Does Low Porosity Hair Hates Gel?

Does My Low Porosity Hair Hates Gel?

Okay, so you have low porosity hair and it seems like it laughs at gel (edge control, too). It will stay in your hair for a while, but then, depending on the amount of gel applied, it's like it either evaporates and/or leaves a mess. Therefore, your conclusion is "my hair hates gel" or "my hair laughs at gel" or "gel does not work on my hair". That's not true. It does work, but you have to take certain steps first.

Characteristics of Low Porosity Hair

Low porosity has hair cuticles that are tightly closed. Think of low porosity hair as the shingles on the roof of our house--rain falls and it slides down off the roof. Low porosity hair takes a long time to get wet and a long time to dry. Regardless, our hair still needs moisture for it to be healthy and in order to retain length. Without moisture, our low porosity hair will become dry, unhealthy and break. Low porosity hair requires heat like warm water or warm products to open the tightly closed cuticles. Click here for information on creating hair regimens for low porosity hair. Click here for product recommendations.

Incorporating Gel Into Low Porosity Regimen

Because we have low porosity hair, we have to take certain steps when applying gel in order for our hair to accept it (the difficulty/acceptance level is dependent on the season). When styling our hair with gel, allowing our hair to air dry is not going to work. You can attempt to tie it down until it is completely dry. Keep in mind, low porosity hair takes forever to dry and if the hair cuticles are not open, it will not accept moisture or products added to the hair. The best way is to use heat. Dry the hair with a hair dryer or a blow-dryer on low/warm heat. Think of heat as a means to activate your hair. That's it! Now, go put some gel in it!

Creating Hair Regimens From Our Hair's Porosity

Creating Hair Regimens From Our Hair's Porosity

Porosity is our hair's ability, or inability, to absorb moisture/water. There are three categories: low, normal/medium, and high.

"Black hair tends to have low porosity naturally and is usually less porous than Caucasian or Asian hair types unless it has been chemically processed."

-- Audrey Davis-Sivasothy, The Science of Black Hair

Porosity Test

Do a porosity test on a clean strand of hair (no products). Place the strand into a glass of room temperature water and let it sit for about 3 minutes.

• High Porosity Hair -- hair sinks to the bottom. Normally, this hair soaks up moisture then becomes dry because hair cuticles are wide open and/or damaged. This category is due to damage from heat styling tools, chemical relaxers or color, the sun, and/or sulfate rich shampoo. Maybe genetics like some have suggested. Needs protein treatments to fill-in the holes/gaps.
• Low Porosity Hair -- hair floats at the top and takes a long time to sink. Normally, this hair takes forever to get wet and/or to dry. Products sit on the hair and won't penetrate. This category is due to genetics. Needs moisture and steam.
• Medium/Normal Porosity Hair -- hair is in the middle of the glass. Continue to do what you're doing. Your hair is normal porosity because of genetics or proper hair care.

Porosity Levels

There are different levels of each category--our hair strand sinking all the way to the bottom means we have extremely high porosity and our hair floating at the very top means we have extremely low porosity hair. The closer the strand is to the middle, the easier it will be to take care of it. Also, when we are transitioning or if we treat one section of our hair differently, we can have more than one porosity type on the same hair strand or in different sections of our head.

Basic Regimen Based On Hair Porosity While Using the LOC Method

When using the LOC Method to moisturize our hair, the product we use should depend on our hair's porosity. The LOC Method is the order in which we use products on our hair. We may have to use the LCO instead at certain periods of our hair journey/length or if our porosity prefers the switch, but that's another post/topic. LOC:

• L-liquid or leave-ins. High porosity should use cool/cold water or aloe vera juice, creamy leave-ins, anti-humectants products during heat or high humidity, etc. Low porosity should use warm water or liquid leave-ins, products with humectants (honey, glycerin , etc) products during heat or high humidity, etc.
• O-oil. High porosity hair should use heavy oils. Low porosity should use light oils.
• C-cream or butter. High porosity should use heavy cream or butter like shea butter. Low porosity should use light creams like hair milk.

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