Porosity help needed..

[cookie1]

Some of you ladies are so in touch with your hair needs and I commend you. I'm learning so much on this board and sometimes it gets a little overwhelming but, with sisters like you I always get the clarification I need. Here is my issue/question:

I started using ACV rinses and they make my hair feel really good. I only do them every now and then. I thought since it makes my wraps/ flatirion styles look so silky, I'd only do them when I'm going to flatiron. I saw a couple threads/posts on porosity and realized I have no idea if I have porous hair or not. Sometimes, it does seem to dry out fast and sometimes it doesn't. Please tell me how to tell if I have POROUS HAIR...

Do you think ACV rinses is enough?

Should I do them more often?

Does the baking soda rinse take care of porosity issues or is it just a clarifier?

I'm dipping into Ayurvedic care, is it okay to do ACV rinses on the same day as these?

What are the benefits of less porous hair?

 

[Caramel Hottie UK]

I would also like to know this too

 

[melodies815]

You will know your hair is porous if it doesn't hold moisture well at all. You condition and conditioning does nothing...or you put on a heavy moisturizer and at the end of the day or by the next morning, it seems you did nothing at all or maybe put on the moisturizer four or five days previously.

The benefit of low porosity is that the hair's cuticle lays down sealing in the moisture you have put in your hair. It also makes sure that your chemical treatments go the way they are supposed to go if you are following the directions.

From what I understand, the hair's cuticle should not be "flipped up" along the shaft. It should lay flat, almost like a snake's scales (sorry but that's the closest comparison I can think of at the moment...)

I hope this helps!

There is a porosity thread that should give you all the info you need with lots of different regimens and results from frequent PC users.

HHG!!

cj

 

[LatterGlory]

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[SweetSpirit86]

While Melodies was on the right track...you don't quite want it to be completely flat. That's how my hair is...low porosity.

The one in the middle is what you want. You'll notice that it has arrows showing "moisture" goes in where it should, and holds where it should for a balance. On the low porosity strand, moisture just bounces off it, lol. On the high porosity strand, it kinda zooms in and goes straight out.

Both extremes have their cons, it's just that high porosity has more, lol. The only benefit I can see to my hair having low porosity, is that when I finally do get the moisture in (it fights me), it stays for a bit. But that's just the problem there...it doesn't like to let in anything in the first place.

I don't relax anymore, but chemical treatments took longer to take as well. If I went to a salon to relax...my head was on fire before they thought my hair was straight enough to rinse/wash. The benefit to that, however, is if I ever decided to texlax...I wouldn't be as worried of overprocessing and ending up with bone-laxed hair like someone with high porosity would.

 

[SweetSpirit86]

One day I was researching about how to tell if I had healthy hair or not and came across this little tip:

Pull a strand of hair out of your head from root and put fill a cup or bowl with water.
Drop the strand of hair in the water if it sinks your hair is in pretty bad shape.

Now why did I post this on a post about porosity?

I my reasoning very porous hair would be the sinking type while less porous hair would remain buoyant.

My hair sits on top of the water...even overnight...

 

[Ronnieaj]

Some of you ladies are so in touch with your hair needs and I commend you. I'm learning so much on this board and sometimes it gets a little overwhelming but, with sisters like you I always get the clarification I need. Here is my issue/question:

I started using ACV rinses and they make my hair feel really good. I only do them every now and then. I thought since it makes my wraps/ flatirion styles look so silky, I'd only do them when I'm going to flatiron. I saw a couple threads/posts on porosity and realized I have no idea if I have porous hair or not. Sometimes, it does seem to dry out fast and sometimes it doesn't. Please tell me how to tell if I have POROUS HAIR...

Do you think ACV rinses is enough?

Should I do them more often?

Does the baking soda rinse take care of porosity issues or is it just a clarifier?

I'm dipping into Ayurvedic care, is it okay to do ACV rinses on the same day as these?

What are the benefits of less porous hair?

I can't answer all your questions, but here are my answers:

I use ACV rinses almost exclusively. I have Porosity Control, but I'm honestly trying to use it up so I can just stick to my acv.

I do a rinse every time I wash my hair. Right now that's Wednesday and Friday. I know some women who cowash every day and do an acv rinse every day. If I did that, I'd probably do an acv rinse everyday too, just because I love the way my hair feels when I do it.

I use baking soda purely as a clarifier. I don't know about it's uses for porosity issues. Because I know that acv in higher concentrations can also act as a clarifier, if I used baking soda to clarify, that might be the one time I didn't use acv, and used PC instead. Or I might just say forget it and use both anyway, knowing me.

I've also started doing a more ayurvedic regime, and I still use acv as a final rinse after deep conditioning, so I do think they can be incorporated together.

I think SweetSpirit86 hit it on the head regarding the benefits of lower porosity, so I'll leave that as is. HTH!