What's my porosity?

[snoop]

I've done this test twice and I still can't figure it out.

The first time, I put a strand of hair in the glass but pushed it down far enough to break the surface of the water. The hair sunk pretty quickly. When I checked on it 5-10 minutes later it was floating again.

The second time, I put 2 different strands on top of the water -- one 4a and one 4b. This time I let them sit. The problem this time was that because of the coils and bends, not enough hair was touching the surface of the water and therefore would never be able to absorb enough water to properly do the test. (Only the places where the hair bent touched, otherwise the rest was clear above, for the length of the strand.) The strands stayed in this position for about 3 hours, at which point I gave up.

So does this mean both tests were a bust?

 

[mshoneyfly]

I've done this test twice and I still can't figure it out.

The first time, I put a strand of hair in the glass but pushed it down far enough to break the surface of the water. The hair sunk pretty quickly. When I checked on it 5-10 minutes later it was floating again.

The second time, I put 2 different strands on top of the water -- one 4a and one 4b. This time I let them sit. The problem this time was that because of the coils and bends, not enough hair was touching the surface of the water and therefore would never be able to absorb enough water to properly do the test. (Only the places where the hair bent touched, otherwise the rest was clear above, for the length of the strand.) The strands stayed in this position for about 3 hours, at which point I gave up.

So does this mean both tests were a bust?

snoop
I had some weird test results too. My strands never sank and I thought this meant I was low po. Some blogs Ive read also have contributed to my confusion. You sound like you're low po because the strand doesn't absorb the water.

But my hair acts like high po hair. It dries really fast, I lose moisture pretty fast, the curl relaxes easily, tangles, absorbs quickly.

Ive been thinking about this a lot and I wonder if the henna is causing my stand test to come out as low po.

I also wonder if my ng could be low po and my relaxed ends could be high po. I know that you're not supposed to push the hairs down in the water. Also, different areas of your head could have a diff porosity

 

[Nonie]

@mshoneyfly, there are people who are low porosity who find that after relaxing, their cuticle never fully closes so that once they relax, their porosity changes and while they had trouble moisturizing their hair before relaxing, they find the relaxed hair is easier to moisturize because the cuticle is raised.

Also old hair is bound to have tears from wear and so the holes in the cuticle could make it appear high porosity. That could explain why new growth (still young and hasn't been subjected to wear and tear) and so still has an intact cuticle could be low porosity but over time become high. It may also be that for someone who hadn't perfected her hair regimen that the hair appeared highly porous--especially if one's previous haircare regimen was not necessarily that good earlier on--and so the old hair might've experienced more trauma and had damage that made it porous but as hair grows with the good regimen, the cuticle is kept in better shape and hair remains hardly porous.

@snoop, the float test isn't the only test you can do (Hope you were using clean product-free strands), you can also monitor how easy it is to wet your hair and how long it takes to dry. Also how easy it is for your hair to feel moisturized.

Low porosity people find getting their hair wet takes work...and then once wet it takes forever to dry. Also because of the tight cuticle, getting hair to feel soft and moisturized isn't easy. Sometimes it takes baggying for the night for hair to finally get the softness typical of moisturized hair. Then once moisturized, low porosity hair will hold onto that moisture for a long time.

High porosity hair is easy to get wet and quick to dry. It is also easy to moisturize but it doesn't hold onto moisture as the raised cuticle means it releases moisture to the air easily, so you need to moisturize more often. High porosity hair may benefit from Roux Porosity Control line and an ACV rinse (a well-diluted one for hair's safety).

 

[Lilmama1011]

yeah , i was going to say what Nonie said, are you using clean hair and not hair with product in it?

 

[Nonie]

Also snoop, it doesn't matter if only parts of your hair are touching the water. Those parts exposed enough of the cuticle so assuming your hair was clean, if it were highly porous, the parts touching the water would allow it to enter the strands.

IIRC normal porosity hair may float for a while then eventually sink. And then it falls in the middle in all the other tests. Doesn't take long to get wet nor does it stay wet for very long.

 

[virtuenow]

The float test is not a good indicator for determining porosity. You will find that sometimes the same hair that floats, will also sink-- depending on the day. That test is very unreliable.

However, assessing the touch and feel of your hair and its response to water and conditioner is the best indicator of porosity. If your hair feels rough when your run your fingers down the strand (from root to tip)-- that suggests the cuticle may be raised (high porosity). ON many of us, we only feel the roughness towards the very ends. (ends highly porous from normal wear & tear and ready for trim)

Next, If your hair never feels wet-- then it may be highly porous. For years my hair would NEVER feel wet. I later learned its b/c my hair was highly porous to the extent that the water was going out as fast as it was coming in. My hair would also feel bone dry during the washing/condition process and dry out very quickly after washing.

Low porosity hair also may not feel wet. It takes a long time to get wet but once it does, it takes forever to dry. You should knwo from your experience w/regualr washing/conditioning whether your hair takes a long time to get wet; dries quickly; or takes forever to dry. Where does your hair stand on this test scale?

Lastly, if your hair does not respond to conditioners or deep conditioners, this is an indication there is something wrong w/your porosity level.

 

[Nonie]

@virtuenow, the hair that floats first and then sinks I believe signifies normal porosity. If you think about it, the cuticle on normal porosity hair isn't tightly closed nor is it wide open...so water will trickle into the strand and eventually the hair will sink.

Porous hair sinks right away while hair with low porosity may sit there for a loooooong time and never sink.

 

[virtuenow]

@virtuenow, the hair that floats first and then sinks I believe signifies normal porosity. If you think about it, the cuticle on normal porosity hair isn't tightly closed nor is it wide open...so water will trickle into the strand and eventually the hair will sink.

Porous hair sinks right away while hair with low porosity may sit there for a loooooong time and never sink.

Nonie, I agree hp hair is supposed to sink/ lp is supposed to floats. But when I did the test, my hair always floated on the surface and would stay there for days. Then if I pushed it down, some strands would stay down some wouldn't (if I remember correctly). This made no sense. Many have reported similar shaky results (just like the ladies above).

I had my hair analyzed by Komaza (under microscope) and they gave me the final verdict that I had high porosity hair. I knew something was wrong w/my hair b/c it always felt dry, even under water; and it never responded to conditioner. The float test gave me very unreliable results.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie, I agree hp hair is supposed to sink/ lp is supposed to floats. But when I did the test, my hair always floated on the surface and would stay there for days. Then if I pushed it down, some strands would stay down some wouldn't (if I remember correctly). This made no sense. Many have reported similar shaky results (just like the ladies above).

I had my hair analyzed by Komaza (under microscope) and they gave me the final verdict that I had high porosity hair. I knew something was wrong w/my hair b/c it always felt dry, even under water; and it never responded to conditioner. The float test gave me very unreliable results.

virtuenow Hmm...I was going to say that damage will cause high porosity on hair that is normally low porosity but if Komaza folks said it was highly porous (even the new growth?)...then you may have a point.

 

[virtuenow]

@virtuenow Hmm...I was going to say that damage will cause high porosity on hair that is normally low porosity but if Komaza folks said it was highly porous (even the new growth?)...then you may have a point.

Nonie There was damage, but my hair seems to be naturally highly porous. I think I needed to cut 10 inches of damage in some areas, but I didn't cut down to the root! I was able to correct the porosity on the rest of my hair by doing regular protein treatments.

 

[Jetblackhair]

Great thread OP. Nonie, virtuenow I can't completely figure out my porosity because my hair has characteristics of both high & low porosity. Clean strands float to the surface in the water test, low porosity, but it takes a while for my hair to get wet when washing, but it dries very quickly. I always have a spray bottle near by just to re-wet my hair. As I run my finger down various strands, it feels smooth for the most part, except for the occasionally SSK. Do you think I'm low or high porosity? TIA

 

[virtuenow]

Great thread OP. @Nonie, @virtuenow I can't completely figure out my porosity because my hair has characteristics of both high & low porosity. Clean strands float to the surface in the water test, low porosity, but it takes a while for my hair to get wet when washing, but it dries very quickly. I always have a spray bottle near by just to re-wet my hair. As I run my finger down various strands, it feels smooth for the most part, except for the occasionally SSK. Do you think I'm low or high porosity? TIA

@Jetblackhair It sounds like high porosity. Running your finger down the strand and discerning the "roughness" of a raised cuticle is a learned art. It may not be obvious to someone not familiar w/the feeling. But quick drying is a dead giveaway (as Charles Ramsey would say).

 

[Amarilles]

My porosity is normal (as told by both Live Curly Live Free and komaza) and on clean hair the strands float for a while but by the time I check back, they're in the middle.

I think feeling the strands with the fingers is deceiving on coarse hair. My hair for example is very rough when I feel it upward, although my porosity is normal. Actually my hair in general is kinda rough when touched although it looks "smooth". I think this method only works on fine and maybe medium hair.

OP does your hair dry faster than your body does? Do you also have high density? I find that high density can throw things off a bit too. My hair is good at repelling water and it's doesn't absorb it quickly but apparently that's because it's thick and there's a lot of it, so it takes a minute to absorb. It doesn't take forever to dry though. One could still have high (or normal) porosity despite it not absorbing water easily.

 

[MileHighDiva]

OP, watch this video by GreenBeauty on how to test your porosity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb2c5pfyd98

HTH!

 

[Nonie]

Jetblackhair, I have a different take from virtuenow. To me your hair seems to have either low or normal porosity. The only thing from what you have described that hints at high porosity is the quick drying. But normal porosity hair doesn't stay wet for as long as low so depending on who's counting the minutes, it may be fast for you.

Why I say normal porosity is that that hair will float first then sink. If the hair is coated with product it may never sink. When you say it takes long to get wet, could it be you realize this when getting ready to wash it? If so, could that be because you have product on it? Also if you are a CWer and a no poo-er, then it means your hair is always coated until you clarify, which would make normal porosity hair take long to get wet because of the coating it has.

Amarilles, when you say you are stroking hair upward and it feels rough, is that toward scalp or away from scalp?

TBH, I don't think the stroke test can really tell you about porosity. My strands are normal porosity and feel smoother after an ACV rinse. I know this not because they feel smooth to the touch. The size of the cuticle scales are too tiny for me to feel them when stroked along the grain. I just know strands are smoother because they slide past each other with ease and don't snag on each other as I finger-comb as they might if I airdried w/o ACV.

 

[divachyk]

snoop, I have low porosity and if you had low porosity, I'm thinking you'll know it. For the vast majority of low porosity heads, our hair hates protein and overloads quickly. Our hair repels water and takes forever to get soaking wet. It is hard to get our hair moisutrized among other characteristics. If the float test doesn't give you the results you need, visit the low porosity thread and see if you're expriencing some of the issues the low porosity crew experience. That might help you do process of elimination.

 

[Amarilles]

Amarilles, when you say you are stroking hair upward and it feels rough, is that toward scalp or away from scalp?

TBH, I don't think the stroke test can really tell you about porosity. My strands are normal porosity and feel smoother after an ACV rinse. I know this not because they feel smooth to the touch. The size of the cuticle scales are too tiny for me to feel them when stroked along the grain. I just know strands are smoother because they slide past each other with ease and don't snag on each other as I finger-comb as they might if I airdried w/o ACV.

It's while going up the strand, toward the scalp. I can feel every little bend. I'm transitioning, my permed hair is high porosity and it feels the same as my normal porosity natural hair, very substantial and kinda bumpy in general.

I also have my doubts on the accuracy of the stroke test. The float test is better (IMO) but can be easily messed up too if one uses a hair that has some oil/product or if the water is too hot or too cold. Nonie it definitely makes sense that your cuticles feel nice after ACV, mine too although a strand feels just as rough. But many people vouch this method so it must work for at least some of us.

 

[Nonie]

It's while going up the strand, toward the scalp. I can feel every little bend. I'm transitioning, my permed hair is high porosity and it feels the same as my normal porosity natural hair, very substantial and kinda bumpy in general.

I also have my doubts on the accuracy of the stroke test. The float test is better (IMO) but can be easily messed up too if one uses a hair that has some oil/product or if the water is too hot or too cold. Nonie it definitely makes sense that your cuticles feel nice after ACV, mine too although a strand feels just as rough. But many people vouch this method so it must for at least some of us.

Amarilles EVERYONE's hair would feel rough going toward the scalp because you are going against the grain. It would be like stroking a fish from tail to head and feeling the edges of the scales.

The stroke test claims that when you go along the grain AWAY FROM SCALP TOWARD ENDS that closed cuticle (low porosity) will feel smooth but open cuticle (high porosity) will feel rough because the scales are lifted so fingers scrape against them.

This is what a hair strand surface looks like:

You were stroking it the wrong way: from bottom upward looking at that image so feeling every edge of the scales. It's supposed to be from scalp to ends meaning downward in that image. But that image is a strand magnified so many times so imagine those scales on a strand of hair...they would be so tiny that I really doubt stroking from scalp to ends would be easy for one to detect raised scales. If you bend a fish slightly to slightly raise scales, then stroke it from head to tail, it will not feel rough, I don't think. So IMO microscopic scales will definitely not feel rough even when raised if stroked from scalp to ends.

I mean look at your finger; the grooves of your fingerprints are visible and yet not that easy to feel with your own finger--fingers feel smooth. The scales of hair cuticle are invisible to the naked eye so when raised, you would still be feeling a smoothness coz of the direction they lie and their size which is many times smaller than the grooves of your fingers.

 

[Amarilles]

I've only heard of doing the strand test going up the strand.

I still feel every bend if I go down the strand, but it's an easier ride down. It doesn't "squeak" going down. My hair has product on it now so I can try this when I wash it next time.

I definitely understand the structure of hair, yet all I've ever read of the strand test indicates to go up the hair. The YouTube video above for example, shows going upward. So do links like HERE and HERE and everywhere I've ever read. But I will try it downward on clean hair too then, and note any differences.

 

[Nonie]

I've only heard of doing the strand test going up the strand.

I still feel every bend if I go down the strand, but it's an easier ride down. It doesn't "squeak" going down. My hair has product on it now so I can try this when I wash it next time.

I definitely understand the structure of hair, yet all I've ever read of the strand test indicates to go up the hair. The YouTube video above for example, shows going upward. So do links like HERE and HERE and everywhere I've ever read. But I will try it downward on clean hair too then, and note any differences.

@Amarilles I didn't read those links because they are wrong and I am always afraid that ignorance might be catching so I don't expose myself to it if I know better. It scares me how one person gets something wrong when they teach and then everyone echoes it like it's gospel and preaches it to unsuspecting folks thus spreading the ignorance. (Kinda like that lie that cold water closes pores that just about every aesthetician will recite when it's as wrong as the day is long!) Read any scientific articles on hair science, not articles written by people who learned haircare from a hair forum, and you will find that one of the tests kids do in science class to feel hair cuticle is stroke it from tips to scalp. First they do the scalp to tips test and muse at how smooth the hair feels. Then they stroke it tip to scalp to feel the cuticle. They don't just tell high porosity kids to do this but everyone does the same test and results are always the same for EVERYONE regardless of porosity.

I do not believe feeling hair from scalp to tip (or even the wrong way you are all doing it) can tell you anything about porosity because the cuticle will always feel smooth in one direction and rough in the other. Now if your hair has damage or if you're forgetting that our hair is like a ribbon and so it twists and when stretched will look like this =-=-=- because the narrow parts are the twist in the hair, then you will think you're feeling the cuticle. But you are not because the scale are miniscule. It's kinda like how materials are made of atoms and aren't one solid block. But we don't feel the molecules coz they are small. We just feel a solid smooth material. Same thing here. Cuticles may not be as small as atoms but you get the idea.

(BTW, a little OT but I understand some hair guru actually wrote in a book that our hair is shaped fat thin fat thin like this --==--==--== and used the idea of looking at a hair strand in light to see this Clearly this person does not get the point that afro hair strands are flattened and because our hair is coiled, if you pull that coiled ribbon straight, you actually end up with a twisted ribbon hence the fat thin fat thin appearance. Just wow @ the nonsense passed on as information!)

Anyway back to hair science and the cuticle:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/hair/hair_2.html

Even if it were possible for someone to feel microscopic scales when going along the grain scalp to tip, how can one differentiate raised and normal. If one's sensitivity is so good as to feel microscopic bumps when one can't even feel pores on one's skin which can be seen , then, heck, they shoud feel the low porosity bumps too coz it's not like the scales melt into the hair; they are just lying closed.

And then comes my next question: unless you of this super sensitivity have high, normal and low porosity samples next to you to compare, how would you be able to tell the difference between raised high and raised just a bit and not raised? The difference would be so insignificant, I'm talking nanometers. I mean we are talking about scales so many times smaller than the thickness of hair!

IMO people who make claims like you can feel porosity have no idea about scale. It reminds me of when people would swear they grew 2 inches of hair in a short time and then post an image showing 2 centimeters. Or when people say they trimmed 1/8 of an inch. That is about this long --> _ Really?? You want us to believe that you were able to snip off that tiny amount from all your strands and nothing more? Can you even see that with scissors in the way? Yeah whatever!

No wonder everyone is confused about porosity coz you have wrong information being passed around.

 

[virtuenow]

@Nonie doing the stroke test is an acquired art. It is easy is for me to tell b/c I have had very highly porous hair. But admittedly assessing hairs reaction to water and conditioner is the best determining factor in hair porosity.

I know the feel of raised cuticles b/c my hair feels completely different when the porosity is off. In fact, it is hair that you can hear. I can feel and hear the rub when I slide my hand down the strand (root to tip). My fingers almost "catch" on the last few inches and sometimes makes a squeaky sound. If you google or do a search for squeaky hair, you will find many people asking why their hair makes a sound. You wouldn't know unless you have had high porosity hair or perhaps cuticular damaged ends. The feel is quite distinct.

Also, my strands are very thick. @Nonie You said your strands are very fine and almost invisible unless you place on a white surface. So I guess it would be hard to understand that one can actually "feel" the "roughness" of raised or damaged cuticles on very fine hair. Imagine sliding your finger easily down a completely smooth surface...and then your finger just suddenly stops-- or has a hard time sliding down the very end of the surface. That's how my ends have felt during it's worst phases. Its hard to describe w/o using a sample of my hair.

ETA: I just read more of your post (it was so long). You mean to tell me you don't believe hair can have a "feel" b/c the cuticles are microscopic. How would the hair ever feel dry or damaged then? I suppose all hair feels good and great under your theory. Everyone has smooth hair? Huh? It makes no sense that b/c cuticles are invisible to the eye the strand of hair will have no sense of feel to the human hand? You can feel when your skin is dry or moist or dewey or rough. Likewise, many of us can feel when our strands are rough and/or damaged. Some cannot; or are not in tune enough w/their hair to even know what to look for. Everything cannot be broken down to a false science.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie doing the stroke test is an acquired art. It is easy is for me to tell. But admittedly assessing hairs reaction to water and conditioner is the best determining factor in hair porosity.

I know the feel of raised cuticles b/c my hair feels completely different when the porosity is off. In fact, it is hair that you can hear. I can feel the and hear the rub when I slide my hand quickly down the strand (root to tip). My fingers almost "catch" on the last few inches and sometimes makes a squeaky sound. If you google or do a search for squeaky hair, you will find many people asking why their hair makes a sound. You wouldn't know unless you have had high porosity hair or perhaps cuticular damaged ends. The feel is quite distinct.

@virtuenow Squeaky hair is hair w/o product. My hair is squeaky most of the time after I shampoo and my porosity isn't off. I have used the phrase squeaky clean often with reference to why I love shampooing my hair and my cuticle isn't raised when that happens. It actually is after my ACV rinse that I can slide fingers and they squeak as shoes would on a marble floor. IMO if you can feel cuticles going down the strand toward tips then what would stop you feeling them when they are closed? I mean, raised vs open is many times smaller than this dot . and you want to tell me you can feel a difference in change of something smaller than that dot? Do you see how crazy this is?

I am telling you what you feel is the twisted ribbon. When you take a coiled hair and stretch it out, you don't twist it around to make sure it's lying flat. So how can you know what you're feeling? Try it with a coiled gift ribbon. Just grab it and pull it straight and see what you end up with. Then try stroking it, it will not feel smooth. And that's what happens with afro hair too. Asian hair is like a cylinder so it may not have this problem.

Cuticle scales are 5-10 microns thick. So when you stroke your hair, you're saying you can feel micron size lifts? Is it even possible to feel 50 micrometers which are even bigger? A millimeter is 1/10th of a centimeter and about this big -. A micron (micrometer) is 1/1000th of a millimeter. In other words, you take a millimeter - and divide it into 1000 parts and then you have a lift of 5 of those small parts or no lift...and you are telling me YOU can tell the difference? I don't believe you. But hey I don't have to. If you believe you, that's all that matters.

 

[Amarilles]

I've also doubted the possibility of feeling how the cuticles lye with our fingers...but I'm apprehensive to say that those who have used this method with accurate results are wrong/incorrect though. I personally didn't trust either method, so I got my hair tested (twice) to not depend on "maybes" and "I thinks".

While I tend to spend too much time reading journals and case studies (Google scholar is my ******, lol) I've never found a scientific paper on proper ways for at home porosity testing. Neither option is scientific to begin with and come with flaws. I considered the strand test not because I read of it here or in other forums but because Tiffany (of Live Curly Live Free) agrees with it and I respect her contribution to curly hair. She says:

You can check porosity on dry hair by taking a strand of several hairs from four different areas of the head (front hairline, temple, crown and nape). Slide the thumb and index finger of your other hand down each hair strand from end to scalp. If it is smooth, you have normal porosity. If your fingers move very fast up the hair strand and it feels exceptionally slick, dense and hard, you have low porosity. If your fingers "catch" going up the strand, feel like they are ruffling up the hair strand, or if the hair strand breaks, your hair is overly porous.

But it's true she's no scientist or chemist. I will say that using her description, my hair fits more the low porosity description (but it's normal) while for example my BF's hair (fine-med, normal porosity) fits the normal description.

I appreciate your views though Nonie, I personally love it when we think for ourselves and don't follow each other so blindly. I agree with how easily ignorance is shared, spread and repeated.

 

[Nonie]

Oy vey, @Amarilles, quoting the same thing over and over won't change the fact that hair will never feel smooth when you slide fingers along it from tip to scalp. NEVER! I mean, this is like elementary school science for crying out loud. Obviously those guys who even suggest that as a test for porosity missed class that day.

It's all just the placebo effect and pure luck that they claim their results matched the test. Even someone with low porosity and normal porosity like me feels roughness going up the strand.

Do you know how many people swear cold water closes their pores. Believing is seeing. It does NOT happen. Pores don't have muscles that open and close. What causes enlarged pores is dirt, dead cells and oil clogged in there and only exfoliating, good cleaning regularly will eventually shrink them. Cold water doesn't do sh**. But you will see people swear it does. Does not make it true.

Similarly, you can drink the Kool Aid these folks are serving; I'll pass. Agree to disagree. Done with the topic coz I have stuff to do.

 

[virtuenow]

@virtuenow Squeaky hair is hair w/o product. My hair is squeaky most of the time after I shampoo and my porosity isn't off. I have used the phrase squeaky clean often with reference to why I love shampooing my hair and my cuticle isn't raised when that happens. It actually is after my ACV rinse that I can slide fingers and they squeak as shoes would on a marble floor. IMO if you can feel cuticles going down the strand toward tips then what would stop you feeling them when they are closed? I mean, raised vs open is many times smaller than this dot . and you want to tell me you can feel a difference in change of something smaller than that dot? Do you see how crazy this is?

I am telling you what you feel is the twisted ribbon. When you take a coiled hair and stretch it out, you don't twist it around to make sure it's lying flat. So how can you know what you're feeling? Try it with a coiled gift ribbon. Just grab it and pull it straight and see what you end up with. Then try stroking it, it will not feel smooth. And that's what happens with afro hair too. Asian hair is like a cylinder so it may not have this problem.

Cuticle scales are 5-10 microns thick. So when you stroke your hair, you're saying you can feel micron size lifts? Is it even possible to feel 50 micrometers which are even bigger? A millimeter is 1/10th of a centimeter and about this big -. A micron (micrometer) is 1/1000th of a millimeter. In other words, you take a millimeter - and divide it into 1000 parts and then you have a lift of 5 of those small parts or no lift...and you are telling me YOU can tell the difference? I don't believe you. But hey I don't have to. If you believe you, that's all that matters.

Nonie You don't believe me and you've broken it down to a supposed science, but you're wrong. Once again, I repeat, I had my hair assessed under a microscope by people who analyze and study hair for a living. They confirmed the fact that my cuticles were raised on the ends. They provided picture images of said raised cuticles...and instructed me to cut the areas that had cuticle damage. The assesment was right in line w/where my hair strands felt the most rough. Yes, from simply running my fingers down the strands, I could feel roughness at the same position where they described. So maybe there is more for you to learn.

I could feel my hair was raised and I have pictures to support the fact that I was correct. Doesn't get any better than that !

No, I am not taking about twists in the ribbon of my hair. These are eaisily seen in my hair. I believe my hair is thicker than any Asian or Caucasian person's hair I have encountered. I've worked w/whitewe've compared our hair strands w/Asian. Their hair looks invisible next to mine. So the issue may be that your hair is so thin you can't conceive a person can feel their hair. No I'm not taking about feeling an individual cuticle being lifted like the example you gave. I'm talking about a whole 2-3 inches or more of the ends of hair that are significantly raised and feel different than the rest of the hair.

As far as squeaky clean hair, no that's not what I'm describing. I know exactly what you're talking about. My hair has product on it when analyzed and its more of a deep rub feel and it sometimes has a sound and it is never the whole strand. I probably shouldn't say squeak b/c my hair is a deep sound but squeak is the best way to describe it.

This may be a situation where I will agree to disagree, the end!

 

[Amarilles]

Oy vey, @Amarilles, quoting the same thing over and over won't change the fact that hair will never feel smooth when you slide fingers along it from tip to scalp. NEVER! I mean, this is like elementary school science for crying out loud. Obviously those guys who even suggest that as a test for porosity missed class that day.

It's all just the placebo effect and pure luck that they claim their results matched the test. Even someone with low porosity and normal porosity like me feels roughness going up the strand.

Do you know how many people swear cold water closes their pores. Believing is seeing. It does NOT happen. Pores don't have muscles that open and close. What causes enlarged pores is dirt, dead cells and oil clogged in there and only exfoliating, good cleaning regularly will eventually shrink them. Cold water doesn't do sh**. But you will see people swear it does. Does not make it true.

Similarly, you can drink the Kool Aid these folks are serving; I'll pass. Agree to disagree. Done with the topic coz I have stuff to do.

erplexed

...I wasn't arguing and I wasn't necessarily disagreeing either. I've only quoted someone once in this thread so "over and over" really? erplexed The quote is someone's thoughts and how my hair registered (incorrectly) according to it. I personally did not trust either method to figure mine nor do I go around recommending them.

 

[*CherryPie*]

This thread makes me feel like I'm back in school.

 

[Guinan]

This thread is very helpfuln& informative. I am def subbing.

 

[snoop]

Thanks everyone for your responses!!!!

My hair was clean when I did both tests. I'm also natural (if that helps). What I noticed in the video was that she stretched out her hair before laying it out so there was more contact with the water. I put the shrunken hair in the water so less of the strand actually made contact.

I think that my hair requires more water than less to be completely saturated. If I baggy, then it dries pretty quickly, but if I completely soak my hair it takes a few hours to air dry. I think that it requires a lot of moisture to not feel brittle all the time -- but that could be due to products and routine. I have type 4 hair.

 

[footsie]

From what I've gathered from this post, I have high porosity hair. I could not understand what "hair doesn't get wet" meant, but have just resolved that it just means that isn't me. My hair sucks in water and quickly dries.

Question, in general, does high porosity hair respond well to steam treatments and/or protein treatments?