Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i use?

[equestrian]

The porosity thing is something I've been reading about recently. so apparently your hair is able to soak up a ton of moisture, but it ends up evaporating just as easily once your hair dries. Is that the reason so many shampoos and conditioners gives my hair amazing slip and moisture in the shower, fast forward 5 hours and it's a dull, rough mess?

 

[StopMakingSense]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

Perhaps. I am not hair expert. I am a relative newb, so take what I say with a grain of salt

I find, however, that my the issues of dullness and dryness are fixed by sealing in the moisturizer if you KWIM..

I usually co-wash with Suave (which for my hair is mediocre but leaps and bounds away from shampoo unless I need to clarify because I've become a product junkie) and apply my better conditioner as a leave in. Then I go about styling which has recently been just wash and go. I either use a custard or gel over that to define curls.. and if I don't feel like doing that I skip that step and go straight for either some pomade or CFCG...

For me, sealing all of that with some kind of oil is an important step that seems to counteract the loss of moisture. Of course, if I don't seal I usually will have a spray bottle with just water that I spritz on throughout the day. HTHs.

 

[SleekandBouncy]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

I'm wondering the same thing, but my problem is a little different.

Most conditioners don't work on my hair. The instant softness and slip that people talk about usually evades me. After my hair dries then I feel the softness and the shine, but the softness and shine when the condition is in or as I'm rollersetting it? Nope
Actually sometimes I get softness, but not so soft that tangles disappear.

Those hair dyes in clear/gloss never work on my hair. No shine. No slip. It's like my hair doesn't absorb it or maybe it absorbs it too much. I don't know.

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

^^ Interesting, I have never heard of this. You have never tried a conditioner that softened your hair while it's in? It doesn't seem like it's a bad thing because your hair looks healthy.... Have you tried cold water or vinegar rinses?

I think my hair is overly porous. It dries super fast once I'm finished washing it. The youngest hair takes the longest to dry which tells me it's less porous and healthier but my ends and halfway up dry super fast. Cold water rinsing helps to a degree.

I recommend Giovanni Smooth as Silk Protein treatment. It's a light protein with amazing slip, it's really unbelievable.

 

[SleekandBouncy]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

^^ Interesting, I have never heard of this. You have never tried a conditioner that softened your hair while it's in? It doesn't seem like it's a bad thing because your hair looks healthy.... Have you tried cold water or vinegar rinses?

I think my hair is overly porous. It dries super fast once I'm finished washing it. The youngest hair takes the longest to dry which tells me it's less porous and healthier but my ends and halfway up dry super fast. Cold water rinsing helps to a degree.

I recommend Giovanni Smooth as Silk Protein treatment. It's a light protein with amazing slip, it's really unbelievable.

Some conditioners will soften my hair, but it's never to the extent that tangles just fall out like it does for other women.
Also it takes me a little extra effort to find a conditioner that will soften my hair because I come across a fair amount that don't, not considerably at least. The softness usually follows after I've rollerset. For example my hair is very soft right now (it was rollerset and dried). When I was combing the conditioner through my hair it didn't feel all that soft.

 

[lea86111]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

^^interesting...i usually have heard of the opposite happening, whereas when the con is in, the hair will feel all soft and amazing but as soon as it's rinsed out and dried, then the hair is dry and not soft at all. That's my issue. I use conditioner for washing purposes only (shampoos too to a lesser extent); i try to use the ones that make my hair feel the most amazing while in, but then it's all on me, my leave ins and my moisturizers! I wish conditioners or dc's alone could offer me that type of softness others talk about BUT if it doesn't work for you then keep it moving and find other stuff to keep you moisturized! =)

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

^^Right, that's what generally happens with my hair if I don't leave it in long enough, it may feel hard once I wash the con out. But even the cheapest V05 will immediately soften and detangle my hair so long as it's wet enough. Hmm, well I do use a TON, and I mean a huge amount, even half a bottle each wash.

Sleek, is your hair completely saturated with water when you apply the conditioner? And are you applying a good 3 tons lol? If I didn't apply so much I don't think it would work half as well.....

 

[lea86111]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

@shahla if that's you in your avatar pic then i totally understand y you're using so much conditioner! Your hair is thick and long! =) my hair, as you can see in my siggy, is short short short lol and did i say short? Lol but i use a good amount of con as well, yep yep

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

^^That's me, thanks. Actually my hair is odd, its ridiculously full when its curly but when it's straight it's a fight to get it to look thick. I trim the ends a lot because I'm not a fan of skinny hair. I think it's because my strands are very fine. Anyway, the reason I use all that conditioner is really not because of my length or thickness really, its because my hair is very dry and very badly behaved. It needs a lot of coaxing lol. And that means tons of conditioner, I don't recall using any less when my hair was shorter...

@Lea86111, you joined a month after I did and yet I've never seen you post before, wow lol.

 

[Curlykale]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

Not sure, but could it also be build up from silicones? If this is the case, you could try to clarify with a clarifying shampoo, or a bentonite clay treatment, or an apple cider vinegar rinse and you could try to see if this happens also with products without silicones, or you could clarify more often.
Another way to retain moisture could be making sure you seal with a sealant that your hair likes, trying butters and castor oil vs oils...

 

[halee_J]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

The porosity thing is something I've been reading about recently. so apparently your hair is able to soak up a ton of moisture, but it ends up evaporating just as easily once your hair dries. Is that the reason so many shampoos and conditioners gives my hair amazing slip and moisture in the shower, fast forward 5 hours and it's a dull, rough mess?

Sounds like high porosity. I had the same symptoms a few months ago.

Here's what helped me:

Using porosity control conditioner -directions say leave on 1-2 min as a final rinse out condish.

Using mild/med protein treatments regularly, strong protein every 6 wks (always follow protein
with a moisture DC) ***i'm relaxed tho, if you're natural you probably won't need as much protein***.

Clear rinses

HTH

 

[Nix08]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

You may want to read the article at the top of this thread:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=94325&highlight=

From the article is says : "There are two main conditions that aggravate the physical integrity of the cuticle layer, and thus the hair and it's porosity level. THe first is soundeness of eah scale along cuticle layer, the second is the general spatial arrangement of scales relative to one another."

She talks about porosity extremes and your description seems to be identical to one she wrote about. Fixes " Protein and clear rinses for Scale Damage" and "Acidic Conditioning Rinses for Restoring Proper Cuticle Orientation" It's a great article - I've printed it and added it to my 'journal' Hope this helps

 

[halee_J]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

Some conditioners will soften my hair, but it's never to the extent that tangles just fall out like it does for other women.
Also it takes me a little extra effort to find a conditioner that will soften my hair because I come across a fair amount that don't, not considerably at least. The softness usually follows after I've rollerset. For example my hair is very soft right now (it was rollerset and dried). When I was combing the conditioner through my hair it didn't feel all that soft.

Just a thought, maybe you have the opposite problem; low porosity. Your cutlicles lay so flat that its difficult for moisturizing agents to get in...That may explain why it is difficult to find conditioners that soften...Do you rollerset with heat? That may explain why your hair feels soft after....the heat lifts the cuticle a little and allows moisture to get in. Do you find that your hair takes a while to get wet in the shower? does it take long to dry? these are symptoms of low porosity.

 

[Nix08]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

Here's one other thread you may want to read.....
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=341855&page=14

 

[jenaccess]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

I always believed that hair that didn't hold moisture aand that dried really fast was hair that was over processed. This usually happen at the bottom of my hair close to the ends and I would always cut alot off and never really retain any length.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Poopiedo]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

Years ago my hair was the exact same way. Basically I had over processed my hair with no lye relaxers and the over processing led to my porosity issues. No lye didn’t work for me because I wasn’t using it correctly which led to extreme calcium buildup on my hair which contributed to my dryness issue. When conditioner was in my hair it would look like it was so healthy. I loved the way my hair looked with the conditioner in because it gave the illusion of healthy hair. Once my hair dried, that’s when it would start to go downhill. My hair would dry very quickly and crunchy. The ends would dry first, and it would be a frizzy dull reddish brown mess. No matter how long I conditioned same results every time. I cut my hair little by little because I’m not a big trimmer, switched to lye, started using Stabilizer Plus then moved on to Porosity control weekly. I make sure I don't over process. I dc and steam weekly and some form of light protein is used weekly as well. I moisturize and seal daily which I never did in the past. I no longer have those issues.

 

[equestrian]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

Years ago my hair was the exact same way. Basically I had over processed my hair with no lye relaxers and the over processing led to my porosity issues. No lye didn’t work for me because I wasn’t using it correctly which led to extreme calcium buildup on my hair which contributed to my dryness issue. When conditioner was in my hair it would look like it was so healthy. I loved the way my hair looked with the conditioner in because it gave the illusion of healthy hair. Once my hair dried, that’s when it would start to go downhill. My hair would dry very quickly and crunchy. The ends would dry first, and it would be a frizzy dull reddish brown mess. No matter how long I conditioned same results every time. I cut my hair little by little because I’m not a big trimmer, switched to lye, started using Stabilizer Plus then moved on to Porosity control weekly. I make sure I don't over process. I dc and steam weekly and some form of light protein is used weekly as well. I moisturize and seal daily which I never did in the past. I no longer have those issues.

EXACTLY, it turns light reddish brown.

My hope is that maybe getting on a porosity control regime would increase my hairs tolerance for a wider range of hair products. is that possible?


sorry if this ? is covered in the article, I'm going to read it now

 

[Kindheart]

Re: Is high porosity the reason my hair reacts badly to 85-90% of the conditoners i u

I find that happens when I use conditioners with a high silicone amount or mineral oil .What those ingredients do is coat your hair making it Look healthy shiny and soft but in a matter of hours your hair become rough and dry cuz those ingredients do not allow the hair to absorb any of the moisture in the air ,as a result your hair is dry and rough.