What is low hair porosity?
Hair porosity sounds scientific, but really what it means is the amount of moisture, such as water and oils, the cuticle of your hair soaks up.
Low porosity hair typically won’t take in as much moisture or water - and while this can be a blessing in terms of saving on conditioning treatments, it can mean your hair feels oily or greasy more frequently, and you feel the need to wash more often.
When it comes to using a henna dye, how well your hair absorbs moisture is of vital importance. Without moisture uptake, the dye won’t bond to your hair, and you won’t achieve a good colour - regardless of the length of time you took to apply the dye.
It’s crucial to remember this is not a bad thing, and your hair porosity itself isn’t something that needs correcting - everyone’s hair is different, and has different needs. You might just find you need to tweak your hair care or dying routine to get the best results.
How can I find my hair porosity?
If you’re unsure how to find your hair porosity, there’s a really simple trick to determine it!
Some hair types are more linked to low hair porosity, such as type 1 hair. This is the straight hair type, and typically each strand is finer; however this isn’t a hard and fast rule, as everyone’s hair is different.
You can find out more about the 12 hair types, here:
https://suvarna.co.uk/blogs/news/whats-your-hair-type-and-why-does-it-matter
The most accurate way to test is doing a quick water test.
Fill a pint glass (enough to fit a strand of your hair in) with just water. Use room temperature water - too hot could be damaging for your hair.
Fully cleanse your hair, and don’t add any conditioner. It’s best to properly clarify first - this will remove any silicones, or anything bonded to your hair that might have sealed your cuticle.
For a good, organic clarifier, try our It’s Pure treatment. This can be used before dying, or on its own as a hair cleanser.
If the thought of shampoo without conditioner is leaving you with a sense of dread, you’re very unlikely to have low hair porosity.
Once your hair is clean and dried, dip a full strand of hair into the glass.
Low porosity hair won’t soak up any moisture; it will stay close to the top of the glass. Medium porosity hair tends to float down to the middle and stay there, and high porosity hair will sink all the way down to the bottom.
Once you pull your strand out of the glass, low porosity hair stays wet, but high porosity hair will dry very quickly!
So if you’ve found out your hair is low porosity, how do you go about getting the most from your hair colour? Read our tips below:
- Use A Clarifier Before Dying
First things first, low porosity hair will typically mean your conditioner or styling products remain bonded to the cuticle for longer.
Henna based colours take much better to a clean, dry cuticle - so you need to make sure you have fully clarified and dried your hair before using the dye.
The best clarifier is our It’s Pure treatment, which you can see here:
- When Washing, Use A No-Poo Treatment
Low porosity hair might need to be washed more frequently; and if you struggle with greasy or oily hair, you might use a harsh shampoo on a regular basis.
While this might solve your greasy hair woes, it’s likely to strip the colour out quickly - frequent washing and shampoos that treat greasy or oily scalps can also fade henna and indigo from the hair cuticle.
Try swapping instead to a No-Poo treatment, such as our Reetha powder. These are much gentler and will help prolong the life of your henna dye.
Each pack is enough to do about 10 washes; simply mix a small amount, nearly a tablespoon, with some water each time.
It needs to look like a tea-like mixture (think steeped black tea!) It won’t lather up, like a chemical shampoo so it might
Reetha not only helps to cleanse the hair; it benefits dry, itchy scalps and can aid dandruff prone scalps too.
3. Apply Heat When Dying!
The darker colours we sell, such as the Dark Brown, Very Dark Brown, or pure Indigo powder, are the trickiest to get a really good, dark shade from.
This is because while Henna takes really well (it can bond to nearly anything), Indigo is a lot more finicky - and unfortunately, it’s the only ingredient in the dyes that can give a rich, dark colour!
To get Indigo to take well, all it takes is a couple of simple tweaks; one is to add a teaspoon of salt to your mix when making up the dye.
The most important tweak is that, when you have low porosity hair, to use heat when you apply the dye.
Heat opens up your hair cuticle, allowing for more absorbency - so using a hair dryer over your cap when dying can make all the difference with Indigo bonding well to your hair.
Make sure your hair is fully covered by a cap or clingfilm so that the paste stays wet, and use a hair dryer over the cap in short blasts - maybe 5 or 10 minutes a time.
Don’t use too high a heat, or use the hair dryer too close - you just want to keep your hair warm, not melt the cap!
This should ensure your hair cuticle stays open, and absorbs the dye more readily.
To shop our range of dyes, take a look here.
You can see all our hair colour tips and tricks, here >>>
To ask us anything about dying, from how to, queries on ingredients, or which colour to try, contact our experts here >>>
