What is hair porosity? Discover how your hair absorbs hair care products

You apply a hair mask, leave it on carefully, then rinse it out. Yet just a few hours later, your hair already feels dry again. Or perhaps the opposite happens: a small amount of conditioner is enough to leave your hair heavy, flat and lacking volume.

In both cases, hair porosity can play an important role.

Hair porosity determines how easily your hair absorbs and retains water and hair care products. It is influenced by your hair’s natural structure, but also by colouring, bleaching, heat, sun exposure, chlorine, friction and your daily hair care routine.

Understanding your hair porosity helps you choose more suitable hair care. It explains why a nourishing hair mask works perfectly for some people, while for others it mainly weighs the hair down.

What does hair porosity mean?

The surface of the hair fibre is made up of overlapping scales. This protective layer is called the cuticle, or more simply, the hair cuticle scales.

You can think of the hair cuticle like roof tiles. When the scales are tightly packed and smooth, water and hair care products penetrate the fibre less easily. When they are more open or damaged, the hair absorbs moisture more quickly. However, it also loses that moisture more easily.

Hair porosity therefore is not only about how much moisture and care your hair absorbs, but above all how well it retains them.

We generally distinguish between low, normal and high hair porosity. Your entire head of hair does not necessarily have the same porosity level. Your new growth may, for example, be compact and healthy, while older lengths have become more porous due to colouring, sun exposure and styling.

What is low hair porosity?

When hair has low porosity, the cuticle scales are relatively tightly packed. As a result, water, conditioner, oils and hair masks have more difficulty penetrating the hair fibre. Products are therefore more likely to remain on the surface of the hair.

How can you recognise low porosity hair?

Low porosity hair can often be identified by a combination of the following signs:

• Your hair takes time to become completely wet.
• Water droplets initially seem to sit on the surface of the hair.
• Very rich products quickly weigh your hair down.
• After applying hair care products, your hair may sometimes feel sticky, greasy or lacking volume.
• Products seem to remain on the surface of the hair rather than penetrating the fibre.

Low porosity is not limited to fine or straight hair. Thick, wavy and curly hair can also have tightly packed cuticle scales.

How to care for low porosity hair? 

For low porosity hair, lightweight and regular hair care is generally more suitable than a very rich routine. Use small amounts of product and rinse conditioner thoroughly.

A lightweight conditioner such as Daily Care can be a good option when your hair tends to become weighed down quickly. This conditioner hydrates, detangles and helps smooth the hair cuticle without unnecessarily weighing down fine hair.

An oil treatment or a rich hair mask is not necessary at every wash. Apply more intensive treatments mainly to the lengths and ends and observe how your hair responds.

With low porosity hair, using more product rarely gives better results.

What is normal hair porosity?

With normal hair porosity, the hair has a good balance between moisture absorption and retention. It becomes wet easily, absorbs conditioner evenly and generally remains soft for some time after applying hair care products.

This does not mean that normal porosity hair never becomes dry, frizzy or heavy. The season, how often you wash your hair, your styling habits and any hair colouring can also have an influence.

A simple routine with a gentle shampoo, a suitable conditioner and an oil is generally sufficient.