Styling Multiple Curl Types, Textures & Porosities

If you’ve ever wondered why your curls don’t look uniform—or why certain sections behave completely differently—you’re not alone! The truth is, most of us have multiple curl patterns, textures, and even porosities on one head of hair. And that’s normal! Curly hair is never meant to be ‘perfect’ or identical from root to tip.

You don’t have to fight these natural variations! In today’s video, I styled my own hair while walking through tweaks for different combinations of hair types.

Step 1: Understand Your Hair’s Unique Needs

Most people don’t have just one curl type or porosity. You probably have a mix of curly and wavy sections, different strand widths, and variations in how your hair absorbs moisture. Most of these characteristics are determined by our genetics, while others can be from the damage done to our hair.

Curl Patterns: Impact styling techniques. Some areas may be wavier, while others are curlier.

Curl Families: Impact the size of our clumps or stringiness.

Textures: You might have a mix of fine, medium, and coarse strands, which impacts how much moisture and product weight your hair can handle.

Porosity: Most people have lower porosity near the roots and higher porosity at the ends due to wear and tear. This impacts the amount of protein in your routine and if you need “sealing” products.

Density: While you only have one density, it can change over time with age, hormones, health changes, etc. It impacts the amount of product you use and the styling techniques.

⚠️ The goal is not to make your hair look perfect and uniform! The goal of this post is to help you address the specific needs of your hair if the variances are causing you problems.

Not sure what your exact hair type, texture, or porosity is? Take my free Hair Type Quiz to get a customized breakdown of your curl pattern, texture, porosity, and the best products for your hair.

Step 2: Wash, Condition, & Treat Based on Porosity

• Higher porosity ends need extra protection. Applying a lightweight oil before washing can help seal in moisture and prevent frizz.
• Low-porosity roots tend to get buildup easily, so use a strong but non-stripping shampoo and clarify to remove buildup when needed.
• Avoid applying heavy moisturizing products near the scalp. Always rinse thoroughly.
• If you have high-porosity (damaged) hair, then use a deep conditioner with protein or a bond-building mask. Focus your application on the ends or on damaged areas.
  • Amino acids may be a better option for those who have a lot of low-porosity hair or coarse-textured hair.

Step 3: Select Products Based on Texture

Focus your product selection on your most problematic hair type or on the majority of your hair. Don’t overthink it!

• Texture comes into play the most here. Fine hair needs more lightweight products, while coarse hair may need more moisture.
  • Go for lightweight products with strong hold since this works well across different textures.
• If you have coarser strands, you may need more moisture—layering a leave-in or curl cream under gel can help.
• If you have fine hair but a lot of it (high density), use lightweight products but apply more in sections for even distribution.
• If you have low-density hair (like I do), avoid using too much product, which can weigh hair down.

Step 4: Style Based on Curl Pattern & Desired Look

• Sectioning is key—this ensures each area gets the right amount of product and attention.
• Curl manipulation allows you to either loosen or tighten your curl or wave pattern and clump or de-clump your hair. The amount of manipulation varies depending on the styling techniques.
  • Brush styling and finger coiling are high manipulation techniques that can enhance patterns that have coils or spirals to them.
  • Simple scrunching or praying hands are lower-manipulation techniques that can work for wavy through coily hair patterns.
  • Raking or stretching techniques can create elongation.
• Clump size can also vary depending on your natural curl families. This will impact your volume and fullness.
  • Larger clumps may reduce volume.
  • Thinner clumps will create more fullness and volume.
  • High porosity and/or fine areas may be prone to looking “stringy” or resist clumping.
• Microplopping can reduce dry time in low and medium porosity hair types.
• An extra layer of gel can tame stubborn frizz and add extra hold, especially on high-porosity ends.

Step 5: Dry Based on Desired Result

• Desired curl shape and volume are going to be the biggest factors when choosing your drying technique.
  • Air drying results in more elongation, sometimes more frizz, and flatter roots
  • Diffusing gives the maximum amount of “control” over your results. It allows you to manipulate your shape depending on the technique, lock in your hold, and dry your hair faster
    • Start with problem areas first
• Scrunch or pixie diffusing will tighten your curls
• Stretch diffusing will elongate the curls
• Hover diffusing dries your hair in its current state

Step 6: Finish Based on Texture

• Wavy hair, overly soft hair, or very frizzy hair may want to leave the cast in so it lasts longer.
  • I like to leave the cast in my front pieces because they frizz the most.
• For high-porosity hair or coarse-textured hair, you may want to lock in moisture with an oil.
  • A silicone-based serum can protect fragile, damaged ends.
• For those with overly soft hair or those who struggle with hold, add a hairspray to add grit and enhance hold

Final Results

This was my first time pairing the Bouclème Heat Protectant with the Ouidad gel, and I noticed it gave my hair a slightly texturizing, almost drying effect—but in a good way. It didn’t dry out my curls, but actually helped enhance volume. By Day 2, my hair looked even better—the cast had softened, the finish looked less “wet,” and the shape held nicely.

Because I tailored my routine to the unique needs of my hair—like the higher porosity ends and tighter curls in the front—I had much less frizz and didn’t need to refresh on Day 2. When I skip this step and don’t adjust for those variances, my ends get frizzy fast, and my results don’t last nearly as long.

Don’t know which hair type you have?

If you need help choosing the right products for you, my free Hair Type Quiz asks you a series of questions to determine your hair’s texture, porosity, water type, and more. After, you’ll receive a personalized report sent to your email with links to the shop page on my website. There you’ll find filters applied based on your hair’s needs.

To learn more about assessing your hair type, check out this video on 5 Curly Hair Myths.