How to Manage Low-Porosity Curls | Low Porosity 101 ft. Texture ID

Do you have low-porosity curly hair? This specific hair type comes with its own unique challenges, including moisture absorption & retention, buildup, and more. 

This video is going to be a comprehensive guide for how to care for low-porosity curly hair, including a wash day routine using Texture ID products from Sally Beauty, who is kindly partnering with me for the YouTube video.

What is low-porosity hair?

Low porosity is a type of hair porosity where the cuticle layer is intact, protecting the inner layers of the hair and preventing water from absorbing and escaping. 

This is not necessarily a “problem”! This means your cuticle layer is healthy, strong, and doing it’s job. Hair is naturally hydrophobic (repels water) and contains natural oils that lubricate the strands.

However curly-textured hair, in particular, typically lacks those natural oils especially in tighter curl patterns because the scalp oil can’t travel down the strands easily. This combination of low porosity AND curly hair may cause an undesirable feeling when the hair is not adequately conditioned/oiled because it can lack flexibility and feel brittle.

This brittle/dry feeling can be even worse if you also have coarse-texture hair where the individual strands are very thick.

Most of us have low porosity at the root and our hair grows out of our head as low porosity. Porosity often increases as you go down the strand because most of us do some damaging things to our hair. Some people’s hair becomes more damaged than others, so it’s still possible to have mostly all high-porosity hair. Even if you have damaged hair, but your hair often feels dry and impossible to moisturize, these tips and routine will still apply!

My hair is actually more high porosity, but I have a mix. The top section is high porosity because it’s more exposed to the sun and damage, whereas the lower section is a medium porosity and healthier.

How to test your porosity

Float tests in a cup of water are not always accurate. There are too many variables that will impact how much your hair will sink or float such as buildup on the hair, thickness of the hair strand, and your water type.

It’s best to observe your hair when it’s clean and free of buildup, products, etc. and when it’s dry. Wet your hair in the shower or spray it with a water bottle and watch how the water absorbs. 

Consider the symptoms of low-porosity hair, how it behaves, and your damage level.

Signs you have low-porosity hair

• Water beads up on your clean, dry hair and takes a bit to become wet
  • Caveats: If your hair is thick it will also take a long time to saturate. If your hair has buildup it will repel water.
• Once your hair is saturated (such as when you style soaking wet, with moisturizing products), it takes awhile to dry
  • Caveats: Having thick hair, using heavy products, styling soaking wet and not scrunching out some of the water after styling will all make your hair take longer to dry
• Your hair is virgin and not color-treated, bleached, or chemically processed
• You do not heat style your hair
• Your hair is not super sensitive to humidity
• Your hair feels very silky and appears shiny if it’s also fine or medium-textured and adequately conditioned.
• Your hair feels brittle and dry if it’s also coarse-textured or not adequately conditioned

Goals of low-porosity hair/what to look for in products

• Improve the flexibility, manageability, and softness so it doesn’t tangle.
  • Look for products with slip. Examples include silicones, polymers, fatty alcohols, and emollients.
• Prevent it from becoming weighed down and flat.
  • Look for products that are lightweight and won’t buildup
• Long-lasting moisture/hydration
  • Look for products with film-forming humectants (aloe, flaxseed) and fatty alcohols
• Maintain it’s strength and prevent protein buildup
  • Look for products with amino acids and peptides

The Texture ID Low Porosity products check many of these boxes because they’re specifically designed for this hair type. They are infused with aloe vera gel (a great film-forming humectant), vitamins, and an oil complex to help with moisture retention.

How to shampoo & condition low-porosity hair

3. If your hair is very dry, use a deep conditioning mask with humectants, lightweight conditioners, and not too many oils high on the list. Look for amino acids and peptides if you’re looking to strengthen your hair.

The Texture ID Low Porosity Vitamin Mask contains:

• Vitamin E, C & B to nourish
• Aloe to moisturize
• Niacinamide to protect
• Amodimethicone to condition, provide slip, and softness. This is especially great if you have damaged ends.

You may not need to deep condition often if you have fine low-porosity hair.

Put on a heated cap or use a hair steamer to increase the penetration of your mask.

Rinse thoroughly and do not leave it on too long as this will lead to over-moisturized hair.

How to style low-porosity hair

4. Start with soaking wet hair. Applying products to wet hair can increase absorption for low-porosity hair. You may even want to style over your tub or in your shower.

I usually style more on the damp side because if I use too much water, my low-density hair gets weighed down. Have a spray bottle on hand and apply more water as needed.

7. Brush style if desired to further define your curls and increase longevity.

8. Scrunch with a hair towel to soak up excess water. This is key to speed up your dry time!

9. Diffuse to set your curl shape, cast, and increase longevity. If your hair falls throughout the day, avoid air drying and diffuse instead. It is not advised to air dry for hours and hours as it can weaken your hair.

10. Scrunch out the cast once dried if you prefer a softer look.

Final Results

My hair is more high porosity, and this line still worked pretty well for me. I think it’s because I also have coarse areas that behave similarly to low-porosity hair, needing a lot of moisture and conditioning. My hair felt very soft, not brittle, and I had a lot of curl clumping.

I did have a slight gel cast, but I would consider it more of a medium hold since it softens quite a bit after scrunching it out. I appreciate the amount of polymers in the gel, which really help prevent frizz in humidity. However, I did experience some frizz after being outside in very humid conditions, likely due to my high-porosity hair. If your hair is low porosity, you’re probably not going to get as much frizz as I did in humidity.

If you have fine-textured hair that tends to get overly soft or silky, or becomes over-conditioned, I would suggest starting with just a couple of products from this line and incorporating some texturizing products as well.

If you have brittle, coarse hair, these products are definitely going to be great for you.

What do you think of my results? Comment below or reply!