thank you for this I have a better understanding between the video and this post
Great!!
thx
Perfectly explained
Very helpful 😊
I wish I could have someone just come & do a hair analysis on me... I start thinking I know my hair but then I don't & feel unsure. The struggle.
Jessica McK. ikr
right tho Im confused as hell
I'm saying, annoying 😭😭
Jessica McK. Yes I feel you on that girl
My hair takes a long time to get wet and when I did the float test it floated. But then again my hair tangles easily and is always frizzy and when I did the rubbing the hair with two fingers I felt bumps and rigs. Lol so I'm don't know what I have I'm just lost lol
Hair will float because of surface tension. If you want to use the hair floating as a method for porosity detection, you need to push the hair down past the surface and see if it floats back up.
I'm really baffled rn honestly I feel like I have both 😂
A.S Xx You probably do have both and might just have hair that is sensitive to your environment. I do.
Exactly like, it’s hard to get product in my hair and water just sits in my hair, but my hair dries quickly
I spray my hair with water it instantly drip or run down my head but soaks up wayer instantly in shower, smh
It ok. We're in the middle😉
Omg...me too. It takes forever for my hair to get saturated and forever to dry. Hair dye and heavy products don't work or just weigh my hair down.
On the other hand, it stays frizzy, tangles in seconds, and the strands are very fine.
I don't use chemicals or heat, so it's not damaged. I just don't know. 😫
You can have high porosity hair without damage. It can actually be just your hair! I was born this way man.
My eye brow raised soon as she said that.
All damaged hair is high porosity, but not all high porosity is damaged.
✋completely natural for ten yrs high porosity hair girl here
Your porosity actually changed depending on what you do to it. If you bleached the crap out of your hair, it's probably a level 5 porosity (porosity is graded, not just low, medium, high). Level 5 means that you have no cuticle left and the only way to "fix" it is to cut it off. Manes By Mell explains this really well and she's a certified hair professional and gets her facts from the board that certified her as a haircare professional.
Breanna Moore u r not alone 😩😭😭 samee here
Lmao when she described low porosity I was like oh okay maybe and then she went on to high porosity and I was like “wait, switch!” 😂😂
Same
Me too! Sounds like I have both!
Same. I knew the second she describe high porosity that it was me but the taking forever to dry had me at first 😂
yep same here
Tip for the water test
Poke your hair a little bit until it gets under water. Because if you don't do anything then the water tension will prevent the hair from sinking.
:)
Aerosis Yep. You're right. Mine sat on the surface for hours but once I tapped the hair it sank to the bottom straight and would have continued going down if the cup were a pipe!
Thank you. I was wondering because I know I don't have low porosity, but my hair would just stay on top of the water.
Product build up will prevent the water trick from working especially silicone build up.
Mine went wherever I poked it to 😭
I was having this ques. For like monthssss about water tention ..if i have to poke it or not
Thnks a lot
Low porosity...... like if u have low porosity hair like me
I guess lol
Me :/
TRINITY D I did the water cup test and my hair stayed afloat at the top but my hair is frizzy and is dry so I don’t even know anymore
Ashley the water cup test is fake so don’t worry about it
@@Ashley-fd7cj maybe you just need to give it what it needs and nourishment
“Ain’t nobody got a hooded dryer just lying around!” 😂😂😂
I do lol
Destiny Thomas I do too 😒
Destiny Thomas I’m guilty of having one too
Destiny Thomas I do
Destiny Thomas I do😊
Where my high hair porosity gang at ??
Here Girl !
GlambyFelicidadePrata hello y'all
Unique Keeling gang gang
Here, just moisturizing my hair lol.
I don't think my hair is damaged because like I take care of it and I just don't think my hair is damaged
Now I am HIGHLY confused 😣😣
🤣🤣
Me too...:(
Same
Not as confused as I am
Yoowww same😂😂😂
I have high porosity. Last week I tried to deep condition, my hair looked amazing the next day, the day after my hair went to being a dry Sahara desert.... sigh
Olivia Maybe try using an oil to seal the cuticle? And finishing it off with a cold blast of air from a diffuser/blowdrier. Just ideas
Girl, same. but I always say.
USE SHEA BUTTER(preferably natural and organic ). IT WORKS WONDERS FOR SEALING IN MOISTURE❤️
I understand the struggle my hair is always a sahara desert 😩😩😩😩
Same with me I didn't know it's due to high porosity!
My hair would be poofy and fizzy at the top but at the bottom it would be so defined and curly
I always thought I had low porosity hair. Just did the water glass test and my strand shriveled up and hit the bottom of the glass in seconds!😭 15 years natural and I’ve been wrong all this time! Thanks for the informative video. 👍🏾
this is so why I love this channel! this video just made me understand why my braids never stay weeks and the roots are just full of frizz!!!! high porosity hair is definitely my hair type! thanks Bianca
I grew up with a hooded dryer in my house, lol.
Lol yes! Every time my mom would do our hair she's whip out the hooded dryer and make us sit under it!
Same lol
videofan1010 same
videofan1010 same
same😂
I have low and high.
+Xiomara Ortiz lol. wouldn't be surprised. Good luck with it
This is wrong. Go watch curlninja. She is a curly hair professional and explains porosity the right way.
Low porosity. And giiiiirrrrrlllll...Shea Moisture's Low Porosity line is sent from the GAWDZ themselves. Hallelujah! I feel like I'm waking up to Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" every day since purchasing this line. 3c/3b ON FLEEK! Yas!! I can't keep my hands out of my hair.
Where can you buy the low porosity line? Will it help my hair dry quicker? It takes days for my hair to dry when it's braided!
Pinkladyisv me too! but it's always frizzy too- so I think that many other factors come into play too
What Ever ... um lol
@Pinkladyisv I saw it at Target yesterday!
What Ever lol!
I had zero knowledge about porosity for years and years, but I finally found Briogeo curly cream and use it on WET SQUISHY hair, then immediately follow it with Briogeo heat protection anti frizz. I don't use any heat products, but the sun is hot- hot- hot! I love these products! My hair was low porosity pre cancer treatments, but the curls did come back (with a few odd "whoopies" in my bangs 🙄). It is now very high porosity and the heavier creams work better for my curly pattern. My cousin has coiled hair, and she thinks I am full of it for buying the cream products I do, LoL. This is good information.
I am so excited I
found you! you are adorable and informative! I have a 13 year old biracial daughter who had super soft curls until she began hitting puberty a few years ago. she has refused to wear her hair down since because unfortunately we do not live in a diverse area and she does not like the attention her hair gets. I have tried so many product lines over the years and watched videos and read blogs to no real change...my daughter recently has wanted to start wearing her hair down and natural but it is a mess from years of wearing it in a tight bun day & night. we do use the shea moisture line and do apple cider vinegar rinses...after watching some videos recently, I believe she may have protein overload and i believe she has low porosity hair. I have tried to instill in her that her natural hair is beautiful and I want her to feel proud of who she is and love herself. if you have any advice for us, I would be grateful! I am going to have her watch some of your videos too!
hiii, I know it's been a few years but i'd still really like to know if and how fast her curls recovered from always wearing them up etc.? thank you in advance:)
I'm in the transitioning stage and still doing my homework, this helped me alot. Thanks
I saw your hair on your profile picture and it looks wonderfull
@@vis222 thank you so much
You remind me of Melinda Warner from Law and order SVU
TheGlam Mam Yesssss I knew I wasn't the only one!
TheGlam Mam agreed twins
Right! Like she could be her daughter ❤️
Just a lil lighter
TheGlam Mam yeahhhh
This was the BEST explanation of Hair porosity~ Now I actually know what I'm working with! High Porosity all day! Thanks for the info Sis!!! Your hair......#HairGoals~ Beautiful!
Ugh it's so annoying because I feel like I have both lol
@ paige Bradley. Porosity is more like a range not a set thing. I'm in the low end of high porosity. I'm not completely high porosity.
paige bradley
Normal?
paige bradley ikr because i have somethings from both
This is wrong. Go watch curlninja. She is a curly hair professional and explains porosity the right way.
paige bradley you might have medium porosity
Thank u i just subbie to u. Never saw u before today. I was glue to WATCHING u. Trying to learn all i can for my very kink , dry, hair. I have grown it out for ten years & am so tempted to put in a perm. I have bee. Tidying my hair up for 10 years with scarfs. Now i am ready to wear it out. grace to all
This really helps a lot now that I know what accidental products I bought. Turns out, they're all right for my hair and I think it's safe to say I have High Porosity hair. Thanks!
Your the bestess Bianca !!!! I’ve let my hair grow out, I’m naturally curl 2c curl. I knew nothing about curly hair and you have taught me so much!!
My hair strands are super bumpy but my hair takes hours to air dry and butters make it look so greasy. I'm 3a/b, does anyone else have this problem?
That means you are low porosity just like me. I have the same problem but my hair is 4b. I noticed when I used Shea Butter for a twisout it left it mad greasy bc my hair doesn’t absorb products well so try to use creams and lighter products instead.
saaaame; I have the same hair texture, curls, whatever. Whenever I apply oils and stuff to my hair, it makes it super greasy; yet when I don't, my hair frizzes to shit and doesn't keep its curls as well.
Same here but without the grease
Alexondra121 I think you have low porosity did you try the float test
EXACTLY THE SAME OMGGG and my hair strand also floats in a cup of water does that happen to you to???
I'm naturally curly with high porosity hair. I need a GOOD moisturizer to KEEP my hair curly throughout the day!!
So my hair floats, has beads when I spray, takes a long time to get fully wet, and it's thick. But it has a bumpy texture and tangles easily so what am I???
Dear You are me!!!
Low porosity
we’re pretty much the same 😭
Soooo were the same person
Confused
My strand of hair actually, not only sat on top of the water, the little part of the strand that was below the water had water droplets/bubbles on it! (yikes, plus when I run my fingers along the strand of hair, its totally smooth, unless there is probably a single strand knot at the end. Talk about closed hair shafts). All this time I thought I had High porosity hair. The one good thing I was doing, was using an apple cider vinegar rinse each week, prior to washing/cowashing my hair, to cleanse all the product build up from my hair weekly. Thanks for this video. Its very helpful!
Ain’t nobody just got no hooded dryer lying around 🤣🤣🤣
But apparently they do 💁🏾♀️
❤️❤️❤️
Lol when she said that ik was staring at my hooded dryer and I have an attachment for my blow dryer lol
😂
Use a heat cap.
Me looking at my hooded dryer👀 😂😂
Wow. I thought I was high porosity and I’ve done the float test twice. But apparently that’s not reliable. I noticed I was getting a lot of product build up recently and the thicker products would slightly work but then if I reapplied it , there came the build up. So i tried spraying my hair with water. My ends took it in a little but the rest of the hair just had beads of water sitting there. 😳😳 this explains so much! Thanks Bianca!!
I am LITERALLY in the middle. Some days I'm high, some days I'm low. I do use Shea Moisture and am currently using the Argan oil and Almond milk smooth and tame shampoo/ conditioner. I also oil my hair once every week; I mean dripping saturation, with a combination of: almond oil, coconut oil, sometimes shea butter, castor oil, black jamaican castor oil, kalonji oil and pure peppermint oil. I leave it in for 1 or 2 days then shampoo and condition.
I've also been using a new product: OYIN handmade juices and berries hair tonic as my daily leave-in. I LOVE it!
I've been oiling for 2 months and have seen a huge difference in my hair. Oyin I've been using for a week and my hair has never been softer. I've done the ACV rinse once last month and will probably do it again next month.
admatd1234 same I'm not normal but between the two at times, mostly low though. I went on this journey of figuring it out because toner washes out of my hair
Thanks for the tips! I'm going to try oiling 2 days before wash day.
You just answered 99% of my questions about my hair. THANK YOU!!!
I’ve heard you should do the porosity tests on freshly washed hair so that the product and oil build up become a non-issue. That way the result may be closer to the truth.
technically shampoo lifts or relaxes the cuticle more than it would naturally, so the strand would absorb more water. If you're low porosity the test would then indicate that you're medium or maybe even high porosity in some instances.
This makes so much sense. I’ve notice that I have an easier time washing my hair when I use really hot water. I’m pretty sure from one of the tests that I have low porosity. Thank you so much this video was so helpful
Medium porosity😂 I feel like I have both.
yeah same, all the tests i did say low porosity but my hair dries hella quickly
Yo same im so confused :'(
jasmine watson same
Same .-.
this means you have NORMAL probity hair as she said in the beginning of the video :))
No questions on my part! I definitely have low porosity hair! My "virgin" hair (that's supposed to take color very easily) ... didn't, even my hairdressers complain that my hair takes *forever* to dry, it's difficult to get my hair completely wet to wash it. Thanks for the tips!
Girl... you literally just gave me everything I need! Like every time a question popped up in my head you just immediately answered them. THANK YOU for doing all the research for me. GOD BLESS YOU CHILD! (btw I totally yelled out "high porosity" when you asked us to... I'm cool. ToT
I liked this video, not because it answered the question about porosity, but because it posed the question. Most of know and have experienced that a hair product that works wonders on one person does not work at all on us. I think porosity may be one of the crucial elements. I also feel that the porosity of my hair varies with the health of my hair. As I watched the video I remembered times when I was getting dominican blow outs to the point I felt I had no porosity. And other times when I was keeping my hair in braids when it seemed extremely porous. It appears that the question of porosity is a good way to gauge the health of your hair and the products you should use.
She has such a great personality. 😁
Yeah so true 😊
This video helped so much! I think I'm a Low to medium porosity. I have been seeing girls on youtube put on a bunch of gel into their hair and when I tried that it worked okay be after only a few days my hair felt so grows. I also can't stand putting my products on soaking hair damp hair seems to be better. Or if I put a product on my hair in sections like I see some girls do I can get weighed down too. When I did the water test for my hair most of it sat on the water but like one strand sank a bit. Thank you!!
I said my porosity out loud and started laughing when you called me cool 😂😂
Lol!!! Me Too!!!!
Same here lol 😊
This is the best video on curly hair that I've seen. I am definitely low porosity.
I’m even more confused now . My hair does absolutely all that 😂😂 like I just wanna have cute natural healthy hair ! Not all that extra stuff ☹️
Low porosity it is. Time to try the cold rinse at the end to get rid of the frizz. *still new to curly hair and currently experimenting*
You look so pretty in the thumbnail B😍
you trying to say she ain't pretty in the video L?
i have a hooded dryer....was definitely needed when I wore dreads (for 10 years) -- took forever to dry. Cut it off about 18 months ago, but I still love to use my hooded dryer. Best $100 bucks ever!
High porosity , I use a lot of different oils. creams etc. Coconut and kukui oils work great. I stay away from any products that contain alcohol, mineral oil and sulfates.
Thank you so much... I finally found out what me and my daughters hair is... I'm high with my 5 year old and my teenagers are low.... I appreciate this so much... ❤❤❤❤💯💯💯💯💯
Your hair looks lovely. Great, bouncy curls! Thank you for this info.
Thank you for breaking this down I'm new to all this and want to get back to being consistent with the maintenance of my hair as I've been natural for years and love it, again thank you!
Thanks for the video! I have a question: My thick hair does exactly as you said for low and high porosity hair. Low: The butters I put on it just sit on top and makes it extremely oily and takes hours to dry that up. High/ my hair tangled easily within strands and I have to use oil to detangle the ends. It also dries water out super fast. That said, how would I know what type of porosity hair I have if it falls between these two? Also, my wash and gos have been wash and no’s lol probably b/c of the porosity thing. My hair is super curly wavy where the back curls perfect but the front looks like leaves of a willow tree 🤷🏾♀️
I've tried to learn about this stuff before but it's been too confusing. You explained it all this so well! Thanks so much! 😍😃
Yeahhh I’m one of those girls with a hooded dryer 😂 found it in my moms shed
Your personality is just so sweet!
Thank you for this BOMB video ! Thanks for being to the point and very precise
I definitely have high porosity hair! Now I'm 100% for sure. I met every single one of the high porosity test. Now I can take better care of my hair. Thank you! So now I'm going to go give my self a good hydrolyzed protein treatment!
After all that I'm still confused, I have to spray my hair with water many times before it gets wet so is that low porosity?but my hair dries pretty fast I think in about a hour 1/2, My hair is always frizzy though so I still don't know
Try the strand thing. I thought that too until I did that and I immediately could tell I was high porosity
OK thanks
lol!!! I'm in the same situation, my hair does the same thing so I don't know if I have low or high porosity hair.
My hair does that too! It doesn't take days to dry (maybe 3-4 hours maximum but I usually use the diffuser because it is cold outside so only 1-2 hours) but it takes forever to get wet... When I use a spray bottle with hot water it just sits on top... The same with leave ins: When they are to heavy, they make my hair super greasy and the volume is gone (because of my fine hair I need the volume). I'm experimenting with diluting my leave in with water to get rid of the frizzy ends but keep the volume.
Holly Chaney same my hair does the same
So mine is definitely low porosity. Sine we are home i had my teen test hers too and she too is low porosity however she is clearly a 2 and I am a 3. Taking time today to figure out more. Thank you for your lovely detailed video.
I have like, pieces...?
Like, individual curls with their own porosity
Sis I relate to that on a spiritual level hahah
Same it’s so fucking annoying
I think all woman planning on transition to natural should watch this video,I learnt so much in just 10 minutes and will save you a lot on experimenting with products that dont match your hair type
I knew it! I have a patch of hair directly in the center front of my hair that is a completely different texture than the rest of my hair. Its smoother and when I do braid outs or twist outs, it doesn't hold the curls easily. It comes out kind of wavy curly and looks really smooth. I tried the strand test just now where u go up and down on the strand with hair from the front and hair from the rest of my hair and the hair in the front was really smooth while the rest has the bumpy feel. So I have low porosity in the front part and the rest I think is high porosity. Its good to know the reason y that hair is different but now I have to invest in protein treatments and stuff to try to fix the rest of my hair😭 I barely have enough money to get the little products I do have🥺
Thank u BiancaRenee! This was very very helpful! Found out I have low porosity hair! Always wondered why it took so long to wet my hair in the shower when washing!
My hair soaks up moisture like a sponge, takes forever to dry and it floats in the middle of the water, I'm pretty sure my hair is medium porosity.
Whaaaaaaaat !? I never knew a thing about any of that. I'm socked at how easy those info will make my life. Thaaaaaaank you so much❤️
I am high porosity but heavy products are a NOOOO cuz I’m also fine hair low density lol the struggle
BeeRavie 🙋🏾♀️ same
OMG yes. I have fine strands but a hell of a lot of it in the back of my head.
Sameeee I hate it here lol
Hi Bianca I noticed your video I watched was 3 years ago but I never knew about the hair porosity test and I just took it my hair floats in the middle so that would make it medium porosity thank you for the tutorial
I feel I have a mixture of low and high. My hair takes 4 hours to air dry and its only above the shoulders, when I spray water it sits there or drips. But in the shower it gets wet really fast it loves coconut oil but if too much then it gets greasy and it holds only up to 2-3 days before needing to wash and product build up. It feels like the roots are greasy and the ends dry, previously one product was enough for me and that was coconut oil, now it takes 3 products for the same results! So where do I stand?
Black Jamaican castor oil , it fixed my oily scalp and my dry ends :3
Sounds more like low the way you describe it.
This is a lot like me too. I seem to be in both high and low.
Maybe you have medium
High porosity! I couldn't even wait to finish the video I paused, pulled out a few strands and did the water test. It sank right in 😀. Thank you it has really been helpful info!
2:22 The way I checked off everything on that list. My hair has all that. 😭😂
Now I know what porosity my hair is and what to do with it now! So thanks for the video! 😄
This was so helpful! Thank you! As soon as I had a question, she answered it!
My hair is normal porosity. It has always taken color and (curly) perms well, so... A lot of people these days claim to be low porosity, but that cup test is way inaccurate. If your hair has been permed in the past and it took the perm well, or the color, then there you go, it's normal porosity.
This isn't accurate either lol. Hair can be trained. Especially since people who go natural just came from chemical straighteners. If they've been doin it all their life up until they went natural then they wouldn't have noticed really. Especially if they've been relaxed all their childhood. If they got a bleaching treatment after they went natural then this would be more accurate.
But to tell you the truth a microscope might end the debate.
Angie Wilder
True. We need a microscope! :D LOL
+amixeblu definitely. Lol. just meet a science professor they should have one and you don't need it long.
I thought I was alone in the normal porosity team! My past hair stylist told me that I had normal porosity because my hair took bleach very well, he was so surprised because he usually encounters alot of high porosity clients.
Marleen G. Meaning it changed because you can't just go back that takes time
Thanks B now I know I have high porosity hair. Going to get products. Be Blessed
I’m pretty sure my hair is high porosity :/ moisture in, moisture out.
VERY informative video!! Thank you for taking the time to make it. LOVE your sense of humor!!
Definitely high porosity!!
Same
Same!!
Same
I just subscribed because you were informative, humorous, and pretty!!!
SM Low Porosity line was horrible for my hair. The shampoo STRIPPED MY HAIR (in my Yuri voice) and the conditioners did not condition even with sitting under the dryer. I guess it works for some body but not for me. In fact SM products do not work on my hair AT ALL.
Thank you for your time and effort in making this video. I was getting frustrated with my hair & I was just picking you tubers products that didn’t work for me.
Well I'm confused. My hair dries really quick when I wash it. It's smooth to touch, but floats on top of the water in the hair porosity test. I'm not sure of I am low or high porosity.
Omg I'm the same my hair floats but when I'm doing styles and I spray it with a spray bottle it dries up so fast I swear I have to keep spraying it.
You both have middle
middle
OMGOODNESS thank you for this video very informative simple & straight to the point OMYGOODNESS thank you thank you. DON'T know why i never saw your video 2yrs ago but so blessed I've seen it thank you for being a blessing to me 💖🙏👏 please make more video's so much great info & i enjoyed how you made it witty yet so informative.
Aww thank you so much! So happy you enjoy my videos!!! Welcome to the family 🥰
I feel like I have low porosity hair. I have been trying to grow my hair out for years and it never seems to get any length. Do you have any tips on hair growth?
Good video, thanks For getting right to the point , I enjoyed the information I have high porosity hair always have to close my cuticles, & then the product just lays there. ( have to use tiny amount & build as the week progress)
Im so confused 😭😭 my hair is just squeaking when i run my fingers over it! I feel some ridges but not on my whole head.
I know the video is older, but it helped me a lot! I now know I have high porosity hair. No wonder my hair loves the Shea Moisture Jamaican black castor oil leave-in. No more breakage and it grew about 5 inches this year! It pays to know your hair. Oh, I have the bumpy ridges on hair strand. Like you said it loves protein as well.
When she said “heat damage can increase porosity”
well lmao I have a high porosity
Def. low. I did the test..plus my hair stand is very smooth like you mentioned.
Is it possible to have low porosity on top and high on the bottom area??
Carla Pfister that means you need a trim because you’re naturally low porosity but your hair is over processed or damaged
Kiarra C. Thanks. That makes sense bc im slackin when it comes to getting my hair trimmed.. ill try trimming more often
Kiarra C. That’s me too, but I look so bad with short hair 🤦🏻♀️
THATS THE SAME WAY WITH ME BUT OTHER WAY AROUND
Doesn't necessarily mean it's damaged. Your ends have been on your head longer so something you're doing is probably changing your porosity, which again, is not necessarily a bad thing. I recommend checking out Curl Ninja's channel. Bianca got a few things wrong (much of it common mistakes as porosity is actually kinda fluid and complicated). Ninja is a professional curly hairstylist do does an amazing job teaching porosity concepts.
We had a hooded dryer growing up even though we were low-income. It was a hair-care regimen staple. When I lived in a dorm one of the first things I did for my hair was purchase a hooded dryer. It was the natural thing to do. Now I just use a heat cap 🤷🏽♀️
When she was describing high porosity test I was like “Yh that sounds like my hair” then I did the cup test and my hair was floating on top of the water 😭
Same here! Now I'm confused...
Poke it a little to see if it'll sink.
Me too.
Same here
Same here I did it 2x to see
My hair has all the signs of high porosity hair except that when it’s wet (like fully wet not just from light mist. as soon as a decent amount of h20 touches it though- it’s *soaked* soaked.) it usually takes a real long time to fully dry out. Hair washing in the evening is an absolute no-go. Has to be morning or early afternoon
Same for me. But I think in my case the taking very long to dry thing may be because I have a LOT of hair/my hair is high density. I'm just starting out and figuring this out is confusing 😅
The hair on top of my head and sides are high porosity but the back of my head is low porosity it’s the worst
Wait.....I love the work you're doing and I'm only one video in....🥺🥺🥺🥺 I got so overwhelmed when people started mentioning porosity when I was researching bleaching my hair I got scared cause I didn't know, THANK you for demystifying!
I feel like I have both so I’m just gonna combine.
I did mine, I have not washed my hair in three days as of right now and it just laid on top of the water! So then I washed the two strands I used from different sections of my scalp, with my Shea Moisture curl and shine shampoo, rinsed them off, put them back in the bowl of water and now parts of the strands are at the bottom of the bowl and parts of the strands are in the middle just floating, not sitting on top like it was! So I would wash your hair before trying this💖
#curlyhairforlife💓😍
Im so confused! My hair floats when I do the water test, but I feel ridges and bumps on my strands. My hair dries quickly too but I also see water beads sitting on top of my hair. Hellllp? Lol
AfroShann a mood
you have high porosity. the water test is not to be trusted. hair drying up quickly and water beads on top of hair are two big indicators.
It takes me 20 minutes to blow dry my hair but 3 hours for my hair to fully air dry. I have thick or voluminous hair, which has a lot of frizz. When I try and use a little bit of lotion (on the ends or a little bit higher than the ends but not roots because my hair gets oily easily) It stays frizz-less for like a minute then goes back to being frizzy. I use to have super super fine hair. My hairstylist would always say your hair is so pretty and fine. Then I got older and my hair is not fine anymore well it's not really dense. My hair does not hold that much curl either. You could put the tightest curls in my hair then in 3 hours, they would fall out. My mom would curl my hair (using a 1-inch barrel) then spray it with hairspray and in 20 minutes they would fall out. I could go 2 days without washing my hair before my hair gets oily at the roots. I honestly don't know which one I am. I feel like I am both but I lean more towards the low porosity side.
I'm sorry gurl but the reason why your hair was floating was because of the water surface tension even the most high porosity hair would have floated on there when you lay it on there like that so u gotta dunk it in
Julia Pulala I felt a bit guilty dunking my hair but it was just sitting there on the surface after about 5 minutes, lol. (It was even still floating right below the surface but I figured it was the air bubble attached to the strands)
I actually just let my hair fall on the cup of water and some of it sank on its own.
Julia Pulala ok so i tried both ways laying it on water and dunking it in. When I layed it in only half of my hair went in the water and half of it floated. When I dunked it in it slowly floated down.
Julia Pulala i didn't even touch the water and my hair sunk so i don't think it matters if you dunk it in or not