Woman with curly natural hair with highlights

How Can You Tell If You Have Medium Porosity Hair?

A hair care science lesson on how to have beautiful hair.

These days we’re really into hair porosity, and when you have someone like Unilever’s Senior Hair Manager, Leon Van-Gorkom, giving you the truth behind what goes on the hair shaft, you grow curiouser and curiouser by the day! For this article, he was lucky to clue us into how to figure out whether we had low, high or medium porosity hair, so we could correctly curate a hair care regimen based on our hair type.

And for you, dear readers, this is where we step in! Read on to learn how you can test your hair porosity at home. And if you passed the medium porosity test (lucky you!), we’re also providing tips on how to maintain your porosity, how to keep your hair healthy and what products to include in your at-home haircare regimen.

Medium Porosity Hair, Explained

1. The Medium Porosity Hair Test

Remember those cool hands-on science projects we all loved back in High School? Well, get ready because we have a little project for you. It’s fun, promise!

To find out your hair’s porosity, fill a spray bottle up with water, and spray it onto your hair, “if it beads up, you have low-porosity hair” explains van-Gorkom. If it soaks in, you have high porosity hair. Does neither? You know what that means—medium porosity. That means you have healthy hair.

2. Best Products for Medium Porosity Hair Types

“For “mediuml porosity” hair, you want to look for systems designed for healthy to dry hair, as you don’t need a lot of conditioning.  You might try Dove Oxygen Moisture. As always, it is important to get the right product for your hair type. The right products make it easy to have healthy hair. Fine hair does not need heavy conditioning, while coarse, curly hair does,” van-Gorkom explains.

young model with natural hair teeny weeny afro normal porosity and beautiful hair
No matter your hair’s porosity, keep frizz at bay with serums and styling oils. Photo credit: indigitalimages.com

3. What Do the Seasons Have to Do With It?

Good news: “Different seasons do not directly affect hair’s porosity,” says Van-Gorkom. But not so fast: “the different seasons will have a different impact, depending on your hair’s porosity.” According to Leon, if you have damaged hair with low porosity, it may frizz much more quickly than medium porosity hair types.

However, don’t think you’re exempt from a frizzy situation: medium porosity hair types should still utilize styling products like serums or hair oils to tame or prevent frizz. Now the seasons can’t stop you from having beautiful hair 24-7. Editors’ pick: Suave Professionals Moroccan Infusion Styling Oil.

4. How Does One Maintain a Medium Porosity?

Short answer: Whatever you’ve been doing, keep doing it. Long answer: “Limit damage to your hair: Try to use protective products before heat styling or combing/brushing to reduce the amount of damage,” Van-Gorkom advises. Be good to your healthy hair and it will always be beautiful hair. We love using Dove Style+Care Smooth and Shine Heat Protection Spray before heat-styling for an extra dose of protection.

 

 

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