How porous is my hair?

Oiling your hair would not be fully effective without knowing its structure and needs.
Do you know the key to finding the perfect oil for your hair care needs?
Do you know how porous your hair is?

Even the best and most expensive hair care products won’t work if they’re not properly adapted to your hair type.
It’s this lack of knowledge that very often stands in the way of healthy, shiny, strong hair.
You’ve got lots of hair care products on your bathroom shelf, but your hair is far from perfect!
They won’t do any good if the products aren’t adapted to your hair type.

Not all hair oils are suitable for all hair types.
There are two different ways to treat curly hair and oily hair. Which hair oils to choose? The answer is in the hair.
The most effective hair care products are those that are adapted to your hair’s needs.
And hair can present different problems, all of which are linked to changes in its condition.

The way hair is structured has a significant impact on how its appearance changes with more or less frequent exposure to various damaging factors.
Healthy, shiny, strong hair is the dream of many people.

With the right care, you can make it a reality.
But to get there, you need to know your hair’s porosity.
The key to healthy hair is to consider the porosity of your hair in your care regime from afar, the most important point on the road to conscious hair care.

Why should you know your hair’s porosity?

Hair porosity is a crucial piece of information.
Knowing the exact porosity of your hair makes it much easier to take informed care of it, and to choose the right hair oils that will restore it to health.
It’s important to remember that the wrong oil for your hair type can only worsen the condition of your hair.

What is hair porosity?

Hair is like a different fingerprint for each of us.
To care for your hair effectively, it’s important to consider exactly what it is and what it needs.
The surface of the hair is entirely covered with tiny scales, composed of cysteine and fatty acids.

This is the hair’s outer protective layer, acting as a barrier against external factors and water.
But what is porosity?
Simply put, porosity is the degree of deviation of the aforementioned cuticles.

This is what determines the hair’s ability to absorb and retain moisture. The more the scales are inclined, the worse it is for you, as the sensitive core of the hair is not protected and the hair deteriorates rapidly.
That’s why we define porosity as the degree of cuticle inclination, but often also as the degree of hair damage.

Types of hair porosity

• There are three types of porosity:

Low porosity the scales adhere perfectly to the stem
Medium porosity the scales are slightly inclined outwards
High porosity the scales are as open as possible

Of course, this is the most general classification, and it’s possible that your hair is a mixture of all these types.
It’s interesting to note that the porosity of hair can vary according to its length; the closer you get to the scalp, the lower the porosity.
High porosity is particularly common at the ends, which are prone to cracking and rapid water loss.

This phenomenon is often genetic, but it is also influenced by your daily routine, hair treatments and even the hardness of your water.
Don’t forget that the porosity of your hair can change after bleaching, for example.

It’s not a fixed characteristic, but in some cases it is – for example, curly hair tends to have high porosity.
In all other cases, it’s up to us to determine how porous our hair is.
All we have to do is take care of our hair so that it’s healthy and low in porosity.

Porosity increases when exposed to harmful factors such as sunlight, bleaching, coloring, hot styling, etc.

Low-porosity hair

As you might guess, this type of hair has scales that cling tightly to the hair cortex.
This makes it resistant to external damage, styling and coloring.
Poorly perforated hair is healthy, soft and shiny.
The main disadvantage of low-porosity hair is its lack of volume, which often gives it a dull appearance.

Low-porosity hair should not be overloaded with cosmetics.
Choose masks and conditioners that moisturize your hair.
Opt for small-molecule oils such as coconut or shea butter.
Proteins also work well in the minimalist version, such hair generally likes them in small quantities and in the form of amino acids like cysteine.
Aromatic herbs are also an excellent alternative.

Also read: how to care for your hair during pregnancy?

Hair with low porosity absorbs cosmetic ingredients quickly, so it needs to be handled with care.
Nutrients absorbed by low-porosity hair remain longer in the hair cuticles.
Low-porosity hair should only be oiled occasionally, once a week at most.

Medium or normal porosity hair

Medium-porosity hair is characterized by slightly sloping hair cuticles.
This is the most common hair type and is often referred to as “normal”.
Medium or normal porosity hair lends itself fairly well to styling or coloring, but is unfortunately more easily damaged.
It is full of volume and swells more quickly.

When caring for your hair, be sure to protect the ends, as they are the most susceptible to damage.
Medium-porosity hair needs a good PH balance.
For medium-porosity hair, opt for oils with medium molecule size, such as Myla Bella BioBoost oil.
Keep a close eye on your hair after using products containing glycerine or aloe vera juice.
In some cases, these products can cause frizz, but this is not always the case.

How do I determine the porosity of my hair?

There are various methods for determining hair porosity.
How can we tell if our hair is porous?
The most accurate answer is a visit to a trichologist or a professional hair salon. A visit to a trichologist is an expert who works on the scalp.
A microscopic examination shows your hair type at high magnification, i.e. the degree of deviation of the scales from the hair shaft.
There aren’t many trichologists in Quebec.
On the island of Montreal, which is open to the public, there are just 7.

It’s best to look at the hair’s porosity, i.e. the position of the scales in relation to the hair shaft.
If you don’t have the opportunity to visit a trichologist, you can determine porosity yourself.

• You can learn a lot about hair by observing it:

The low-porosity hair typical of Asian women is straight, very smooth, shiny, heavy and lacking in volume. It’s not easy to style, absorbs little water and is also difficult to dry.

The medium-sized hair typical of most women is weak, lacks shine and moisture, is slightly wavy, tends to frizz, for example due to humidity, and is split or brittle.

Very porous hair, often bleached or color-treated, is very damaged, rough, dull, brittle, dry, split, tends to lose a lot of hair, to curl and to be static.

Test with a glass of water

If, for whatever reason, you can’t make it to a hairdresser, you can perform a porosity test at home.
It’s not particularly reliable, but combined with careful observation during styling and other ways of determining your hair type, it can give you a pretty good indication.
Pour water into a glass, then place a hair in a ball.

You don’t need to pull your hair out, just take a hair ( recently lost in your clothes) and place it in a glass of water for about 3 to 5 minutes at the most.
If the hair hasn’t drowned during this time, but is still floating on the surface of the water, this indicates low porosity.
If part of the hair floats underwater and another part remains on the surface, our hair is moderately porous, whereas if the hair sinks under its own weight, our hair is highly porous.

Sometimes, a simple method of touch-testing the hair is also recommended.
And while it’s true that low-porosity hair can be much smoother than high-porosity hair, it’s important to bear in mind that conditioners containing silicones, as well as damage to the hair caused by wet combing, for example, can distort the result.
What’s more, it’s very difficult to feel the degree of scale deviation under your fingers, and it’s far preferable to visit a hairdresser to observe how your hair reacts.

Don’t forget that all these methods (with the exception of microscopic examination) can only roughly determine your hair type.
If you correctly attribute your porosity to your hair, remember that it can change over time.
For example, with a well-adjusted hair care routine.

Which hair oil should I choose?

Hair likes different care methods depending on its porosity.
For example, low-porosity hair feels good after prolonged oiling, but is very easy to weigh down.
High-porosity hair, on the other hand, requires short but deep oiling and acidic rinses to close the cuticles.
Care products must be adapted to the hair structure as much as to the oils used.

Recommended oils for low-porosity hair

Virgin coconut oil has small molecules, so it doesn’t weigh down hair with low porosity.
It improves elasticity, nourishes and smoothes hair.
Coconut oil has a structure similar to the proteins in human hair.
It nourishes and protects the hair fiber, giving it vitality, elasticity and shine.

Babassu oil a light oil from the penetrating group, ideally suited to low-porosity hair.
It makes hair more supple, increases softness and adds shine.
It easily reaches the hair’s inner structures, where it regenerates and protects strands.
Babassu makes hair soft and easy to comb and style, without weighing it down.
It protects the ends from splitting.

Argan oil one of the world’s most popular oils.
Thanks to its unique composition, it is suitable for virtually all hair porosities.
Argan oil is highly prized as a cosmetic oil, as it protects hair from thermal and mechanical damage.
It also has an antioxidant effect, giving your hair vitality and shine.

Castor oil is one of the most popular cosmetic oils.
Extracted from the castor bean, it is ideal for hair with low porosity.
Castor oil has extraordinary properties: it stimulates hair growth, prevents hair loss and regenerates hair roots. hair roots.
Castor oil gives your hair excellent shine and protects its natural color.

Shea butter pressed from the nuts of the butter tree.
It has highly nourishing properties.
Shea butter creates a protective barrier on the hair, preventing water from escaping from the hair’s internal structures and providing perfect protection from dust, smoke, smog and atmospheric toxins.
It makes hair shiny, elastic and smooth, and is one of the most powerful antioxidants.

How is hair formed?

There are around 100,000 – 150,000 hair follicles in our scalp.
In each follicle, a hair bulb is rooted, but not all follicles grow a hair. grow a hair.
Normally, hair is divided into a root and a shaft.
The root is found in the skin and subcutaneous tissue.

The hair shaft is the visible part of the hair above the skin.
It’s made up of the root, cortex and cuticle.
The latter two are made up of keratin, hence the importance of including this ingredient in hair care products.

In the case of the cortical layer, these are solid keratin fibers arranged vertically, which are concentrated around the hair and are responsible, among other things, for its elasticity.
Keratin is a protein that is extremely resistant to damage, but this does not mean that hair is indestructible.

Also read: how do I choose a flat iron for my hair?

Added to this is the optimal amount of water, whose level must be kept constant to keep hair healthy, as well as the grains of melanin, the pigment that gives hair its color.

The keratin sheath is found on the outermost layer of the hair.
It is made up of keratinized cells, which are shaped like scales.
They are generally arranged in 5 to 10 layers, surrounding the hair like a shield made of tiles.

They act as a protective layer against various damaging factors.
Hair cuticles are bonded to each other and to the lower layers of the hair by fatty substances, which is why they need to be replenished.age to the hair.

What protects hair?

In addition to the armor-forming cuticles, hair is protected by an oily, waxy layer known as sebum.
Normally, this sebum is secreted by the glands of the hair follicle, from which it flows in sufficient quantity into the outer hair shaft to preserve the keratin sheath and ensure the hair’s hydration.
Hair sebum is also largely made up of free fatty acids.