In the above video, I talk about the porosity of my hair.
It will be my 6th week since I began doing the CG method and I ran into a road block. Whenever I leave conditioner in my hair like I see others doing, the conditioner just stays on top off my hair and instead of drying clear, there is white residue left over. I thought maybe it was the conditioner I was using (Tressemme Naturals) so I switched over to the AO White Camilla. And while, the AO is much much better....in fact, really really good, I still couldn't get away with leaving that much conditioner in my hair without experiencing residue.
It made me realize that hair was simply not absorbing the conditioner, it literally just sits on top of my hair. This got me thinking about porosity and the several articles I had read about it. All the time I've been natural, because my hair never seemed to stay moisturized, I thought I had high porosity hair. Not only that, when I run my fingers up my hair shaft, there were "bumps" along the way which according to
this article on CN is a sign of high porosity (i.e. the cuticles were raised and not laying flat).
Well, it made sense, not only based on that test but also based on the fact that it seemed many naturals had high porosity hair.The only thing is that my hair was telling me something else and if only I will listen...Christabel listen smh. I should have listened to my hair that is. It was indeed not staying moisturized but not for the reason I thought. It was dry because products were not penetrating my hair strands. It just sat on top of my hair until I washed it off. Coupled with the fact that I was not getting my hair wet frequently...I was left with dry tresses.
After getting my hair cut and doing the CG method consistently, my hair is no longer dry but I still couldn't leave that much conditioner in my hair without dealing with residue as I stated earlier. Which is why last night, I decided to do another porosity test. This time, I plucked a couple of strands of hair and cleaned them with a shampoo and then put it in a glass of water to see if it float or sink. The theory is that if it floats, your hair is low porosity and if it sinks, it is high porosity.
Well, boy oh boy, did my hair float...in fact it is still on top that cup of water as I am speaking to you (24 or so hours later). That result coupled with the physical evidence I observe(d), I have reached the conclusion that I have low porosity hair.
What does this mean for my hair care practices you ask? Well, when I get in the shower, I let warm water from the shower stream run through my hair for a few minutes. This enables my cuticles to be somewhat raised in preparation for the conditioner. I go ahead and apply conditioner which I let sit for a few more minutes. I then do a final rinse with lukewarm water. I rinse enough of the conditioner out so my hair is clear but I also leave enough in to aid in curl definition and moisture. That's it, I shake, shake and shake my hair some more for all my coils to fall into place and that's it...viola beautifully defined curls.
So, if you've always thought that your hair is high porosity, but your hair doesn't seem to absorb products (or conditioner if you are doing the CG method), try doing the "water test" and you might be surprised.
So ladies, on which side of the porosity scale do you lie?
