Growing high porosity hair requires a combination of proper hair care practices, consistent maintenance, and a healthy lifestyle. High porosity hair has gaps and holes in the hair cuticle that allow moisture to enter easily but also makes it prone to losing moisture quickly. Here are some tips to help you grow and maintain healthy high porosity hair:
Gentle Cleansing:
Use a sulfate-free and pH-balanced shampoo to prevent stripping your hair of natural oils. Shampoo less frequently to avoid over-drying.
Deep Conditioning:
Regular deep conditioning treatments are essential for high porosity hair. Use a rich, moisturizing conditioner and consider incorporating protein treatments to strengthen the hair shaft.
Leave-In Conditioner:
Apply a leave-in conditioner to your hair after washing to help seal in moisture and provide an additional layer of protection.
Sealing Technique:
After applying your leave-in conditioner, seal the moisture into your hair by using a natural oil or butter, such as our Pretty Rooted Hair Nectar.
Avoid Heat Damage:
Never heat style without a heat protectant. If it's too hot to touch it with your hands, don't let it touch your hair unless you've applied a heat protectant. Otherwise, risk your hair melting off mid strand.
Minimize the use of heat styling tools like flat irons and blow dryers, as excessive heat can further damage high porosity hair. If you need to use heat, always apply a heat protectant first.
Our Pretty Rooted Bonding Oil was formulated for this specific reason.
Cold Water Rinse:
Finish your hair washing routine with a cold water rinse. Cold water helps to seal the hair cuticle and lock in moisture.
Protective Styling:
Opt for protective hairstyles that reduce manipulation and friction, such as braids, twists, buns, or updos. This helps prevent damage and minimizes moisture loss.
Trim Regularly:
Trim your hair regularly to remove split ends and prevent further damage from traveling up the hair shaft.
Balanced Diet:
A well-balanced diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and protein supports overall hair health. Include foods like lean meats, fish, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables.
Hydration:
Drink plenty of water to maintain hydration from within, which can reflect positively on your hair's health.
Silk or Satin Pillowcases:
Sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase reduces friction and helps prevent moisture loss while you sleep.
Low Manipulation:
Minimize excessive combing, brushing, and touching of your hair to reduce breakage and damage.
Use Water-Based Products:
Choose hair products that are water-based to ensure proper hydration and moisture retention.
Avoid Harsh Chemicals:
Limit or avoid harsh chemicals like relaxers, perms, and excessive dyeing, as they can further weaken the hair structure.
Patience and Consistency:
Growing healthy hair takes time and consistent care. Be patient and gentle with your hair to achieve the best results.
Remember that everyone's hair is unique, so it's important to pay attention to how your hair responds to different products and practices. Adjust your routine as needed to find what works best for your high porosity hair. If you're unsure about specific products or treatments, consider consulting a professional hairstylist or trichologist for personalized advice.
High porosity hair has lots of itty bitty holes in its armor, leaving it susceptible to breakage. And let's be real -- it doesn't matter how quickly your hair grows out of your scalp if way more of it is being prematurely snapped off. Fortunately, some ingredients, such as keratin, can provide a temporary band-aid on these little holes, protecting you from further breakage.
Chill out on the styling
High porosity hair doesn't like heat, water, combs, or brushes. If possible, limit styling to the absolute minimum. And yes, this even includes protective styles -- the less you mess with your hair, the less breakage you'll experience.
Opt for low-tension hairstyles
Tight braids are a no-no if growth is your goal. If doing your hair brings tears to your eyes, you'll want to switch to a more gentle method of styling. High porosity hair is extra-prone to snapping, so you'll want to reduce high-tension styling as much as possible.
Detangle with extra care
As tempting as brute force detangling might sound (so time efficient!) high porosity hair requires some serious TLC. Aggressively detangling runs the risk of yanking strands out en masse and setting you way back in your growth journey. Either trade in your comb entirely and switch to finger detangling or use a combination of gentle combing and finger detangling. The more finger detangling and the less combing, the better.
Detangle regularly
If you don't comb or brush your hair at least semi-regularly, you run the risk of your hair becoming matted. Matted hair is the unwanted upgrade to tangled hair. It's tangles on top of tangles on top of tangles, and is super hard to fix. Even worse - high porosity hair is more likely to become matted, since the hair cuticle is damaged. Normally, the hair cuticle allows for strands of hair to easily glide past one another. When the hair cuticle is damaged, hair cuticles are more likely to stick to one another, somewhat like velcro. If you try to brush out matted, high porosity hair, you're likely to break off a wad of matted hair. Preventing your hair from becoming matted by finger detangling or combing with a wide tooth comb at least once a day will go a long way in preventing breakage.
Wash a little less often
Even if you use the gentlest shampoo on the market, there's always a bit of damage that occurs when you expose your hair to the combination of water and scrubbing that washing entails. Consider waiting just one extra day before washing your hair -- you might find that it makes a big difference in the amount of breakage you experience.
Be careful when washing
You don't want to lose any more strands than necessary in the shower. High porosity hair is extra fragile when wet, since liquid seeps in and stretches the strand.
First lather up shampoo in your hands with a little extra water. Avoid scrubbing back and forth -- instead, wash in a single direction. Go towards your ends, not towards your roots. Going in the same direction as your cuticle minimizes the amount of mechanical stress that your tresses endure.
Don't skimp on the conditioner
High porosity hair is notoriously dry. Dry hair is fragile. If you want your hair to keep increasing in length, you'll want to avoid the snappage by regularly applying conditioner.