Low Porosity Support Thread

[divachyk]

faithVA -- feels good thus far. Last night I spritz ng only with avj and o/n baggy. Ng felt moisturized this morning. I spritzed ng again before leaving for work just to see if the baggy made the difference in the moisturizing benefits of avj. Will report back later if ng is dry or remained moisturized.

 

[Evolving78]

i need to get back on the ball of washing my hair twice a week.

 

[candy626]

I can't believe I thought I was high porosity all this time. It makes so much sense now why my hair loves regular shampooing/Clarifying. Years ago I did a strict cowashing regimen and my hair was weak and brittle from all the build up. Now I know why

 

[divachyk]

I check my porosity periodically and I find that my porosity varies. Sometimes I'm high, sometimes low. I'm unsure why it varies. My ng - length ranges from low, normal to high and my ends are low. I'll keep monitoring but I will still claim low porosity for now.

ETA: @faithVA, mid-day check indicates hair is moisturized. It's not as silky feeling as it was this a.m. but it's not crispy dry either. Will see what the rest of the day brings. Report back later.

 

[divachyk]

faithVA, my hair felt decent this evening. I was bold and spritzed both the ng and length. I will report back how my hair feels sometime tomorrow.

 

[Evolving78]

I can't believe I thought I was high porosity all this time. It makes so much sense now why my hair loves regular shampooing/Clarifying. Years ago I did a strict cowashing regimen and my hair was weak and brittle from all the build up. Now I know why

i figured that out too. when i started doing all of that cowashing, that was too much going on for me and i had to leave the heavy creams and oils alone. my hair couldn't take all of that. now i shampoo twice a week. i use a moisturizing sulfate shampoo first, and shampoo a second lather with a non sulfate. the sulfate acts as a mini clarifier for me to remove buildup, since i do use cones.

 

[Kindheart]

I finally have done this test and my hair is floating apart from a strand at the bottom of the bowl,i take i have low/medium porosity then?

I can't believe I thought I was high porosity all this time. It makes so much sense now why my hair loves regular shampooing/Clarifying. Years ago I did a strict cowashing regimen and my hair was weak and brittle from all the build up. Now I know why

My hair sheds with cowashing and leaves my hair dry most of the time ,it does however occasionally work for me ,but i couldn't go more than a week without shampooing and DC my hair would be dry and limp.

faithVA does glyerin not work on low porosity hair ? My hair hates it in leave in products especially when there aren't oils to counteract the effects of it eg Oyin j&b

 

[nlamr2013]

I'm getting ready to try and read this whole thread. I've had it up to here with my dryness, knots, and tangles.

 

[nlamr2013]

To answer thread questions

--Share your hair background

-Relaxed for 12-13 years
-Decide on last relaxer before my freshmen year of college
-Last relaxer july 31 2009

--What symptoms is your hair exhibiting?

-Scalp always seemed flaky even right after wash with hair still wet professionally and diy
-Hair always seemed fairly dry but was kept pretty much under control until last summer something happened and now I have so many ssk's, and length retention is almost non existent
-2011 is the year when I first professionally straightened hair, dyed a piece of hair in the front, and wore wash and gos
-I stopped straightening so much (so far in 2012 I've straightened maybe 4 times 2/17, 3/6, 6/24, and maybe once more)
-When hair is wet or moist it feels great, but once its dry it is dry feeling unless i heat style( roller set, blow-dry)

--What have you tried that worked?

--What have you tried that did not work?

--What questions do you have?

 

[faithVA]

To answer thread questions

--Share your hair background

-Relaxed for 12-13 years
-Decide on last relaxer before my freshmen year of college
-Last relaxer july 31 2009

--What symptoms is your hair exhibiting?

-Scalp always seemed flaky even right after wash with hair still wet professionally and diy
-Hair always seemed fairly dry but was kept pretty much under control until last summer something happened and now I have so many ssk's, and length retention is almost non existent
-2011 is the year when I first professionally straightened hair, dyed a piece of hair in the front, and wore wash and gos
-I stopped straightening so much (so far in 2012 I've straightened maybe 4 times 2/17, 3/6, 6/24, and maybe once more)
-When hair is wet or moist it feels great, but once its dry it is dry feeling unless i heat style( roller set, blow-dry)

--What have you tried that worked?

--What have you tried that did not work?

--What questions do you have?

Please share your wash day regimen (techniques and products).
And what are you using midweek as well?

What symptoms of low porosity are you showing? You may want to reread the first few posts to see what the symptoms are. You may not be low porosity even though you have dryness issues. There are a lot of things that can cause that.

 

[nlamr2013]

Please share your wash day regimen (techniques and products).
And what are you using midweek as well?

What symptoms of low porosity are you showing? You may want to reread the first few posts to see what the symptoms are. You may not be low porosity even though you have dryness issues. There are a lot of things that can cause that.

I wash in 2 sections
Last wash day products in red:
Shampoo with moisturizing dandruff conditioner(Jason tea tree treatment shampoo)
follow up with moisturizing shampoobeautiful curls shea butter curl nourishing shampoo
overnight Dc with moisturizing conditioner+EVCO or EVOObanana+honey+Castor oil+vo5+avocado+shea mix
leave in beautiful curls shea butter leave in
seal with oilcastor oil
styletwist out

recently after a few hours hair seems pretty dry and I can hear myself touching hair. spray with water and apply leave in and oil

symptoms
dry
water test hair floated
hard hair
brittle but not necessarily breaking
product has to be squeezed into hair

 

[lamaria211]

I put my hair in some water yesterday and its still floating but I don't suffer from any of these problems

 

[faithVA]

I put my hair in some water yesterday and its still floating but I don't suffer from any of these problems

You have normal porosity hair. I know that just by what you use out of your stash

The hair float test is nice but its not accurate the way it has been described to me. It may only be accurate if the hair floats and you have additional symptoms. But alone it's not a clear indicator of porosity. Perhaps we are missing details on how to properly do the test.

 

[faithVA]

I wash in 2 sections
Last wash day products in red:
Shampoo with moisturizing dandruff conditioner(Jason tea tree treatment shampoo)
follow up with moisturizing shampoobeautiful curls shea butter curl nourishing shampoo
overnight Dc with moisturizing conditioner+EVCO or EVOObanana+honey+Castor oil+vo5+avocado+shea mix
leave in beautiful curls shea butter leave in
seal with oilcastor oil
styletwist out

recently after a few hours hair seems pretty dry and I can hear myself touching hair. spray with water and apply leave in and oil

symptoms
dry
water test hair floated
hard hair
brittle but not necessarily breaking
product has to be squeezed into hair

It is possible that the products you are using are too heavy for your hair. You are using a lot of heavy products with shea butter and castor oil. Heavy products can give you the illusion of moisture but they just coat the hair. If you have a lighter leave-in try that.

I don't think you have a porosity issue yet. I think it could just be the wrong products for your hair. So you are getting a coating but not the moisture you are seeking.

 

[divachyk]

I put my hair in some water yesterday and its still floating but I don't suffer from any of these problems

Was this clean hair or hair with product? It makes a difference.
lamaria211

 

[nlamr2013]

It is possible that the products you are using are too heavy for your hair. You are using a lot of heavy products with shea butter and castor oil. Heavy products can give you the illusion of moisture but they just coat the hair. If you have a lighter leave-in try that.

I don't think you have a porosity issue yet. I think it could just be the wrong products for your hair. So you are getting a coating but not the moisture you are seeking.

Ooh ok thank you. by light you mean like watery? Kinky curly knot today usually works well but I left it in Atlanta.
And I thought heavy products would seal in my moisture

 

[faithVA]

Ooh ok thank you. by light you mean like watery? Kinky curly knot today usually works well but I left it in Atlanta.
And I thought heavy products would seal in my moisture

Yes like Knot Today. Some hair can deal with just sealing with an oil and/or butter. Some hair needs a lighter product. It can be helpful to layer with a lighter product than a heavier one.

If you have something heavier see if you can dilute it with some water or with aloe vera juice or gel.

There is watery, lotion and then cream/butter. I think you need more of the watery or lotion consistency first.

 

[nlamr2013]

Do you guys know any YouTube people with low porosity hair? Thank you

 

[divachyk]

Do you guys know any YouTube people with low porosity hair? Thank you

No but I think I recall CurlyNikki mentioning she's low porosity. nadaa16

 

[nlamr2013]

No but I think I recall CurlyNikki mentioning she's low porosity. nadaa16

Thank you so much!

 

[faithVA]

Do you guys know any YouTube people with low porosity hair? Thank you

denimpixie says shes low porosity.

 

[faithVA]

Ive been rinsing with cool water which in one way I like. It leaves my hair smooth and less frizzy. But I used Giovanni Direct on my hair and the next day my hair was dull looking because it say on my strands. So next wash I rinsed with warm, applied the leave in then used my heat cap for a few minutes. It definitely made a difference.

Going to try applying the leavein, using the heatcap and then applying a heavier leaveinr moisturizer. I think this worked before.

 

[mg1979]

Do you guys know any YouTube people with low porosity hair? Thank you

Denimpixie was the only one I knew of...I've asked a few in a comment, but no one has ever responded. Maybe the more people realize how much porosity matters, they'll start saying what they are on YouTube.

Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

 

[chantille]

It's been a while since I ventured to this side of the board, but I've been lurking in here for a minute, and thought I'd share my experiences. Hope it isn't too late to chime in...

--Share your hair background

Relaxed, 4-something (never paid attention to the degree), hovering around APL. I kept my hair in braids throughout most of high school and undergrad for ease and simply being ignorant of not knowing how to best take care of my hair, but my hair looked fine between braids. The last time I took out my braids 4 years ago, I tried to transition, but my hair DID NOT agree. My main problem was dryness. I tried every moisturizer under the sun and nothing took. I didn't start experiencing what I now know are low porosity symptoms until after I relaxed my hair after close to 2 years of going natural. Did the strand test, and it floated for a week.

--What symptoms is your hair exhibiting?

Dry, dry, dry! Takes forever to feel wet when washing my hair, feels amazing when it finally is drenched, air dries in what seems like minutes and feels crispy and hard afterwards. Relaxers do not take as well since my first relaxer after the 2 year hiatus. Tangles like crazy the minute shampoo hits it and takes forever for me to comb out. Ridiculous shedding.

--What have you tried that worked?

Baking soda! My goodness, what a miracle worker. I always ignored those threads, but when I hit my limit with regular shampoo, I finally tried the BS rinse and became a convert. I followed the rinse with Aphogee 2 minute, DC, and my hair felt better than it had in years, as if it actually absorbed the products.

Adding olive oil to my DC and using heat.

Blow drying mostly air dried hair. My daily moisturizer takes better on straight hair.

--What have you tried that did not work?

Traditional shampoo. Doesn't matter what type; I've tried natural poos, sulfates, sulfate-free, etc, etc. I dreaded wash days because I knew I would have to spend several frustrating hours detangling the mess poos would create, even after prepooing overnight. It was difficult for me to accept that my hair just does not like shampoo, since it's so deeply ingrained in us from such a young age. But I tried the BS, as mentioned above, and have never looked back.

Roux PC. After reading a thread years ago about how it helps porous hair, I thought this was going to be my miracle product, but it didn't make my hair feel as great as others were reporting. I later realized that I either misread the info or read misinformation because LP hair is already shut tight and Roux was only sealing it even tighter. I believe it worked better after a BS rinse, but still not as great as I thought it would be. Might try an ACV rinse next time to close the cuticles.

Letting my hair air dry curly. It simply won't stay moisturized from day to day. I've done simple experiments: doing my normal moisturizing routine on air dried curly hair one week (even upping the frequency), and the same thing on 50/50 air dried/blow dried straight hair another week. Straight hair felt better day to day hands down. Enough evidence for me.

Shea butter and coconut oil for DC, sealing, daily moisturizing, etc. Shea butter just sits there. Coconut oil dries it out

--What questions do you have?

I know some women with LP hair are wary of opening their cuticles with BS. Are there specific reasons?

I thought I read that LP hair likes more water based moisturizers for daily use, but I've found the opposite for me. Anyone else?


Truly appreciate the support and advice here Has made me feel less of a prisoner to my hair.

 

[faithVA]

It's been a while since I ventured to this side of the board, but I've been lurking in here for a minute, and thought I'd share my experiences. Hope it isn't too late to chime in...

--Share your hair background

Relaxed, 4-something (never paid attention to the degree), hovering around APL. I kept my hair in braids throughout most of high school and undergrad for ease and simply being ignorant of not knowing how to best take care of my hair, but my hair looked fine between braids. The last time I took out my braids 4 years ago, I tried to transition, but my hair DID NOT agree. My main problem was dryness. I tried every moisturizer under the sun and nothing took. I didn't start experiencing what I now know are low porosity symptoms until after I relaxed my hair after close to 2 years of going natural. Did the strand test, and it floated for a week.

--What symptoms is your hair exhibiting?

Dry, dry, dry! Takes forever to feel wet when washing my hair, feels amazing when it finally is drenched, air dries in what seems like minutes and feels crispy and hard afterwards. Relaxers do not take as well since my first relaxer after the 2 year hiatus. Tangles like crazy the minute shampoo hits it and takes forever for me to comb out. Ridiculous shedding.

--What have you tried that worked?

Baking soda! My goodness, what a miracle worker. I always ignored those threads, but when I hit my limit with regular shampoo, I finally tried the BS rinse and became a convert. I followed the rinse with Aphogee 2 minute, DC, and my hair felt better than it had in years, as if it actually absorbed the products.

Adding olive oil to my DC and using heat.

Blow drying mostly air dried hair. My daily moisturizer takes better on straight hair.

--What have you tried that did not work?

Traditional shampoo. Doesn't matter what type; I've tried natural poos, sulfates, sulfate-free, etc, etc. I dreaded wash days because I knew I would have to spend several frustrating hours detangling the mess poos would create, even after prepooing overnight. It was difficult for me to accept that my hair just does not like shampoo, since it's so deeply ingrained in us from such a young age. But I tried the BS, as mentioned above, and have never looked back.

Roux PC. After reading a thread years ago about how it helps porous hair, I thought this was going to be my miracle product, but it didn't make my hair feel as great as others were reporting. I later realized that I either misread the info or read misinformation because LP hair is already shut tight and Roux was only sealing it even tighter. I believe it worked better after a BS rinse, but still not as great as I thought it would be. Might try an ACV rinse next time to close the cuticles.

Letting my hair air dry curly. It simply won't stay moisturized from day to day. I've done simple experiments: doing my normal moisturizing routine on air dried curly hair one week (even upping the frequency), and the same thing on 50/50 air dried/blow dried straight hair another week. Straight hair felt better day to day hands down. Enough evidence for me.

Shea butter and coconut oil for DC, sealing, daily moisturizing, etc. Shea butter just sits there. Coconut oil dries it out

--What questions do you have?

I know some women with LP hair are wary of opening their cuticles with BS. Are there specific reasons?

I thought I read that LP hair likes more water based moisturizers for daily use, but I've found the opposite for me. Anyone else?


Truly appreciate the support and advice here Has made me feel less of a prisoner to my hair.

Welcome chantille, Glad you decided to venture over to this side. Your post was very informative. Your symptoms sound exactly like mine or mine sound exactly like yours.

I agree about the shampoo. I try not to use anything that causes my hair to draw up. It is my sign that its sucking the moisture out of my hair. I use either the mudwash or I cowash. But if something does draw it up, I have found conditioners that reverse it, so I don't go into a panic.

I had the same results with Roux Porosity. I am thinking you don't even need to do an ACV. Your cuticles start shutting down as soon as you remove your head from the warm water. At least that is what mine does. But if you try it let us know. I am going to try doing an AVG/AVJ rinse. Um, cuz... no special reason. Will let everyone know how that goes.

Instead of closing my cuticle afterwards, what I try to do is apply my leave-in and then apply more heat to it absorbs. I haven't tried blowing it straight. It is something to consider.

As far as BP, I haven't tried it just because I was sort of scared. You know how our hair is, so I can get sort of panicky sometimes. But I definitely plan on giving it a try before the end of the month. Too many women in this thread have suggested it.

And I don't know about the moisturizers. I'm still trying to find a leave-in I like. I can't say my hair doesn't like water based, but I think it requires a medium consistency between the watery/lotions and the really thick creams/butters.

 

[faithVA]

With this short cut I can experiment a bit more because its easy to wash my hair and start all over.

First, I think I need to leave the Deva Curl No Poo alone and just cowash with the Deva Curl One conditioner to see how my hair likes that.

Second I think I should skip the leave-in after rinsing and just apply a light oil like sunflower or grapeseed oil.

Third I will let my hair dry, then mist it with water and apply my leave-in.

I am going to try the baking soda sometime this month. And I'm going to try an AVJ rinse sometime this month.

Will be doing a lot of experiments using conditioners and leave-ins to see how they work on my hair. Will leave the gels and creams alone for a bit so I can truly see.

 

[chantille]

I had an impromptu wash day yesterday. I am visiting home on summer vacation, so I used my mother's products

-Baking soda rinse. Massaged it through, let it sit for 3 minutes, and then rinsed out. Poured a second BS rinse through my hair and promptly rinsed it out.
-Applied Aphogee 2 minute and combed through. Let sit for 5 minutes then rinsed out. (I am being a little heavy handed with the protein since I plan on relaxing next weekend, my first time self-relaxing)
-Applied DC. When I DC'ed 1.5 weeks ago, I used only Mizani Moisturefuse with a tbsp of olive oil. Didn't love this results, so I added a couple of tbsp of Elasta QP DPR 11 DC. Sat under hair dryer for an hour and left it on another 30 minutes without heat. Definitely liked the results better.
-Decided to use an ACV rinse. Felt the difference as soon as it hit my hair--hair became silky with tons of slip. I loved it.
-Wrapped hair in t-shirt and let dry for 45 minutes.
-Used Giovanni Direct. Still on the fence about this one. Only my second time using it and I didn't feel like it did much.
-Sprayed Silk Elements Olive Oil heat protectant (love this stuff) and blow dried on medium heat in sections.
-Applied NTM Silk Touch. Length of hair loves it but it does nothing for my new growth. Sealed with a drop of some Dr. Miracle oil and pinned into a bun.

Results: Easier detangling throughout the entire process, thanks to the BS. My comb slipped through easily as I applied each product. Loved this DC mix much better. ACV rinse felt wonderful. My blow dry comb never caught once, but there was a little more shedding than I would have liked. Had a lot of swing and immediate high sheen after blowdrying, which I usually don't have, so must have been ACV rinse. After a few hours, my edges feel a little stiff, but everything else feels great. Just still looking for something for my NG. I ordered some Hairveda Whipped Creme, which should be at my apt by the time I return to school next weekend, so we'll see how that does. Until then, I have to play around with what she has.

I don't have a set regimen at school-home, since I was trying something new everyday to counteract the mess that shampoo left my hair in. Now that I have achieved results with BS, I plan to pour out all shampoo and fill with BS rinse. I need to keep my regimen very simple because I simply will not have the time for complicated routines when school and clinicals start. Two things I know my hair did like was cowashing with WEN, which I did twice a week after a couple of days of gym buildup, and Aphogee keratin spritzes a few times a weeks between Aphogee 2 minute treatments every other wash day. I think I will add some BS to my WEN cowashes now. I just need a more reliable DC and daily moisturizer.

Does anyone do tea rinses for shedding? This is the next thing I want to try.

 

[suns4i6e]

I'm so pleased some of you are finding success incorporating BS into your processes. As I said up-thread, I have been using BS in deep cond mixtures for years and always will.

 

[ScorpioBeauty09]

--What have you tried that worked?

Baking soda! My goodness, what a miracle worker. I always ignored those threads, but when I hit my limit with regular shampoo, I finally tried the BS rinse and became a convert. I followed the rinse with Aphogee 2 minute, DC, and my hair felt better than it had in years, as if it actually absorbed the products.

Amen to this! I started using BS as a pre-poo last month and my hair loves it!! I went off it a couple weeks ago to see what would happen and it was back to usual. My hair felt hard instead of silky smooth, it was too hard to detangle, had increased shedding and did not take well to heat. I went back to BS when I washed my hair last night and what a difference!

Welcome, by the way! Weird, I read your entire post and your hair sounds a lot like mine even though you're relaxed and I'm natural.erplexed Happy posting!

 

[MaraWithLove]

Hi ladies, just popping in briefly to say that my hair has been feeling great since I used a dc of hibiscus + bhringraj powders. I've not really been "properly" DCing my hair since I ran out and have been putting my money into readying for school. Weird, though, that my hair has been feeling really good lately, using minimal products. All I've been doing is applying hair trigger to my scalp about 2x a week and using my curls conditioner a few times a week. Most recently I've also been keeping my hair stretched. So I'm not sure what's put my hair in a good mood. Ah, one more thing is that I've been shampooing here and there, rather than just strictly co-washing. I've been using Kiss My Face mistreated shampoo, my scalp seems to love it.

My hair is very coarse, but it's been feeling silkier lately, if that makes sense... Anyhow, I'm now on the quest to buy a DC or restock my ayurvedic powders and I also need to buy some new ROs.