Low Porosity Hair Care: Best Products & Pro Tips

By: Cameron Ziglar

Low porosity hair may sound bad when you first hear it, but don’t be alarmed, it’s not bad! In fact, if you take the right precautions to protect and moisturize your low porosity hair, you can have very healthy and lengthy curls. Why do some people have low porosity hair? It can come from genetics (your mom has low porosity hair, you have low porosity hair…) or it can be the result of how you care for your hair. This includes the amount of heat and chemicals you apply to your hair as well as how hydrated and moisturized it is. These can all affect which side of the spectrum your hair falls under. Here, we break down everything you need to know about low porosity hair.

What is Low Porosity Hair?

Well, first let’s address the elephant in the room. What is hair porosity? And more importantly, what is low hair porosity? Hair porosity is simply how your hair retains moisture. So, ideally, if your hair doesn’t absorb moisture very well, your hair would be considered low porosity hair, and if your hair does absorb moisture well, your hair would be considered high porosity hair. However, there is a bit more to it than that. To learn more about hair porosity, check out our article: What do I really need to know about my hair’s porosity?

Now, back to low porosity hair. As we mentioned, low porosity hair can be described as hair that does not absorb moisture very well. Wondering if this applies to you? Let’s think about it a bit more. When wetting your hair, does your hair absorb the water easily, or does it sit on top of your hair and take a bit more teasing? Still not sure? No problem. You can do a simple float test with a strand of hair to find out your hair’s porosity.

Here’s the thing: While low porosity hair usually takes a while to absorb moisture, once it does, it can retain it well. If any of this sounds like your hair, then you probably have low porosity hair.

Best Products for Low Porosity Hair

So, now that we’ve discovered you have low porosity hair, you need to focus on using products that help your hair achieve the best results. Here are some products that work well with low porosity hair that can keep your hair healthy and moisturized.

1. Lightweight Oils

For low porosity hair, lightweight oils are the best for penetration and absorption. Heavier oils like coconut oil, castor oil, or olive oil are heavier and don’t benefit low porosity hair because of weight. With heavier oils, it is harder to absorb and usually will result in the oil sitting on the hair instead of absorbing it. If you have oils sitting on top of your hair, this makes hydration harder as well because it simply cannot be absorbed which leaves our hair dry. Try to use oils liken argan oil, jojoba oil, grapeseed oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, baobab oil, etc.

Our top pick: Shea Moisture 100% Pure Argan Oil

Deep Conditioners

For low porosity hair, it is essential to practice deep conditioning on our hair biweekly. Deep conditioning gives our hair the moisture it’s not getting on a day-to-day basis. It is usually best to practice deep conditioning with heat, this could be with a heat cap or with a hairdryer. Adding heat to the process opens the pores and allows moisture in. However, be sure to use heat indirectly, the goal isn’t to use heat on your hair. You can do this with a cap over your hair while using heat.

Our top pick: Alikay Naturals Honey and Sage Deep Conditioner

Clarifying Shampoos

 For low porosity hair, it is best to wash our hair in clarifying shampoos. Clarifying shampoos are deep cleansers. They break down protein and build upon our hair which allows moisture to be absorbed.

Our top pick: Design Essentials Oat Protein and Henna

Low Porosity Hair Care Tips

Now that you have an idea about which products to use, it’s time to learn how to use those products on a day-to-day basis to care for your hair and keep it moisturized.

Tip #1:  Avoid Build-up

Low porosity hair has a tendency to have build-up from much heavy oil, moisturizers, or butter. Build-up prevents the absorption of moisture and hydration, which leads to dry and damaged hair. The best way to avoid build-up is to use clarifying shampoos and pre-poo. A pre-poo is a moisturizing treatment used before washing your hair to lock in moisture that can be washed out during the washing process.

Tip #2: Use the LCO Method

Usually the typical method for a wash and go is the LOC method. This stands for Liquid or Leave-in conditioner, Oil, and Cream. However, for low porosity hair, the method is altered for the best results. Instead of LOC, it is LCO keeping the liquid or leave in first, but making cream second, and leaving oil last for maximum moisturizing.

Tip #3: Handle with Care

As you know, all hair should be treated with care and love. When your hair has a hard time absorbing moisture you should care for it the best you can. Keeping moisture in your hair should be the top priority. Doing deep conditioning biweekly is important to maintain moisture and hydration. Also using heat with deep conditioning is key to maximum moisture.

Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *