honestly so grateful for this video. There is just so much misinformation in the natural hair community and it drives me nuts because influencers and the hair industry are just there to exploit these insecurities for profit. I just wish black hair education was the driving force instead of making money at our expense. It really frustrates me but seeing you do this is really encouraging. Thank you. xx
Honestly! There needs to be more emphasis on research in development in black haircare the same way other textures have! I’m glad it was helpful and thank you for this🤍🤍🤍
Yea that was what I was wondering I am ethiopian and we don’t actually have the same hair texture it’s kinda softer for eg mine than most African and I was confused to say high how about that
I’m slightly confused by this conclusion that’s been drawn. Maybe we should say that “low-porosity” looks different with different hair textures. Because my boyfriend most DEFINITELY does not have high-porosity hair. He’s prone to build-up, heavy oils, creams and butters make his hair dry, gunky and un-refine his curl pattern. These are all unquestionable hallmarks of low-porosity hair. His hair texture is coarse so it can handle some heavish products but it becomes build-up extremely easily. Coarse low-porosity 4b-c hair is different than say my 2c fine low porosity hair. But it doesn’t mean that his hair isn’t low-porosity. The actual texture of the hair strand matters just as much as porosity. Porosity looks different for different hair textures. If you need heat to get your hair to absorb product…it means it’s low-porosity. If your cuticles were open it wouldn’t require heat to lift the cuticles. It’s also a misconception that low-porosity hair isn’t dry. Low porosity hair can be just as dry as high-porosity hair. Low porosity hair holds onto water easier BUT it struggles to absorb water from the environment. High porosity hair loses water easier but it also absorbs water much easier. If you’re not properly moisturizing low-porosity hair with humectants it’ll feel dry very quickly. All hair requires moisture the same. High porosity hair can feel soft and moist. Low porosity hair can feel coarse and dry. It’s all about HOW you’re caring for it. And texture & porosity are the metrics you use to determine the best way to care for it
Yes! This makes way more sense then the video. She states some facts but contradicts herself sometime. It kinda makes me mad because she's trying to debunk low porosity hair when some people really have it and she can confuse people who do with misinformation.
yea, it doesn’t matter how clean my hair is. it takes forever to dry and it’s really good at holding moisture. when i overdo with products my hair is worse off vs when i treat like it’s low porosity
and kinda like you’re saying it’s not 1 size fits all. our porosity might not be as low but even on the black hair examples they don’t all look as raised as that last example on the far right
@@TreyBtwExactly. I'm confused why the conclusion is "black people can't have low porosity" vs "black people have more variety in porosity". Some of the pictures she shows are literally low porosity.
I can't lie the title of your video made me side eye and even after reading the comments agreeing I was still skeptical but I'm now half way through your video and the the penny has dropped haha this definitely makes a lot of sense! Why would low porosity hair need to be re-moisturised throughout the week if its key characteristic is locking-in moisture once it's added, so glad I watched this!!!
@@nethaniapierre8149 exactly. People of the diaspora have all different textures. I’m AA/Caribbean and my hair is definitely low porosity. I hardly ever moisturize my hair in between washes.
This confirmed a lot for me! I did the water test and based off the description I thought I was low porosity. I ended up coming across a video that’s said “you may not be low porosity, you may just have product buildup & need to clarify”. When I clarified I found that my hair acted very differently! Then I began thinking I may just have medium porosity, until just this past weekend when I let my hair air dry with no product & saw just how fast it dried. This video further confirmed my assumptions! Thank you!
OMG!!!! I'm in the same boat, I also did the water test years ago and it stayed at the top so I thought I was "low porosity" but recently my hair has been extremely dry throughout the years so I went back to the basics and started back researching low/high porosity hair and BAM!!!!! I saw a video and ALL the signs represented that I have high porosity hair.. 1) Soaks up water easily 2)Dries quickly (in air dry phase) 3) Dries quickly after moisturizering 4) Get a single strand of your hair,start from end to root rubbing your fingers in-between the strand and if you feel little bulbs on the strand that's another sign of high porosity hair.
@@sasquelle hmm 🤔 I recently did the water test again and my hair stayed at the top AGAIN lol It could be the water....I live in Phoenix and found out that the water here is extremely hard which is very bad on my high porosity hair but when I lived down south my hair would stay moisturized for days because the water is much softer😭 I hope that helps hon!
Keep people delusional, they'll get confused. Keep people informed, they'll think you're a hater. Let them learn their lesson, they'll learn from what you already said and genuinely claim they didn't learn from you.
Finally! Thank you, all the misinformation spreading via TH-cam and social media is frightening and sad. Always knew I had high porosity very fine hair but the natural hair community would say I’m low porosity.
You’re exactly right. This is what I was trying to explain to my sister. My hair is coily when soaking wet, but as soon as I squeeze the water out, the curls start to frizz and about an hour later if I don’t put gel in it, it turns into a giant frizz ball or “Afro”. The reason our hair is so dry is because it’s high porosity, hydration is what brings out our coils and curls, but our hair doesn’t hold onto the water, leaving it dry and frizzy. The reason why European hair appears to dry quicker and absorb water easier is because it’s so thin, they barely have any hair compared to us. But their hair holds onto hydration much better because most of them have low porosity. Asian hair is similar, but their hair is much thicker of course.
I’ll also state that one thing that can temporarily change the porosity of your hair is the products that you’re using and specifically the ingredients in those products. For example, If you have gel in your hair, it makes your hair hold onto hydration longer, so your hair will take a longer time to dry. This does not mean you have low porosity hair.
Literally this! my hair would take 2 days to air dry if i put thick products and gel in - I used to think i was very low porosity until i realised the same with no product our hair does not hold onto water at all! which is partially why we need the products in the first place!xxx
Thank you for this because i was so confused. Every thing i read made it sound like i had low porosity hair (the test) but i actually saw my own hair under a microscope in highschool science class, and i saw my hair follicle looked like a high porosity follicle next to a white persons hair which looked like low porosity. This provided a lot of clarity
This was very informative. Thank you. I noticed a lot of people are pretty defensive in the comments. I have a theory about why that may be the case. Good hair vs bad hair is a deep issue in the black community. Bad hair is supposedly very tightly coiled, dry, short, and don’t be dark skin with all those characteristics too. Good hair is supposedly silky, loose curls, long, and often attributed to one’s blackness being diluted in some way. We’ve continued to add criteria to each side, and porosity is just one of the newer criteria to use to place our hair into categories of good or bad instead of just appreciating it for what it is. I think the people that are defensive about possibly/likely having high porosity hair have some internalized bias or colorism/texturism to work through. High porosity hair is often improperly associated with damaged, bad hair. Not many people know you can actually be born with high porosity hair. And it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s damaged.
As a natural hairstylist, I don't agree. I have clients that have different hair porosity. As black people we have different hair textures, it's not a one size fit all. Because of our kinks, curls and coils the natural oils our scalp produces do not travel down the shaft of our hair strands and that results in our hair being dry. The straighter your hair is, the easier it is to maintain. When I get I silk press I don't need to moisture my hair as often because my natural oils do that for me and my hair stays soft without using much of anything.The minute I do too much, my hair reverts. When my hair is not straight I have to use products to retain moisture as the oils only travel but so far. There are also different things that can change your hair porosity like lightening and coloring your hair. The best thing to do is to learn what your hair likes and stick to a simple hair routine with little to no manipulation, but that's just my opinion.
Yes it’s definitely a spectrum, there is no one size fits all necessarily. but there’s a difference between greasy and moisturised the sebum we produce coats the hair strand for protection it’s not a moisturiser. Straight hair plays a big role in sebum retention but a black person with straight hair can go weeks without washing yet a Caucasian/Asian with straight hair can only last a few days max. before it getting extremely greasy. The difference here is the smoothness of the surface of the hair, same with relaxed hair the texture is straight yet it is very dry (relaxers increase porosity even more) so I agree texture plays a huge role but not as much as we think& also silk pressed hair is very dry, just because it feels on the surface nourished doesn’t mean it’s not dry, that’s why our hair naturally wants to revert back by sucking moisture from the atmosphere/products & yes simple routine is KEY!👑
Same. I’ve been licensed for 13 years and this isn’t factual. Products don’t know what color you are. Not all bald people have kinky hair and not all white peoples have straight hair. All porosity means is the ability for moisture to absorbed.
Wow hair stylist with a license from a few months in a hair styling program want accept scientific facts from a scientist lol be careful who you let in your hair. 🤦🏽♀️
I've been spending a lot of time trying to understand this whole porosity thing, and I've just come across your video... your are the first person talking about porosity with some evidence. Thanks a lot !
This information makes so much sense. I know some may disagree but if you feel your hair is very low porosity then treat it as such. It’s like when I told my doctor that chocolate breaks out my skin. He said there is no science base on chocolate causing acne. However, if you break out after eating chocolate, don’t eat it.
I have been Natural since 2008 and I have always used youtube to decide how to care for my hair. I remember when the porosity theory was introduced there was A LOT OF PUSHBACK. Women were saying the same thing Nadine is say but in a less scientific way. It just didn't make sense but somehow or community became convinced. Makes you wonder about programming, marketing etc. Anyway great video !
Was literally searching for products to use on low porosity and hair and came across this video because it caught my eye. And honestly the things you are pointing out make a lot of sense. I look forward to watching part 2 of this for more information.
Wow..for my whole natural hair journey, I thought I was low porosity due to the strand test and the idea that low porosity = dry hair. But I recently came across a tiktok of someone explaining high porosity and felt like those were more of the characteristics of my hair. I had to revisit this whole porosity thing and came across your video which confirmed my suspicion and all this false information going around in the hair community. Really hope that now understanding that my hair is high porosity, I can properly take care of my hair
Thanks for the video. What you're saying makes perfect sense. I think the reason you are getting so much pushback is that BW have been saturated with this concept of high/low porosity as a result of social media. On the surface, it made sense because our hair can be so different. No matter what I do to my daughter's hair it looks dry the day after wash day. However, my hair retains moisture longer but will dry out quickly if I wear it in a twist out or wash and go. In comparison, most Asians and Caucasians don't add moisture because they don't need it as it weighs their hair down. So basically, we need to approach our hair care in a totally different way. Problem is where do we start, as many of us are already confused as to the best method to care for our hair. With your background and knowledge, you should consider developing a new system...🙃
Oh absolutely! I think we really want answers in regards to our hair and we’re willing to a lot into a box that didn’t make all the way sense… I’m glad you enjoyed the video 🤍🤍🤍
If I’m not low porosity I feel like there has to be another language we can use to define what our hair type is when it comes to it takin in/out moisture. I have friends that need to use cream every other day, while some of us only need to 2/3 times a month. I don’t think I have low porosity in a global way enough to compare it to another race, but I do think some of us do need less moisture then others in the black community
I think we can still use the terms low-high porosity as a way of describing our hair, but only as related to black hair. If we’re looking at porosity in a broader sense (across races) then the system is less helpful and confusing. So for example in a broader sense a black person would be high porosity as compared to an Asian person, but in a more confined and less broad perspective, that same black person would be low porosity as compared to another black person
We honestly need more people like you: educated black female scientists who are not out to con the black natural hair community! This is amazing info! I kept testing my hair and sometimes it would sink and sometimes it would swim and I was honestly about to lose my mind… Omg. I knew something wasn’t right.
@@divestedkonservativekarame4269 sponges also float in water but are great at absorbing it because something floating in water has nothing to do with its porosity but it’s density xx
Very interesting video. I was glued from beginning to end lol. I love how you used scientific research to back up your views on porosity. Makes me rethink my whole hair care routine. Thank for this valuable information.
The thing is African hair is very diverse because of mix genes what works for you may not work for me. We have Afro kinky Africans to curly African hair type
This channel is a goldmine...I am surprised it hasn't blown up yet! I recently learned about water damage and how your hair shouldn't be wet for more than an hour--so I learned this whole drying process of how you should hold your blow dryer 9 cm away from your head and only blow dry your hair for 1 minute at a time and give it 1 minute to rest and repeat, but the whole time I was thinking about this I noticed it was a study done in Korea and given how different Korean and Black hair is I was wondering you if you had any insight on water damage and air-drying vs. blow drying. I found out what it's called: "hygral fatigue" I think.
Hey hun & thank you so much! And I mentioned this in another video I will always blow dry, not only does wet hair give hygral fatigue, wet hair is also weak and prone to damage, drying your hair as quickly as possible is always best in my opinion and research does back this up. If people fear heat damage or excessive dryness from blow drying then they can always use lower heat xxx
Interesting perspective, I consider myself low porosity and I never moisturize mid week 😅 unless ofc it is damaged and has become high porosity. If my hair is dry it needs to be washed and hasn’t been washed in 1-2 weeks. ATP it’s dehydrated 😂 My hair won’t absorb anything unless warm water is added anyhow😅 cold water makes my hair instantly feel like straw & tangle & it won’t absorb and product goin forward, it will just sit on top. When I rub an individual strand up vs down there is little to no difference in feel on most strands smooth both ways. Compared to when my hair was damaged there was a significant difference (rubbing upward felt significantly rougher) and that’s how I knew it was high porosity b/c of the damage. My hair is protein sensitive whereas people who have high porosity require it more often. Black people are very diverse. For reference I have majorly 4a dense but fine hair. Crown is 4c & very coarse. Back is 3c. If i treated my hair like high porosity my hair would instantly turn to straw & break off 😆 something tells me their database have very few samples of not only natural but healthy black hair. These the same people that only recently added type 4 to the curl typing chart 😆 My hair has luster despite my naturally dusty brown hair color. Especially when blown out/ straightened with no oil/ serum needed. I wouldn’t go so far as to say my hair is as low in porosity as an Asians. Fact of the matter is porosity is a spectrum & based on how it feels and behaves my hair is most certainly on the lower end of the spectrum, just not the lowest 🤷🏾♀️ I will say I find low porosity to be rare in our community, most people just have product buildup like you said 😂 even in my family, I’m the only 1 with low porosity & look at me crazy when I tell them I can’t use cold water or only moisturize every 1-2 weeks. Also in the summer as a FL resident I wash more often, absolutely once a week b/c the sun WILL cook all the moisture out 😂
Well damn. This is so informative and makes so much sense! I have been spinning with the low, normal, high porosity stuff. Thank you for taking the time to present the information.
ITS OFFICIAL! I’ll be filming a part 2.0 of this video with a deep dive into the research papers I used to get here! A lot of you have been asking and skeptical about this video, my next video will clarify absolutely ALL of your questions! Stay tuned loves 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
WOW, shocking information, but as a new natural it makes so much sense, I have to moisturize my hair every other day or sometimes every day and I am here thinking something is wrong with my hair why its not retaining moisture for even 2-3 days ....wow wow. this information is really food for thought. thank you. I'm about to watch Part 2
You are definitely low porosity. I was high porosity when I had a perm my hair will drink up product but now that I'm natural it won't absorb unless I use warm water to open up the hair shaft.
I think what is important is if fellow naturalistas are able to understand how their hair retains moisture to serve as a basis for the types of products (thick or liquidy and in-between) that will help them with hair length retention, strength and resilience. I think describing porosity high, low and in between helps to identify that for many who have not yet cracked the code for their hair. Although I have 2 sisters (same parents), how our hair retains moisture are each very different. Water sits on my hair during a wash unless I squeeze/press it in and so does heavy thick cremes. As children our mother used the same heavy products on all 3 of our heads, my 2 sisters hair thrived with waist length hair and mine did not. However, as an adult, once I understood more about my hair in that it is indeed low porosity and figured out how to get and keep moisture in with lighter products like aloe vera and peppermint oil, it started to finally thrive.
@Trinity M I think when you compare low porosity for straight hair versus curly hair is where you lose me. If you check out webmd description of low porosity the site does not delineate between straight hair vs curly hair the criteria to make the determination is the float test and the spray test to determine if and how well the strand of hair in question absorbs water. If you can point to the scientific reference that makes the distinction in only associating low porosity with straight hair let me know. There are other TH-camrs like power in your curls and others who have given solid advice on products for low po’s like me. So just bc this does not apply to you does not mean that it can’t possibly apply to others
What I got from this was that because a majority* of Afro hair is delicate, compared to other ethnicities its more prone to have raised cuticles thus most Afro textures are prone to high porosity. While those whose hair is less damaged have less raised cuticles thus lower porosity... HENCE the spectrum and how not one size fits all...thus a percentage of black people do in fact have low porosity hair 🤔 myself included as I tick all characteristics....so... full circle huh. Including the fact that I rarely have to moisturise my hair in fact the only time I moisturise my hair is washday which is once a month... *majority: i.e. not all
THANK YOU!!!! I was over here writing a whole essay about qualifying words like, how hard is it to say "most" instead of "all" or "You might not have low porosity hair"? And especially when it comes to research I always wonder the details of the participants in the study. Did they really get the full range and variety of afro texture hair? How many people were a part of the study? You have black women making whole TH-cam videos and rants about whether a certain person is really x y or z hair type or not. Our hair is not a monolith and it is not that simple. My hair is a mixture of fine and coarse with varying sizes of tight coils and I am also a true low porosity gal and do not have to re-moisturize my hair again until wash day. If I moisturize and seal properly, it stays moisturized. Also, while afro hair CAN be delicate, there are plenty of natural ladies out there with super thick, hard to break strands as well. I am just over blanket statements. I'm tired of the typing system, the circle system, scientific studies, and whatever else someone comes up with to try and categorize black people's hair with. There are way more types than any chart or scientific study can name. And porosity is a spectrum AND you have have more than one porosity on the same head. I have extremely tight coils but my hair hangs when it's wet, and it doesn't shrink up much at all when it dries (even with no product). What study does that fit into? People, at the end of the day just need to learn their hair, how it behaves, how to best retain moisture and do what works for them to reach their hair goals. Most things aren't one size fits all and that is certainly true for black hair. Think about it this way, I have been natural for ages and have watched tons of natural hair videos and read natural hair blogs and follow natural hair bloggers and in the past 20+ years I have only found ONE person who I could call my hair twin and we would be fraternal hair twins at that.
@@cleopatra7396 THANK YOU AS WELL! Thank you so much, I wrote the og comment while knowing none of these viewers would even care and they would just eat this up the way they eat everything up they're spewed at never taking the time to spot the video makers logical fallacies nor even think about the characteristics listed of low porosity hair to see if their hair fits those categories. The Lady is very misleading and is on a whole 'since me and this percentage of black people are like this, even though the experiment did not even begin to cover the many different types of Afro hair. Then EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU ARE LIKE THIS which obviously is not true . (also off topic/maybe petty: a study for criminal detection ? Even though as a community we aren't focused on in studies this annoyed me (you're telling me the only study for black hair porosity isn't only extremely limited but one based on criminal detection? (And yes I know they tested other races) but stil dang. Sorry for the rant lol.
@@cleopatra7396 plus a black lady I can name off the top of my head with low porosity hair (in alignment with the characteristics she stated) which can't be disputed is someone such as ebonyscurly.
THANK YOU SIS THANK YOU. And I have low porosity hair. I don't have to re moisturize throughout the week because it doesn't need it. This info not good for BW who has low porosity hair like noooo.
This makes a lot of sense. I appreciate you taking the time to break this down for us. If you ever develop your own product line, I will certainly without a doubt purchase from you because there is literally a science behind everything with our bodies, hair, skin, nails, etc. I plan to look into ways to balance the PH in my hair/scalp. I really appreciate you for this. Thank you again for sharing! 💕
Thank you so much for this video. I learned a WHOLE lot from it. I always knew my hair was high porosity. I have to use 3 things to help my hair stay moist after I wash it; spray bottle with water, oil my scalp once a week, use a moisturizing lotion or cream and hair grease alone the shaft and ends of my hair to keep it from breaking off. My hair is extremely dry. I am in my late 50's and use henna and indigo to dye my hair and that is very drying also.
OMG! Super helpful info. Thanks for explaining. This video should be viral and mandatory for all naturals. As a logical science-minded person, this porosity issue FINALLY makes sense.
EVERY BLACK WOMAN NEEDS TO WATCH YOUR VIDEO! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! AND YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, SMART AND AN ELOQUENT SPEAKER!! Much love 💕 🎀💖💕💗😇
i think part of the reason people with straight hair don’t need moisturizers is due to that they can get away with shampooing and conditioning way more often. not that they just straight up don’t moisturize. and afro hair doesn’t get less shine because of porosity. it’s be it’s curled up. we get a similar shine with styles like waves for example when we lay our curls down flat so that light can bounce off easier and give that silky look. not a porosity thing
My hair isn't straight it's 2c/3a, low porosity, and medium texture. My hair is so moisturized on its own that I don't even need conditioner. Meanwhile, I have a friend with very healthy undamaged straight hair but has much coarser strands and needs to use a lot of conditioner and leave in.
100% I think heat training or being a Straight haired natural is a much better alternative, relaxers almost strip all the cuticle layers and leave hair cortex exposed in some areas xxx
I think you are expressing everything I’ve been feeling about the natural hair community. For years I’ve been confused and thinking I’m the only black person with high porosity since everyone else claims they have low porosity hair. When they wash their hair I can tell the hair repels water because of heavy products. Thank you for further information. I was using the LOCO (distilled water, light oil, cream, heavy oil or pomade) method to moisturize my hair which has worked for me. But I still need to do better at keeping my hair moisturized. I’m going to go back to acv rinses and attempt to use aloe and a little more protein to see if that works.
Honestly I feel you! I also thought I was low porosity at one point until I further understood why my hair behaves a certain way and did the research. Yes ACV rinses and low PH products will be your best friend for moisture retention and the more you train your hair to retain moisture the easier it will get over time hope it all starts to work! Xxxx
Finally this makes sense! I watched so many videos and read so many articles on porosity trying to figure it out and it never made sense to me for many reason you just explained.
You've just saved me from spending £££ on low porosity products. I thought id finally found the secret to what was holding my hair back but i was skeptical because there is no way my hair has anything in common with caucasian hair. Thank you so much for this ❤
@@naturalnadinee So why does my hair not allow certain oils in. Even if it’s in a product, my hair will still be dry compared to the same exact product with a different oil. I used Cantù coconut oil and it wouldn’t hydrate my hair, but I used the same product with argon and it melted in.
Oh my goodness! Thank you so so much for THIS. I did that water test and my hair floated on top for hours so then I thought OK, it must be low porosity. But, I was also very convinced my hair was high porosity by the way it behaved. ie loses moisture very easily and loves protein. So now I get it. It ALL makes sense. You are awesome! 👍🏽❤️😍 BTW, loving your hair ❤️
The best crude test I've done and has given me accurate results so far is clarifying my hair with shampoo and then leaving it to air dry after blotting with my T-shirt. It dried within 2 hours which made me realise that I'm medium to high porosity.
Boom. Makes so much freakin sense! 👏👏👏👏 And I taught middle school science and yes DENSITY is what determines whether something will float or sink like👏 you 👏 said 👏 density and buoyancy
🤯 This is absolutely game changing information right here! I always knew I was high porosity just because the way my hair behaves and always wondered what was wrong with my hair because most black women were claiming low porosity. Turns out I was normal all along.😁 I just got the Chi Enviro Smoothing treatment almost a week ago and so far I am absolutely loving it! It's basically a semi permanent cuticle sealer (wears off in about 4 months). Just doing this has had a very positive impact on the the breakage, dryness, and excessive tangles I was having. I am experiencing what it's like to have low porosity hair. I guess I'll fake it 'til I make it.🤭 This is something for people to look into if they don't want to be bothered with applying products regularly to achieve this. There's lots of videos on TH-cam about smoothing treatments. Just 2-3 treatments should keep you covered all year. Also, Chi is not the only smoothing treatment out there. Avlon and Design Essentials both make one. This treatment should be a staple in black salons but I'm guessing because it's more time consuming is why we don't see it too often. Excellent video, subscribed!
Society has made you believe you should have low porosity hair. NO! it's better to have high porosity because that's your hairs protection from the environment. People of color have the most protection. Just like your skin. It's melanin is it's protection. Ppl wake up.
You definitely cannot do a wash and go and leave the house with wet hair for the first 2-4 weeks after the chi enviro treatment unless you wanna walk around smelling like rotten egg and sewage water.
Do they finish the treatment with a flat iron? If so, I had something similar done, but it only worked the first time for me. I even surpassed my length plateau and I loved it so much. It gave me the hair I've always dreamed of, but the second and third time I got it done, I didn't get the same results. I brokenheartedly went back to fully natural. The heat damage just wasn't worth it 🤕 I have no clue why the treatment stopped working and I haven't been able to get an answer from hairstylists in my area when I bring it up 🤷🏻♀️
I loved this video! I hope you continue to do educational videos about Black hair. Perhaps, do one on silicones in Black hair---so many people say no silicones at all, but I would love to hear a chemical engineer perspective.
This is what I don’t understand. My mother and aunts and I’m sure their mothers knew nothing about low or high porosity hair. As little girls, my mother and aunts used homemade items to shampoo their hair and no conditioner. They probably used hair oil made from animal fat, maybe lard. When y mother got married and a little hair products began to be more available, not much, they used that. She, my aunts and they washed our hair once a month, comb and braided our hair in ponytails and air dried out hair overnight, and pressed our hair the next day. Didn’t know anything about a blow dryer. She used V-O5 shampoo on my hair because it was cheap and it was available. Never used conditioner. She used Blue Bergamot to oil my scalp. My mother, aunts, there daughters and myself all had long hair. My mother and her sister could sit on her hair. When I grew up and took over my hair care, I begin using special products, conditioners, blow drying… relaxers and I noticed I started having issues with my hair. I moved from Indiana where it was humid, and lived to Colorado where it’s extremely dry. I had major issues with dryness. I oiled my hair one day, and the next day, it was dry as if I never liked my scalp. I get chapped lips, my skin is always dry no matter what you apply. I drink 8-13 cups of water! I was told by a hair care professional to get a relaxer. Nothing worked and nothing has worked. I have been living in Colorado for over 40 years and no change. My point is, while things were so simple when I was a little girl and alone it’s my moms hair in doing just a simple hair wash and hair beautiful long and thick hair. Everything is so complicated now. Too many products and so much advice concerning everything and lot of disagreements. Just my opinion!! But it does make sense to wash the hair using clarifying shampoo and test for porosity without any hair products makes perfect sense to really know for sure! 🤦🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️😜🤪 😞☹️😖😩
This video helped me so much... I felt so insecure for like more than a year thinking my hair was low porosity after doing that water and hair test. trying to change the products I used, knowing my family and friends had such healthy hair and would shame me for my “low porosity” hair. Thanks so much, I’ve learnt so much ❤ New subscriber, and you showed evidence spoke facts🙂
I’m so happy I’ve found you, I literally am in the process of this porosity test and my hair has been floating on top of the water for hours, yet I’ve always been told I was low porosity smh.. every product I usually buy is low porosity so now I know. Thanks this makes so much sense now, I appreciate the information..
You described my hair exactly. I have always thought that I was high porosity hair, with different levels of high porosity all over my head. The crown area is the worst, and it is a different texture from the front. The front is a different texture from the back also and the back is the best texture on my head. I wish that all of my hair had the texture of the back. It stays moisturized longer. The density is thicker, and it does what I want it to do. The back of my hair can take hours to dry, but the front and the crown dry very quickly.
Oh the joys of having numerous porosities in one head of hair🤣 you gotta love it! But sounds like you have worked out what works for your hair which is perfect xx
This video is helpful because the natural hair community had me confused. For the longest time I didn't think I had low porosity hair because I didn't have all the signs, mainly that it doesn't take as long to dry or get wet. After struggling to find products that work for me, I eventually realized that maybe my hair is low porosity. Treating my hair like it's low porosity has been a game changer. My hair needs very little moisture. I can shampoo it and use no conditioner or leave in, and it will still be soft and shiny. This video explains a lot. Now I know why I don't have all the signs of "low porosity". I'm caucasian with 2c/3a hair, and my hair has not been damaged or chemically treated, so of course my hair is low porosity.
I love this because I have been so sick of comments from black people saying "curl pattern doesn't matter. what matters is if your hair is low porosity or high porosity" and it's like... no it doesn't because all our hair is high porosity so...
Oh wow. Why they put us all in box like that lol. Black people have all different kind of textures. Do you think they mis-identify races at times? Seems like authorities have a baseline of what would be seen as the typical type of hair for certain races, which is understandable I guess. Because I have much more curly frizzy hair than my siblings; one has straighter wavy hair, doesn't really get frizzy at all. Also, LOVE the science terms!!! Helped me with the understanding a lot I didn't know about my hair and others. Can't wait to pass your channel on to others, thank you!!
Difference in textures exist in all races. They put us in that one box because all black peooles hair looks like this under a microscope. I would say it’s easier to mismatch identity of an Asian/Caucasian that it would be for a blacks person even then I’ve never heard it happen because the differences are very obvious. Frizz doesn’t really have much to do with it, all hair porosities can be prone to frizz regardless of race, && thank you!🤍
@@naturalnadinee Ohhh okay. Just so I’m not confused, even a black person with a different hair texture (straight, wavy, curly) it would still show that person is black?
I've just started my true hair journey to get my curls poppin. I've watched so many videos and couldn't really figure out if my hair was high or low porosity. This has helped tremendously.
Wow! This video has changed the way I see my hair. All this time I've been thinking I had low porosity hair, what a waste. Now, I will treat my hair as high porosity all the time going forward and buy my hair products accordingly. Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
Never understood the water test so I honestly gave up learning my porosity. It took me sitting there and realizing that I have open cultiles (hence the frizz and constant dryness of the scalp) Your video is so informative. Thank you
Wow, this video was so informative. I've never even been interested in this porosity contest naturalistas usually have. I never even cared to find out what it even means to have low/high porosity hair. I've always just focused on growing healthy hair and finding or even making my own products in my kitchen that work for my hair, acv being one of those products. Honestly I don't even like putting oil in my hair cause it always feels so weighed down and somehow dries up very quickly as opposed to when I don't put oil in it. I will oil my scalp every now and then if I feel I need to, but I don't generally use oil on my hair shaft. Thank you, you've answered questions I never even knew I had. 🌹
Sister🥰, you nailed it. It's simple and these are facts. I am of Afro Puerto Puerto RIcan descent. I am a mix of Black, Indigenous, and European, my hair is very high porosity. My hair is coily. I love how you explained everything. It was great. This is exactly why natural curly and coily hair needs moisture. Love this. You are also very beautiful. Well done
As a child my auntie would scratch my scalp the night b4 wash day. She'd wash my hair with warm water until it squeaked. Then worked in the conditioner. After she would use Royal Crown and put it in braids. My hair grew like crazy. Makes sense
Brilliant and well articulated with facts! ... but here's the thing: there's a whole movement who believes what was out there and there is a multi million dollar industry that has been built around those beliefs. There are those who will argue but never with the use of any science to refute what you've said. And that's not a black people thing; it's just a people thing. I've also realized that people want the end result but not the journey. That's why they will watch videos with people who have "black" hair as far away from the African phenotype as possible and use the products pushed by those people because they feel that those products will get them that hair! Still, thanks for sharing this. Eventually people will come around...It will take time for them to understand that hair is just not that complicated and that black hair is not an offshoot of white hair (which is what has been studied and taught) but is just its own category. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for this! It’s so true industries are being built over what’s being fed in our own hair. Black hair deserves it own separate categories and research and development instead of trying to put us in the same box as Asians and Caucasian hair.. baby steps but it’ll get better !🤍🤍🤍
Y'all if you have protein-sensitive hair, you are low porosity, many black peoples who have protein-sensitive hair and coarse hair your hair is healthy and your cuticles are tightly packed and smooth out that's why its resistant to excess protein other then high porosity needs proeteoj because out cuticles are highly raised and gaps in between so moisture is not able to hold within the hair! If you have dry hair it's because your products you use and the way to are using the and your routine needs to change products build dries hair
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1047847718303083#! Research Paper Variation in human hair ultrastructure among three biogeographic populations - (Sandra L.KochMark D.ShriverNina G.Jablonski , Jan 2019) Read this research paper if you want to better understand porosity. Cuticular pattern , number of cuticle layers , cuticular adhesion and cuticle thickness has a greater effect on porosity than whether they’re open or closed. Porosity is not as simple as you think. Also black people dont have coarse hair. Lots of reserah on that and cosmetologists will tell you that If you can’t access the paper I go through it in this video th-cam.com/video/7Z3rCU97rQk/w-d-xo.html Also on the protein bit low porosity hair is not protein sensitive because it does not absorb the protein at a higher rate. Being protein sensitive is a sign of high porosity hair th-cam.com/video/FdibNiB2VFk/w-d-xo.html I explain in this video more. Watch it or don’t, but no misinformation in my comments please because it seems all your views are based on TH-cam guru university and not actual facts
You’re definitely forgetting that those studies do not determine whether the African- American people included in those studies were relaxed, damaged, or virgin natural (no heat, no relaxer). Remember that Relaxed / heat damaged hair was most definitely the trend for a while; therefore, damaging that cuticle and making it very high porosity. Doing those things to your hair will indeed damage that cuticle to the max. So that’s incorrect. Black people can naturally have low porosity hair if it’s untouched.
They do. All virgin hair there’s even studies that relax all 3 hair types to see the difference but my next video will explain way better than I have here! Xx
I would have to agree with you because I have low porosity hair but when I bleached my hair it became high porosity. Chemicals change hair drastically! Especially chemicals used in bleach, dye, perms and relaxers. With all the different racial mixtures over the years someone of the Afro diaspora may have a way diff porosity type than someone who is from Africa with very little to no mixture. Also environmental changes effect hair on a whole other level. And porosity would definitely be on a spectrum low porosity for ppl of Afro decent would be considered a whole different kind of low porosity than people of Asian decent. Also the way hair distributes moisture based on hair texture is different. Straight hair stays moisturized longer because the natural oils from the scalp have an easier time getting down the hair shaft vs curly or kinky hair!This topic needs a bit more study.
@@preciosaarlisia yes they do as I mentioned before the study was done on all virgin hair samples no dyes, chemical treatments or anything like that we definitely need more study but the very fact that our hair gets dry over time is the big teller of high porosity but so much more research needs to be done, we need the resources too it’s not easy to do such in depth research xxx
I agree with a few points in this video, mainly how unreliable the cup test is and that you aren't always low porosity if product sits on your hair, but I think there are too many factors to definitively say Black people are "naturally" high-porosity and that we cannot have low porosity hair, especially based off of studies where there is no control. Our hair has been stigmatized to the point where we've had to damage it with irons, perms, relaxers, etc throughout our history in order to get jobs & attend school. Another term for high-porosity hair is damaged or processed hair, so that right there should tell us hair porosity isn't always a genetic factor, it's also environmental. This would support the claim that Black hair is on average more porous than other races, but not the claim that we cannot have low-porosity. My hair was very high-porosity as a kid, but now as an adult it's changed a lot since I'm the one caring for it and not frying it to death/loading it with product for school. I cannot use coconut oil at all anymore, and if I do nothing to my hair (cause I have been lazy) it'll still take forever to dry and the next wash day forever to get wet, something that never happened when I was a kid. Just looking at my black friends & their hair, it's a mixed bag when it comes to the "silky shine" in their curls, which is influenced a lot but texture, not just porosity. Also, we can't really compare our moisture retention to Caucasian and Asian communities who wash their hair more frequently than we do, same folks who have called Black people dirty for going a week or longer without washing our hair because they don't understand our hair texture (or are just hateful). I agree most with the other commenters that said low-porosity hair looks different on different hair textures and that low-porosity means getting moisture in is also challenging, so if you didn't moisture low-porosity hair the right way then yeah you're gonna have to remoisturize it because it didn't get in, that doesn't mean it's not low porosity. If most Black people have a varied hair textures, we can't say we're all high-porosity without an actually study on this. Even with the few examples you gave you only compared 2/5 African strands to the high-porosity model. To me saying Black people can't have low-porosity hair is like saying we can't have hair that isn't type 4, a mixture of hair types, or a hair color other than black. Genetics is too varied for that.
Provocative claim, but you back it up with science! I’m guessing this is a spectrum and those of us who thought we had low porosity hair just had LESS high porosity hair than others? I usually don’t moisturize between wash days and rarely use any products at all, but my hair does take longer to get wet than some people’s with a seemingly similar texture. But you’re right that it doesn’t take THAT long to get wet and my hair does get dry after a week. I just don’t need to moisturize on a daily basis. I’ll definitely check part two!
Very provocative👀🤣 & yes it’s a spectrum. I’m the same I don’t moisturise in between wash day but by the time the week is done and wash day comes around my hair is dry and ready for remoisturising. I guess I’d class myself on the lower end of the high porosity spectrum but it’s clear that I’m high porosity nonetheless Thanks doll! let me know what you think of part 2 🤍🤍
The chart in the beginning may be somewhat incorrect. I’ll explain. Asians usually have hair routines that they’ve been practicing for centuries. One example is using fermented rice water. Also they usually have a healthy diet. Caucasians usually have straight hair or very slight wavy hair. So like the Asians it’s straight, it’s also getting full sebum coverage. But at the same time Caucasians usually cleanse their hair daily and they are also big on using straightening tools almost daily. For example blow dryers and flat irons. So their hair cuticles is a little more raised than a lot of Asians. Lastly, people who have 4c type hair, or close to it have not always practiced healthy hair routines because they may have been told their hair is to rough and people may have comes through it roughly their entire childhood, they may have been relaxed and at shoulder length for years before figuring out these new things of caring for their type of hair. They may have used so much heat and products to lay down their curls that at some point the hair was so damaged and stressed that the cuticles are almost always raised and the hair always looks frizzy. All these examples could happen for any hair type. But these groups are the most dominate basically because of the ideas based behind each group hair care and upbringing. In short this chart will change in time as more and more people learn how to care for their hair. Not all 🖐🏾 have raised cuticles. Raised cuticles is a sign that the hair has not been treated nicely. It has nothing to with with being 🖐🏻 or 🖐🏾. It’s just that 🖐🏾 have it more because they usually handle it too rough, they don’t have patience when brushing it, they let it mat and build too much toxic product and dirt before cleaning and resetting it, or don’t take any time to care for it at all. Y’all know y’all be neglecting your hair and letting it tangle and get dry for days and weeks. Don’t say it’s genetics. That’s just like eating things that cause diabetes and blaming your grandparents genes. That’s not how genetics works. As babies most people are born free of health issues and hair issues. As time goes by it’s the parents and the child’s routines or lack of routine that cause health issues, skin issues, hair issues, and other issues. So they will need to change this chart if everyone starts having healthy hair in the future. Because many 🖐🏾 are finally learning how manage their hair correctly.
So I'm not crazy then or just too stupid to be unable to grasp my "hair porosity". My hair shows the same "supposedly" characteristics of both low and high porosity. It seems what the natural hair community is saying is low porosity is still high porosity.
There is an overlap in characteristics because people are misinformed on what low porosity actually is. Also in cosmetology porosity is rarely discussed (if ever). The only thing you want to know is how well your hair retains moisture
Part 2 of this video is out now. More in depth analysis into the sources it’s abit heavy on the science than this one so there’s that! Thank you all for the loveeee 🤍 BLACK PEOPLE CANT HAVE LOW POROSITY HAIR Pt.2! | The science behind african hair cuticles th-cam.com/video/7Z3rCU97rQk/w-d-xo.html
I love this but there should be more research on WHY some of us have low porosity symptoms (I hope this is coming across right) versus our people whose hair receives water right away. I’m a cosmetologist so this is something that I’ve noticed, not saying it’s a problem, but there are definitely reasons that need to be documented because this is an area of research that I’ve never seen
I always thought I had low porosity hair but it makes so much sense. My husband is Asian and you're right about how their hair seals moisture so well that they hardly ever need to moisturize it. Comparing my hair to his, my hair is not shiny and easily gets dry. The cup of water test is a lie 😭 I've always referred to my hair as a "sponge".
I agree with you on the cup of water test, I've done mine countlessly and my freshly washed hair free from product buildup floated for hours and days but my hair takes in water quickly without me needing to squeeze it in also my hair doesn't retain moisture more than few minutes so these all got me confused 😂
Honestly, I’m Asian, but my moms side all have very wavy or curly hair. But I never really understood how to care for it cause curly hair isn’t the norm in Asia. Hence I’d be borrowing my African and Caribbean friends products or else my mom would just braid it tightly or I give up and get it relaxed again 🥲 so here I am again watching natural hair videos. And as a nerd I am so happy you include all these scientific facts about it. My hair literally looks matte sometimes. And I’m so jealous of the girlies with straight shiny hair. I can go a week or two without washing and it’s still dry af.
honestly so grateful for this video. There is just so much misinformation in the natural hair community and it drives me nuts because influencers and the hair industry are just there to exploit these insecurities for profit. I just wish black hair education was the driving force instead of making money at our expense. It really frustrates me but seeing you do this is really encouraging. Thank you. xx
Honestly! There needs to be more emphasis on research in development in black haircare the same way other textures have! I’m glad it was helpful and thank you for this🤍🤍🤍
Yes!
You can always do your own research and share it with others. You don't have to wait for someone to give you information that you can get yourself.
This is the reason I follow selective people.....I might listen to a video but don't take everything as doctrine
Yea that was what I was wondering I am ethiopian and we don’t actually have the same hair texture it’s kinda softer for eg mine than most African and I was confused to say high how about that
I’m slightly confused by this conclusion that’s been drawn.
Maybe we should say that “low-porosity” looks different with different hair textures. Because my boyfriend most DEFINITELY does not have high-porosity hair. He’s prone to build-up, heavy oils, creams and butters make his hair dry, gunky and un-refine his curl pattern. These are all unquestionable hallmarks of low-porosity hair. His hair texture is coarse so it can handle some heavish products but it becomes build-up extremely easily. Coarse low-porosity 4b-c hair is different than say my 2c fine low porosity hair. But it doesn’t mean that his hair isn’t low-porosity. The actual texture of the hair strand matters just as much as porosity. Porosity looks different for different hair textures. If you need heat to get your hair to absorb product…it means it’s low-porosity. If your cuticles were open it wouldn’t require heat to lift the cuticles. It’s also a misconception that low-porosity hair isn’t dry. Low porosity hair can be just as dry as high-porosity hair. Low porosity hair holds onto water easier BUT it struggles to absorb water from the environment. High porosity hair loses water easier but it also absorbs water much easier. If you’re not properly moisturizing low-porosity hair with humectants it’ll feel dry very quickly. All hair requires moisture the same. High porosity hair can feel soft and moist. Low porosity hair can feel coarse and dry. It’s all about HOW you’re caring for it. And texture & porosity are the metrics you use to determine the best way to care for it
Yes! This makes way more sense then the video. She states some facts but contradicts herself sometime. It kinda makes me mad because she's trying to debunk low porosity hair when some people really have it and she can confuse people who do with misinformation.
yea, it doesn’t matter how clean my hair is. it takes forever to dry and it’s really good at holding moisture. when i overdo with products my hair is worse off vs when i treat like it’s low porosity
and kinda like you’re saying it’s not 1 size fits all. our porosity might not be as low but even on the black hair examples they don’t all look as raised as that last example on the far right
@@TreyBtwExactly. I'm confused why the conclusion is "black people can't have low porosity" vs "black people have more variety in porosity". Some of the pictures she shows are literally low porosity.
Agreed
I can't lie the title of your video made me side eye and even after reading the comments agreeing I was still skeptical but I'm now half way through your video and the the penny has dropped haha this definitely makes a lot of sense! Why would low porosity hair need to be re-moisturised throughout the week if its key characteristic is locking-in moisture once it's added, so glad I watched this!!!
Haha thank you!! I was skeptical myself when doing the research definitely took me a while to get my head around it all glad it helped xx
Well my low porosity hair doesn't need to be re moisturized throughout the week sooo🤣🤣 I'm skeptical about this I'm not gonna lie lol.
@@nethaniapierre8149 exactly. People of the diaspora have all different textures. I’m AA/Caribbean and my hair is definitely low porosity. I hardly ever moisturize my hair in between washes.
@@AuntieSenSen Agreed 👍🏾💯 I'm Haitian.
@@AuntieSenSen thats when genetics come into play. So you most definitely can be low porosity bc of your genetics.
This confirmed a lot for me! I did the water test and based off the description I thought I was low porosity. I ended up coming across a video that’s said “you may not be low porosity, you may just have product buildup & need to clarify”. When I clarified I found that my hair acted very differently! Then I began thinking I may just have medium porosity, until just this past weekend when I let my hair air dry with no product & saw just how fast it dried. This video further confirmed my assumptions! Thank you!
Wow I’m glad to hear it! Yes it’s so crazy how quickly our hair actually dries with no product hopefully it helps xx
OMG!!!! I'm in the same boat, I also did the water test years ago and it stayed at the top so I thought I was "low porosity" but recently my hair has been extremely dry throughout the years so I went back to the basics and started back researching low/high porosity hair and BAM!!!!! I saw a video and ALL the signs represented that I have high porosity hair..
1) Soaks up water easily
2)Dries quickly (in air dry phase)
3) Dries quickly after moisturizering
4) Get a single strand of your hair,start from end to root rubbing your fingers in-between the strand and if you feel little bulbs on the strand that's another sign of high porosity hair.
@@blackmoongoddess12 literally same!! I used to think my hair strand was smooth, but I feel the ridges now!
I did the water test just now. some of the strands are on the surface, some are in the middle and some of them are below/ So I am very confused also
@@sasquelle hmm 🤔 I recently did the water test again and my hair stayed at the top AGAIN lol It could be the water....I live in Phoenix and found out that the water here is extremely hard which is very bad on my high porosity hair but when I lived down south my hair would stay moisturized for days because the water is much softer😭 I hope that helps hon!
Keep people delusional, they'll get confused. Keep people informed, they'll think you're a hater. Let them learn their lesson, they'll learn from what you already said and genuinely claim they didn't learn from you.
Finally! Thank you, all the misinformation spreading via TH-cam and social media is frightening and sad. Always knew I had high porosity very fine hair but the natural hair community would say I’m low porosity.
Thank you girl! Glad it helped xxx
You’re exactly right. This is what I was trying to explain to my sister. My hair is coily when soaking wet, but as soon as I squeeze the water out, the curls start to frizz and about an hour later if I don’t put gel in it, it turns into a giant frizz ball or “Afro”.
The reason our hair is so dry is because it’s high porosity, hydration is what brings out our coils and curls, but our hair doesn’t hold onto the water, leaving it dry and frizzy.
The reason why European hair appears to dry quicker and absorb water easier is because it’s so thin, they barely have any hair compared to us. But their hair holds onto hydration much better because most of them have low porosity. Asian hair is similar, but their hair is much thicker of course.
I’ll also state that one thing that can temporarily change the porosity of your hair is the products that you’re using and specifically the ingredients in those products. For example, If you have gel in your hair, it makes your hair hold onto hydration longer, so your hair will take a longer time to dry. This does not mean you have low porosity hair.
Literally this! my hair would take 2 days to air dry if i put thick products and gel in - I used to think i was very low porosity until i realised the same with no product our hair does not hold onto water at all! which is partially why we need the products in the first place!xxx
Thank you for this because i was so confused. Every thing i read made it sound like i had low porosity hair (the test) but i actually saw my own hair under a microscope in highschool science class, and i saw my hair follicle looked like a high porosity follicle next to a white persons hair which looked like low porosity. This provided a lot of clarity
This was very informative. Thank you.
I noticed a lot of people are pretty defensive in the comments. I have a theory about why that may be the case. Good hair vs bad hair is a deep issue in the black community. Bad hair is supposedly very tightly coiled, dry, short, and don’t be dark skin with all those characteristics too. Good hair is supposedly silky, loose curls, long, and often attributed to one’s blackness being diluted in some way. We’ve continued to add criteria to each side, and porosity is just one of the newer criteria to use to place our hair into categories of good or bad instead of just appreciating it for what it is. I think the people that are defensive about possibly/likely having high porosity hair have some internalized bias or colorism/texturism to work through. High porosity hair is often improperly associated with damaged, bad hair. Not many people know you can actually be born with high porosity hair. And it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s damaged.
Omg so well said!! I high porosity doesn’t mean damaged by any means it just means it’s high porosity our hair is going to flourish regardless xxx
As a natural hairstylist, I don't agree. I have clients that have different hair porosity. As black people we have different hair textures, it's not a one size fit all. Because of our kinks, curls and coils the natural oils our scalp produces do not travel down the shaft of our hair strands and that results in our hair being dry. The straighter your hair is, the easier it is to maintain. When I get I silk press I don't need to moisture my hair as often because my natural oils do that for me and my hair stays soft without using much of anything.The minute I do too much, my hair reverts. When my hair is not straight I have to use products to retain moisture as the oils only travel but so far. There are also different things that can change your hair porosity like lightening and coloring your hair. The best thing to do is to learn what your hair likes and stick to a simple hair routine with little to no manipulation, but that's just my opinion.
Yes it’s definitely a spectrum, there is no one size fits all necessarily. but there’s a difference between greasy and moisturised the sebum we produce coats the hair strand for protection it’s not a moisturiser. Straight hair plays a big role in sebum retention but a black person with straight hair can go weeks without washing yet a Caucasian/Asian with straight hair can only last a few days max. before it getting extremely greasy. The difference here is the smoothness of the surface of the hair, same with relaxed hair the texture is straight yet it is very dry (relaxers increase porosity even more) so I agree texture plays a huge role but not as much as we think& also silk pressed hair is very dry, just because it feels on the surface nourished doesn’t mean it’s not dry, that’s why our hair naturally wants to revert back by sucking moisture from the atmosphere/products & yes simple routine is KEY!👑
So true our hair behave differently because black pot hair are so diverse....I love the diversity.....however what works for you may not work for me
What you're describing is a diverse spectrum of very porous hair👀
Same. I’ve been licensed for 13 years and this isn’t factual. Products don’t know what color you are. Not all bald people have kinky hair and not all white peoples have straight hair. All porosity means is the ability for moisture to absorbed.
Wow hair stylist with a license from a few months in a hair styling program want accept scientific facts from a scientist lol be careful who you let in your hair. 🤦🏽♀️
I've been spending a lot of time trying to understand this whole porosity thing, and I've just come across your video... your are the first person talking about porosity with some evidence. Thanks a lot !
You’re welcome x
This information makes so much sense. I know some may disagree but if you feel your hair is very low porosity then treat it as such. It’s like when I told my doctor that chocolate breaks out my skin. He said there is no science base on chocolate causing acne. However, if you break out after eating chocolate, don’t eat it.
This is the video natural hair TH-cam has needed for years.
It may be too late I fear!😭😭
I have been Natural since 2008 and I have always used youtube to decide how to care for my hair. I remember when the porosity theory was introduced there was A LOT OF PUSHBACK. Women were saying the same thing Nadine is say but in a less scientific way. It just didn't make sense but somehow or community became convinced.
Makes you wonder about programming, marketing etc.
Anyway great video !
Was literally searching for products to use on low porosity and hair and came across this video because it caught my eye. And honestly the things you are pointing out make a lot of sense. I look forward to watching part 2 of this for more information.
Glad you enjoyed the video hun and hope it helps in your natural hair journey!🤍🤍
Wow..for my whole natural hair journey, I thought I was low porosity due to the strand test and the idea that low porosity = dry hair. But I recently came across a tiktok of someone explaining high porosity and felt like those were more of the characteristics of my hair. I had to revisit this whole porosity thing and came across your video which confirmed my suspicion and all this false information going around in the hair community. Really hope that now understanding that my hair is high porosity, I can properly take care of my hair
I’m Puerto Rican and I knew this intuitively. You NAILED IT!!!!!
Thanks for the video. What you're saying makes perfect sense. I think the reason you are getting so much pushback is that BW have been saturated with this concept of high/low porosity as a result of social media. On the surface, it made sense because our hair can be so different. No matter what I do to my daughter's hair it looks dry the day after wash day. However, my hair retains moisture longer but will dry out quickly if I wear it in a twist out or wash and go. In comparison, most Asians and Caucasians don't add moisture because they don't need it as it weighs their hair down. So basically, we need to approach our hair care in a totally different way. Problem is where do we start, as many of us are already confused as to the best method to care for our hair. With your background and knowledge, you should consider developing a new system...🙃
Oh absolutely! I think we really want answers in regards to our hair and we’re willing to a lot into a box that didn’t make all the way sense… I’m glad you enjoyed the video 🤍🤍🤍
I actually accept this I receive this information it all makes sense!! I think there is a spectrum in each category however we are in that category
If I’m not low porosity I feel like there has to be another language we can use to define what our hair type is when it comes to it takin in/out moisture. I have friends that need to use cream every other day, while some of us only need to 2/3 times a month. I don’t think I have low porosity in a global way enough to compare it to another race, but I do think some of us do need less moisture then others in the black community
So true! High porosity is definitely a spectrum, I compared with other races because porosity is race specific xx
@@naturalnadinee so do you have a better way I could say thta? or is it just saying that I have low high porosity hair?
I agree. We need a new naming system. I thought my hair was low porosity but looking back it makes no sense🤦🏽♀️
@@naturalnadinee I'm black but my mother is mixed race. My hair is low porosity. I will say I'm 25% Irish or less.
I think we can still use the terms low-high porosity as a way of describing our hair, but only as related to black hair. If we’re looking at porosity in a broader sense (across races) then the system is less helpful and confusing. So for example in a broader sense a black person would be high porosity as compared to an Asian person, but in a more confined and less broad perspective, that same black person would be low porosity as compared to another black person
We honestly need more people like you: educated black female scientists who are not out to con the black natural hair community! This is amazing info! I kept testing my hair and sometimes it would sink and sometimes it would swim and I was honestly about to lose my mind… Omg. I knew something wasn’t right.
Wow thank you so much 🥺🤍 glad it helped somebodyyyy
@@naturalnadineemy hair stays swimming.
@@divestedkonservativekarame4269 sponges also float in water but are great at absorbing it because something floating in water has nothing to do with its porosity but it’s density xx
Very interesting video. I was glued from beginning to end lol. I love how you used scientific research to back up your views on porosity. Makes me rethink my whole hair care routine. Thank for this valuable information.
Thank you! I’m so glad it made sense cause I never know if I just sound like im talking jibberish!🤣
@@naturalnadinee you were perfect 🤌🏻 thank you so much. New subscriber 💯
Why isn’t this viral?!
Excellent information! The more I watch these videos, the more I am inclined to listen largely to the scientific experts, like yourself!
I could hug you. You clarified 50 years of poor quality information
I am a Chemical Engineer, and sincerely this is the best I have ever heard about our African hair. Now this makes sense., keep up the good work sis.
Omg Yass love that! Thank you so much!🤍🤍
The thing is African hair is very diverse because of mix genes what works for you may not work for me. We have Afro kinky Africans to curly African hair type
This channel is a goldmine...I am surprised it hasn't blown up yet! I recently learned about water damage and how your hair shouldn't be wet for more than an hour--so I learned this whole drying process of how you should hold your blow dryer 9 cm away from your head and only blow dry your hair for 1 minute at a time and give it 1 minute to rest and repeat, but the whole time I was thinking about this I noticed it was a study done in Korea and given how different Korean and Black hair is I was wondering you if you had any insight on water damage and air-drying vs. blow drying.
I found out what it's called: "hygral fatigue" I think.
Hey hun & thank you so much! And I mentioned this in another video I will always blow dry, not only does wet hair give hygral fatigue, wet hair is also weak and prone to damage, drying your hair as quickly as possible is always best in my opinion and research does back this up. If people fear heat damage or excessive dryness from blow drying then they can always use lower heat xxx
Okay great thanks for the response. I am currently binging your videos so I am sure I will see this one soon!@@naturalnadinee
Now I know why my Asian (non Indian) hair extensions last the longest ! There hair is invincible!
As a nurse, I believe in scientific research. You have enlightened me to do even more research. Thank you for sharing. ♥️
Interesting perspective, I consider myself low porosity and I never moisturize mid week 😅 unless ofc it is damaged and has become high porosity. If my hair is dry it needs to be washed and hasn’t been washed in 1-2 weeks. ATP it’s dehydrated 😂 My hair won’t absorb anything unless warm water is added anyhow😅 cold water makes my hair instantly feel like straw & tangle & it won’t absorb and product goin forward, it will just sit on top. When I rub an individual strand up vs down there is little to no difference in feel on most strands smooth both ways. Compared to when my hair was damaged there was a significant difference (rubbing upward felt significantly rougher) and that’s how I knew it was high porosity b/c of the damage. My hair is protein sensitive whereas people who have high porosity require it more often. Black people are very diverse. For reference I have majorly 4a dense but fine hair. Crown is 4c & very coarse. Back is 3c. If i treated my hair like high porosity my hair would instantly turn to straw & break off 😆 something tells me their database have very few samples of not only natural but healthy black hair. These the same people that only recently added type 4 to the curl typing chart 😆 My hair has luster despite my naturally dusty brown hair color. Especially when blown out/ straightened with no oil/ serum needed. I wouldn’t go so far as to say my hair is as low in porosity as an Asians. Fact of the matter is porosity is a spectrum & based on how it feels and behaves my hair is most certainly on the lower end of the spectrum, just not the lowest 🤷🏾♀️ I will say I find low porosity to be rare in our community, most people just have product buildup like you said 😂 even in my family, I’m the only 1 with low porosity & look at me crazy when I tell them I can’t use cold water or only moisturize every 1-2 weeks. Also in the summer as a FL resident I wash more often, absolutely once a week b/c the sun WILL cook all the moisture out 😂
Well damn. This is so informative and makes so much sense! I have been spinning with the low, normal, high porosity stuff. Thank you for taking the time to present the information.
Thank you! Sometimes I feel like I raced ahead and didn’t explain properly! Thank you🤍🤍
Also, please do a video on tips for caring for high porosity hair. Thanks!
Will do!🤍
ITS OFFICIAL! I’ll be filming a part 2.0 of this video with a deep dive into the research papers I used to get here! A lot of you have been asking and skeptical about this video, my next video will clarify absolutely ALL of your questions! Stay tuned loves 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
WOW, shocking information, but as a new natural it makes so much sense, I have to moisturize my hair every other day or sometimes every day and I am here thinking something is wrong with my hair why its not retaining moisture for even 2-3 days ....wow wow. this information is really food for thought. thank you. I'm about to watch Part 2
Wow really glad you enjoyed and found it helpful hopefully it can help you navigate your hair journey!🤍🤍🤍
You are definitely low porosity.
I was high porosity when I had a perm my hair will drink up product but now that I'm natural it won't absorb unless I use warm water to open up the hair shaft.
You need to use a gel. Gel makes our hair hold onto water longer.
I think what is important is if fellow naturalistas are able to understand how their hair retains moisture to serve as a basis for the types of products (thick or liquidy and in-between) that will help them with hair length retention, strength and resilience. I think describing porosity high, low and in between helps to identify that for many who have not yet cracked the code for their hair. Although I have 2 sisters (same parents), how our hair retains moisture are each very different. Water sits on my hair during a wash unless I squeeze/press it in and so does heavy thick cremes. As children our mother used the same heavy products on all 3 of our heads, my 2 sisters hair thrived with waist length hair and mine did not. However, as an adult, once I understood more about my hair in that it is indeed low porosity and figured out how to get and keep moisture in with lighter products like aloe vera and peppermint oil, it started to finally thrive.
@Trinity M I think when you compare low porosity for straight hair versus curly hair is where you lose me. If you check out webmd description of low porosity the site does not delineate between straight hair vs curly hair the criteria to make the determination is the float test and the spray test to determine if and how well the strand of hair in question absorbs water. If you can point to the scientific reference that makes the distinction in only associating low porosity with straight hair let me know. There are other TH-camrs like power in your curls and others who have given solid advice on products for low po’s like me. So just bc this does not apply to you does not mean that it can’t possibly apply to others
What I got from this was that because a majority* of Afro hair is delicate, compared to other ethnicities its more prone to have raised cuticles thus most Afro textures are prone to high porosity. While those whose hair is less damaged have less raised cuticles thus lower porosity...
HENCE the spectrum and how not one size fits all...thus a percentage of black people do in fact have low porosity hair 🤔 myself included as I tick all characteristics....so... full circle huh.
Including the fact that I rarely have to moisturise my hair in fact the only time I moisturise my hair is washday which is once a month...
*majority: i.e. not all
THANK YOU!!!! I was over here writing a whole essay about qualifying words like, how hard is it to say "most" instead of "all" or "You might not have low porosity hair"? And especially when it comes to research I always wonder the details of the participants in the study. Did they really get the full range and variety of afro texture hair? How many people were a part of the study? You have black women making whole TH-cam videos and rants about whether a certain person is really x y or z hair type or not. Our hair is not a monolith and it is not that simple. My hair is a mixture of fine and coarse with varying sizes of tight coils and I am also a true low porosity gal and do not have to re-moisturize my hair again until wash day. If I moisturize and seal properly, it stays moisturized. Also, while afro hair CAN be delicate, there are plenty of natural ladies out there with super thick, hard to break strands as well. I am just over blanket statements. I'm tired of the typing system, the circle system, scientific studies, and whatever else someone comes up with to try and categorize black people's hair with. There are way more types than any chart or scientific study can name. And porosity is a spectrum AND you have have more than one porosity on the same head. I have extremely tight coils but my hair hangs when it's wet, and it doesn't shrink up much at all when it dries (even with no product). What study does that fit into? People, at the end of the day just need to learn their hair, how it behaves, how to best retain moisture and do what works for them to reach their hair goals. Most things aren't one size fits all and that is certainly true for black hair. Think about it this way, I have been natural for ages and have watched tons of natural hair videos and read natural hair blogs and follow natural hair bloggers and in the past 20+ years I have only found ONE person who I could call my hair twin and we would be fraternal hair twins at that.
@@cleopatra7396 THANK YOU AS WELL! Thank you so much, I wrote the og comment while knowing none of these viewers would even care and they would just eat this up the way they eat everything up they're spewed at never taking the time to spot the video makers logical fallacies nor even think about the characteristics listed of low porosity hair to see if their hair fits those categories.
The Lady is very misleading and is on a whole 'since me and this percentage of black people are like this, even though the experiment did not even begin to cover the many different types of Afro hair. Then EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU ARE LIKE THIS which obviously is not true .
(also off topic/maybe petty: a study for criminal detection ? Even though as a community we aren't focused on in studies this annoyed me (you're telling me the only study for black hair porosity isn't only extremely limited but one based on criminal detection? (And yes I know they tested other races) but stil dang.
Sorry for the rant lol.
@@cleopatra7396 plus a black lady I can name off the top of my head with low porosity hair (in alignment with the characteristics she stated) which can't be disputed is someone such as ebonyscurly.
THANK YOU SIS THANK YOU. And I have low porosity hair. I don't have to re moisturize throughout the week because it doesn't need it. This info not good for BW who has low porosity hair like noooo.
@@lawsome2068 THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This makes a lot of sense. I appreciate you taking the time to break this down for us. If you ever develop your own product line, I will certainly without a doubt purchase from you because there is literally a science behind everything with our bodies, hair, skin, nails, etc. I plan to look into ways to balance the PH in my hair/scalp. I really appreciate you for this. Thank you again for sharing! 💕
Thank you!! We definitely deserve more science & research based haircare!xx
I love that you have a science background! Thank you for breaking this down so well!
Really appreciated your lucid scientific perspective on taking care of your hair backed by research on our hair's chemistry. Keep up the good work :-)
Makes sense! Thank you for providing scientific facts and visual support for your claim.
Thank you 🤍🤍
Thank you so much for this video. I learned a WHOLE lot from it. I always knew my hair was high porosity. I have to use 3 things to help my hair stay moist after I wash it; spray bottle with water, oil my scalp once a week, use a moisturizing lotion or cream and hair grease alone the shaft and ends of my hair to keep it from breaking off. My hair is extremely dry. I am in my late 50's and use henna and indigo to dye my hair and that is very drying also.
This makes so much sense! Thank you so much for sharing this. I just found your page and have already learned a lot!
OMG! Super helpful info. Thanks for explaining. This video should be viral and mandatory for all naturals. As a logical science-minded person, this porosity issue FINALLY makes sense.
EVERY BLACK WOMAN NEEDS TO WATCH YOUR VIDEO! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! AND YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, SMART AND AN ELOQUENT SPEAKER!! Much love 💕 🎀💖💕💗😇
Awww 🥺🥺 eloquent speaker that is actually so nice! Thank you so much 🤍🤍🤍
How do you only have 2k views? This should be viral
Makes sense, finding the right products and more importantly using them in the right manner, thanks love!
Yess for sure using them correctly! Thank you 🤍🤍🤍
Many people don't read instructions on products lol
i think part of the reason people with straight hair don’t need moisturizers is due to that they can get away with shampooing and conditioning way more often. not that they just straight up don’t moisturize.
and afro hair doesn’t get less shine because of porosity. it’s be it’s curled up. we get a similar shine with styles like waves for example when we lay our curls down flat so that light can bounce off easier and give that silky look. not a porosity thing
My hair isn't straight it's 2c/3a, low porosity, and medium texture. My hair is so moisturized on its own that I don't even need conditioner. Meanwhile, I have a friend with very healthy undamaged straight hair but has much coarser strands and needs to use a lot of conditioner and leave in.
Thanks for sharing. Makes sense how relaxing can really wreck the hair and make it even drier.
100% I think heat training or being a Straight haired natural is a much better alternative, relaxers almost strip all the cuticle layers and leave hair cortex exposed in some areas xxx
I think you are expressing everything I’ve been feeling about the natural hair community. For years I’ve been confused and thinking I’m the only black person with high porosity since everyone else claims they have low porosity hair. When they wash their hair I can tell the hair repels water because of heavy products. Thank you for further information. I was using the LOCO (distilled water, light oil, cream, heavy oil or pomade) method to moisturize my hair which has worked for me. But I still need to do better at keeping my hair moisturized. I’m going to go back to acv rinses and attempt to use aloe and a little more protein to see if that works.
Honestly I feel you! I also thought I was low porosity at one point until I further understood why my hair behaves a certain way and did the research. Yes ACV rinses and low PH products will be your best friend for moisture retention and the more you train your hair to retain moisture the easier it will get over time hope it all starts to work! Xxxx
Finally this makes sense! I watched so many videos and read so many articles on porosity trying to figure it out and it never made sense to me for many reason you just explained.
Thank you!🤍🤍
You've just saved me from spending £££ on low porosity products. I thought id finally found the secret to what was holding my hair back but i was skeptical because there is no way my hair has anything in common with caucasian hair. Thank you so much for this ❤
I’m glad! && right! That was the lightbulb moment for me nothing similar to Caucasian hair at all xx
WOW THANX FOR THIS VIDEO..THIS NEEDS TO BE VIRAL!
Thank you!🤍
Very informative and it makes sense .going to check out part 2. Thank you soo much for sharing your knowledge
Yeahh I feel like Part 2 makes everything come full circle😭 thank you babe🤍🤍
@@naturalnadinee So why does my hair not allow certain oils in. Even if it’s in a product, my hair will still be dry compared to the same exact product with a different oil. I used Cantù coconut oil and it wouldn’t hydrate my hair, but I used the same product with argon and it melted in.
@@naturalnadinee Also I have to use heat to condition my hair or there’s no difference. It literally feels like nothing changed lol
Subscribed. Everything you said was sounded factual and motivated by emotion
Thank you for saying emotion not anger 😭😭 people keep saying I’m angry, I’m just passionate welcome to the gang!🤍🤍🤍
Oh my goodness! Thank you so so much for THIS. I did that water test and my hair floated on top for hours so then I thought OK, it must be low porosity. But, I was also very convinced my hair was high porosity by the way it behaved. ie loses moisture very easily and loves protein. So now I get it. It ALL makes sense. You are awesome! 👍🏽❤️😍 BTW, loving your hair ❤️
Yesss that hair porosity test needs to go in the bin! Glad you enjoyed the video and found it helpful🥺❤️ & thank you ❤️❤️
The best crude test I've done and has given me accurate results so far is clarifying my hair with shampoo and then leaving it to air dry after blotting with my T-shirt.
It dried within 2 hours which made me realise that I'm medium to high porosity.
Boom. Makes so much freakin sense! 👏👏👏👏 And I taught middle school science and yes DENSITY is what determines whether something will float or sink like👏 you 👏 said 👏 density and buoyancy
Yes! I don’t know where it came from that it determines porosity 😭 x thanks hun 🤍
🤯 This is absolutely game changing information right here! I always knew I was high porosity just because the way my hair behaves and always wondered what was wrong with my hair because most black women were claiming low porosity. Turns out I was normal all along.😁
I just got the Chi Enviro Smoothing treatment almost a week ago and so far I am absolutely loving it! It's basically a semi permanent cuticle sealer (wears off in about 4 months). Just doing this has had a very positive impact on the the breakage, dryness, and excessive tangles I was having. I am experiencing what it's like to have low porosity hair. I guess I'll fake it 'til I make it.🤭
This is something for people to look into if they don't want to be bothered with applying products regularly to achieve this. There's lots of videos on TH-cam about smoothing treatments. Just 2-3 treatments should keep you covered all year. Also, Chi is not the only smoothing treatment out there. Avlon and Design Essentials both make one. This treatment should be a staple in black salons but I'm guessing because it's more time consuming is why we don't see it too often. Excellent video, subscribed!
Society has made you believe you should have low porosity hair. NO! it's better to have high porosity because that's your hairs protection from the environment. People of color have the most protection. Just like your skin. It's melanin is it's protection. Ppl wake up.
It also have normal porosity hair which no one talks about
You definitely cannot do a wash and go and leave the house with wet hair for the first 2-4 weeks after the chi enviro treatment unless you wanna walk around smelling like rotten egg and sewage water.
Do they finish the treatment with a flat iron? If so, I had something similar done, but it only worked the first time for me. I even surpassed my length plateau and I loved it so much.
It gave me the hair I've always dreamed of, but the second and third time I got it done, I didn't get the same results.
I brokenheartedly went back to fully natural. The heat damage just wasn't worth it 🤕
I have no clue why the treatment stopped working and I haven't been able to get an answer from hairstylists in my area when I bring it up 🤷🏻♀️
I loved this video! I hope you continue to do educational videos about Black hair. Perhaps, do one on silicones in Black hair---so many people say no silicones at all, but I would love to hear a chemical engineer perspective.
Wow yes! I will have to because there can definitely be place for silicones!! Thank you🤍
Lab muffin, Afope Atoyebi and Curly Chemistry all have a video on silicone and nothing is wrong if you use silicone. Just clarify your hair often.💖
@@naturalnadinee thanks for this video, sis💖💖
This is what I don’t understand. My mother and aunts and I’m sure their mothers knew nothing about low or high porosity hair. As little girls, my mother and aunts used homemade items to shampoo their hair and no conditioner. They probably used hair oil made from animal fat, maybe lard. When y mother got married and a little hair products began to be more available, not much, they used that. She, my aunts and they washed our hair once a month, comb and braided our hair in ponytails and air dried out hair overnight, and pressed our hair the next day. Didn’t know anything about a blow dryer. She used V-O5 shampoo on my hair because it was cheap and it was available. Never used conditioner. She used Blue Bergamot to oil my scalp. My mother, aunts, there daughters and myself all had long hair. My mother and her sister could sit on her hair. When I grew up and took over my hair care, I begin using special products, conditioners, blow drying… relaxers and I noticed I started having issues with my hair. I moved from Indiana where it was humid, and lived to Colorado where it’s extremely dry. I had major issues with dryness. I oiled my hair one day, and the next day, it was dry as if I never liked my scalp. I get chapped lips, my skin is always dry no matter what you apply. I drink 8-13 cups of water! I was told by a hair care professional to get a relaxer. Nothing worked and nothing has worked. I have been living in Colorado for over 40 years and no change. My point is, while things were so simple when I was a little girl and alone it’s my moms hair in doing just a simple hair wash and hair beautiful long and thick hair. Everything is so complicated now. Too many products and so much advice concerning everything and lot of disagreements. Just my opinion!! But it does make sense to wash the hair using clarifying shampoo and test for porosity without any hair products makes perfect sense to really know for sure!
🤦🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️😜🤪 😞☹️😖😩
This video helped me so much... I felt so insecure for like more than a year thinking my hair was low porosity after doing that water and hair test. trying to change the products I used, knowing my family and friends had such healthy hair and would shame me for my “low porosity” hair. Thanks so much, I’ve learnt so much ❤ New subscriber, and you showed evidence spoke facts🙂
Thank you hun & welcome I’m glad it acc made sense 😭🤍
Never heard this before and it was truly eye opening. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise and perspective with us!
Glad you enjoyed!🤍
I’m so happy I’ve found you, I literally am in the process of this porosity test and my hair has been floating on top of the water for hours, yet I’ve always been told I was low porosity smh.. every product I usually buy is low porosity so now I know. Thanks this makes so much sense now, I appreciate the information..
Thank you so much!🤍🤍
Also I love your name🤣
You described my hair exactly. I have always thought that I was high porosity hair, with different levels of high porosity all over my head. The crown area is the worst, and it is a different texture from the front. The front is a different texture from the back also and the back is the best texture on my head. I wish that all of my hair had the texture of the back. It stays moisturized longer. The density is thicker, and it does what I want it to do. The back of my hair can take hours to dry, but the front and the crown dry very quickly.
Oh the joys of having numerous porosities in one head of hair🤣 you gotta love it! But sounds like you have worked out what works for your hair which is perfect xx
Sounds like my hair! My back is my fav too.
My head is exactly the same. I wish all the hair on my head is the same as the hair at the back or near the nape of my neck
Best freaking video on TH-cam hands down!!! Definitely subscribing❤❤❤
Thank you girl! More to come🤍🤍
Your hair looks so much better before your new hair sealing technique. Your curl pattern looked healthier. Now it looks damaged
This wasn’t my curl pattern😭 was a braid out but… thanks??
I am so glad that you wrote this comment because I thought that I was missing something: her hair looked beautiful in the first photo.
You are most definitely on to something...I'm fully invested in your explanation on porosity.
Thank you! Part 2 explains the science a bit better too xx
This video is helpful because the natural hair community had me confused. For the longest time I didn't think I had low porosity hair because I didn't have all the signs, mainly that it doesn't take as long to dry or get wet. After struggling to find products that work for me, I eventually realized that maybe my hair is low porosity. Treating my hair like it's low porosity has been a game changer. My hair needs very little moisture. I can shampoo it and use no conditioner or leave in, and it will still be soft and shiny. This video explains a lot. Now I know why I don't have all the signs of "low porosity". I'm caucasian with 2c/3a hair, and my hair has not been damaged or chemically treated, so of course my hair is low porosity.
I love this because I have been so sick of comments from black people saying "curl pattern doesn't matter. what matters is if your hair is low porosity or high porosity" and it's like... no it doesn't because all our hair is high porosity so...
Oh wow. Why they put us all in box like that lol. Black people have all different kind of textures. Do you think they mis-identify races at times? Seems like authorities have a baseline of what would be seen as the typical type of hair for certain races, which is understandable I guess. Because I have much more curly frizzy hair than my siblings; one has straighter wavy hair, doesn't really get frizzy at all. Also, LOVE the science terms!!! Helped me with the understanding a lot I didn't know about my hair and others. Can't wait to pass your channel on to others, thank you!!
Difference in textures exist in all races. They put us in that one box because all black peooles hair looks like this under a microscope. I would say it’s easier to mismatch identity of an Asian/Caucasian that it would be for a blacks person even then I’ve never heard it happen because the differences are very obvious. Frizz doesn’t really have much to do with it, all hair porosities can be prone to frizz regardless of race, && thank you!🤍
@@naturalnadinee Ohhh okay. Just so I’m not confused, even a black person with a different hair texture (straight, wavy, curly) it would still show that person is black?
100% it’s very obvious to see racial specific differences regardless if the person has 3A hair or 4c hair
@@missyjayjay1 Yes the person is still black but they have mixed genes hair...
I've just started my true hair journey to get my curls poppin. I've watched so many videos and couldn't really figure out if my hair was high or low porosity. This has helped tremendously.
Wow! This video has changed the way I see my hair. All this time I've been thinking I had low porosity hair, what a waste. Now, I will treat my hair as high porosity all the time going forward and buy my hair products accordingly. Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
This makes so much sense! I thought I had low porosity hair. Now the question is how the heck do I get my hair to maintain moisture? 🧐
Girl me too!! I explain more in this video how to help your hair retain moisture better th-cam.com/video/i2yC224q0KA/w-d-xo.html
Try using warm/hot water to open your hair shaft this will help absorb more product. If you believe your hair is really low porous.
Never understood the water test so I honestly gave up learning my porosity. It took me sitting there and realizing that I have open cultiles (hence the frizz and constant dryness of the scalp)
Your video is so informative. Thank you
I believe you sis. I was never sure of my porosity. No complaints over here.
Wow, this video was so informative. I've never even been interested in this porosity contest naturalistas usually have. I never even cared to find out what it even means to have low/high porosity hair. I've always just focused on growing healthy hair and finding or even making my own products in my kitchen that work for my hair, acv being one of those products. Honestly I don't even like putting oil in my hair cause it always feels so weighed down and somehow dries up very quickly as opposed to when I don't put oil in it. I will oil my scalp every now and then if I feel I need to, but I don't generally use oil on my hair shaft. Thank you, you've answered questions I never even knew I had. 🌹
Thank you hun! I’m glad you found it helpful 🤍🤍
Sister🥰, you nailed it. It's simple and these are facts. I am of Afro Puerto Puerto RIcan descent. I am a mix of Black, Indigenous, and European, my hair is very high porosity. My hair is coily. I love how you explained everything. It was great. This is exactly why natural curly and coily hair needs moisture. Love this. You are also very beautiful. Well done
As a child my auntie would scratch my scalp the night b4 wash day. She'd wash my hair with warm water until it squeaked. Then worked in the conditioner. After she would use Royal Crown and put it in braids. My hair grew like crazy. Makes sense
Awesome information!!!
Edit: I did the strand test and my hair at first floated, then sunk, then floated again! 😂😂😂 Our hair is porous.
Brilliant and well articulated with facts!
... but here's the thing: there's a whole movement who believes what was out there and there is a multi million dollar industry that has been built around those beliefs. There are those who will argue but never with the use of any science to refute what you've said. And that's not a black people thing; it's just a people thing.
I've also realized that people want the end result but not the journey. That's why they will watch videos with people who have "black" hair as far away from the African phenotype as possible and use the products pushed by those people because they feel that those products will get them that hair!
Still, thanks for sharing this. Eventually people will come around...It will take time for them to understand that hair is just not that complicated and that black hair is not an offshoot of white hair (which is what has been studied and taught) but is just its own category.
Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for this! It’s so true industries are being built over what’s being fed in our own hair. Black hair deserves it own separate categories and research and development instead of trying to put us in the same box as Asians and Caucasian hair.. baby steps but it’ll get better !🤍🤍🤍
Y'all if you have protein-sensitive hair, you are low porosity, many black peoples who have protein-sensitive hair and coarse hair your hair is healthy and your cuticles are tightly packed and smooth out that's why its resistant to excess protein other then high porosity needs proeteoj because out cuticles are highly raised and gaps in between so moisture is not able to hold within the hair! If you have dry hair it's because your products you use and the way to are using the and your routine needs to change products build dries hair
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1047847718303083#!
Research Paper
Variation in human hair ultrastructure among three biogeographic populations - (Sandra L.KochMark D.ShriverNina G.Jablonski , Jan 2019)
Read this research paper if you want to better understand porosity. Cuticular pattern , number of cuticle layers , cuticular adhesion and cuticle thickness has a greater effect on porosity than whether they’re open or closed. Porosity is not as simple as you think. Also black people dont have coarse hair. Lots of reserah on that and cosmetologists will tell you that
If you can’t access the paper I go through it in this video
th-cam.com/video/7Z3rCU97rQk/w-d-xo.html
Also on the protein bit low porosity hair is not protein sensitive because it does not absorb the protein at a higher rate. Being protein sensitive is a sign of high porosity hair
th-cam.com/video/FdibNiB2VFk/w-d-xo.html
I explain in this video more. Watch it or don’t, but no misinformation in my comments please because it seems all your views are based on TH-cam guru university and not actual facts
You’re definitely forgetting that those studies do not determine whether the African- American people included in those studies were relaxed, damaged, or virgin natural (no heat, no relaxer). Remember that Relaxed / heat damaged hair was most definitely the trend for a while; therefore, damaging that cuticle and making it very high porosity. Doing those things to your hair will indeed damage that cuticle to the max. So that’s incorrect. Black people can naturally have low porosity hair if it’s untouched.
They do. All virgin hair there’s even studies that relax all 3 hair types to see the difference but my next video will explain way better than I have here! Xx
I would have to agree with you because I have low porosity hair but when I bleached my hair it became high porosity. Chemicals change hair drastically! Especially chemicals used in bleach, dye, perms and relaxers. With all the different racial mixtures over the years someone of the Afro diaspora may have a way diff porosity type than someone who is from Africa with very little to no mixture. Also environmental changes effect hair on a whole other level. And porosity would definitely be on a spectrum low porosity for ppl of Afro decent would be considered a whole different kind of low porosity than people of Asian decent. Also the way hair distributes moisture based on hair texture is different. Straight hair stays moisturized longer because the natural oils from the scalp have an easier time getting down the hair shaft vs curly or kinky hair!This topic needs a bit more study.
@@preciosaarlisia yes they do as I mentioned before the study was done on all virgin hair samples no dyes, chemical treatments or anything like that we definitely need more study but the very fact that our hair gets dry over time is the big teller of high porosity but so much more research needs to be done, we need the resources too it’s not easy to do such in depth research xxx
@@preciosaarlisia Fact 💯
@@naturalnadinee th-cam.com/video/lvw-GWCN8us/w-d-xo.html
great insight, how gorgeous you are! Im growing my hair so im learning so much. thank you
Thank you so much! And all the best on your hair journey too!xx
Thank you for making this video. I was convinced this whole time that I have low porosity hair
You helped so many of us lost ones boo keep it up! Now I know where to look, thank you!
I agree with a few points in this video, mainly how unreliable the cup test is and that you aren't always low porosity if product sits on your hair, but I think there are too many factors to definitively say Black people are "naturally" high-porosity and that we cannot have low porosity hair, especially based off of studies where there is no control. Our hair has been stigmatized to the point where we've had to damage it with irons, perms, relaxers, etc throughout our history in order to get jobs & attend school. Another term for high-porosity hair is damaged or processed hair, so that right there should tell us hair porosity isn't always a genetic factor, it's also environmental. This would support the claim that Black hair is on average more porous than other races, but not the claim that we cannot have low-porosity.
My hair was very high-porosity as a kid, but now as an adult it's changed a lot since I'm the one caring for it and not frying it to death/loading it with product for school. I cannot use coconut oil at all anymore, and if I do nothing to my hair (cause I have been lazy) it'll still take forever to dry and the next wash day forever to get wet, something that never happened when I was a kid. Just looking at my black friends & their hair, it's a mixed bag when it comes to the "silky shine" in their curls, which is influenced a lot but texture, not just porosity. Also, we can't really compare our moisture retention to Caucasian and Asian communities who wash their hair more frequently than we do, same folks who have called Black people dirty for going a week or longer without washing our hair because they don't understand our hair texture (or are just hateful).
I agree most with the other commenters that said low-porosity hair looks different on different hair textures and that low-porosity means getting moisture in is also challenging, so if you didn't moisture low-porosity hair the right way then yeah you're gonna have to remoisturize it because it didn't get in, that doesn't mean it's not low porosity. If most Black people have a varied hair textures, we can't say we're all high-porosity without an actually study on this. Even with the few examples you gave you only compared 2/5 African strands to the high-porosity model. To me saying Black people can't have low-porosity hair is like saying we can't have hair that isn't type 4, a mixture of hair types, or a hair color other than black. Genetics is too varied for that.
the fact that everything makes sense is crazy
Provocative claim, but you back it up with science! I’m guessing this is a spectrum and those of us who thought we had low porosity hair just had LESS high porosity hair than others? I usually don’t moisturize between wash days and rarely use any products at all, but my hair does take longer to get wet than some people’s with a seemingly similar texture. But you’re right that it doesn’t take THAT long to get wet and my hair does get dry after a week. I just don’t need to moisturize on a daily basis. I’ll definitely check part two!
Very provocative👀🤣 & yes it’s a spectrum. I’m the same I don’t moisturise in between wash day but by the time the week is done and wash day comes around my hair is dry and ready for remoisturising. I guess I’d class myself on the lower end of the high porosity spectrum but it’s clear that I’m high porosity nonetheless Thanks doll! let me know what you think of part 2 🤍🤍
This was a very good video because a lot of other yt on here are very misinformed.
Thank you!🤍🤍
These are facts! This video needs to go viral😱😱😱
Aww thank you! I feel like I didn’t explain it as well looking back but we move!🤍
@@naturalnadinee nah you explain it so well. Keep this information coming😁
I am so grateful. I thought l was low based on other hair videos but what you said made so much sense. Thank you so much...
Aww thanks I’m glad it helped xx
The chart in the beginning may be somewhat incorrect. I’ll explain. Asians usually have hair routines that they’ve been practicing for centuries. One example is using fermented rice water. Also they usually have a healthy diet. Caucasians usually have straight hair or very slight wavy hair. So like the Asians it’s straight, it’s also getting full sebum coverage. But at the same time Caucasians usually cleanse their hair daily and they are also big on using straightening tools almost daily. For example blow dryers and flat irons. So their hair cuticles is a little more raised than a lot of Asians. Lastly, people who have 4c type hair, or close to it have not always practiced healthy hair routines because they may have been told their hair is to rough and people may have comes through it roughly their entire childhood, they may have been relaxed and at shoulder length for years before figuring out these new things of caring for their type of hair. They may have used so much heat and products to lay down their curls that at some point the hair was so damaged and stressed that the cuticles are almost always raised and the hair always looks frizzy. All these examples could happen for any hair type. But these groups are the most dominate basically because of the ideas based behind each group hair care and upbringing. In short this chart will change in time as more and more people learn how to care for their hair. Not all 🖐🏾 have raised cuticles. Raised cuticles is a sign that the hair has not been treated nicely. It has nothing to with with being 🖐🏻 or 🖐🏾. It’s just that 🖐🏾 have it more because they usually handle it too rough, they don’t have patience when brushing it, they let it mat and build too much toxic product and dirt before cleaning and resetting it, or don’t take any time to care for it at all. Y’all know y’all be neglecting your hair and letting it tangle and get dry for days and weeks. Don’t say it’s genetics. That’s just like eating things that cause diabetes and blaming your grandparents genes. That’s not how genetics works. As babies most people are born free of health issues and hair issues. As time goes by it’s the parents and the child’s routines or lack of routine that cause health issues, skin issues, hair issues, and other issues. So they will need to change this chart if everyone starts having healthy hair in the future. Because many 🖐🏾 are finally learning how manage their hair correctly.
So I'm not crazy then or just too stupid to be unable to grasp my "hair porosity". My hair shows the same "supposedly" characteristics of both low and high porosity. It seems what the natural hair community is saying is low porosity is still high porosity.
There is an overlap in characteristics because people are misinformed on what low porosity actually is. Also in cosmetology porosity is rarely discussed (if ever). The only thing you want to know is how well your hair retains moisture
@@naturalnadinee and you find that out by your hairs porous level...
I literally found this video, after wondering if i was high porosity after all. Then your video popped up. Now i know thank you!
Thank you! 🤍🤍🤍
Part 2 of this video is out now. More in depth analysis into the sources it’s abit heavy on the science than this one so there’s that! Thank you all for the loveeee 🤍
BLACK PEOPLE CANT HAVE LOW POROSITY HAIR Pt.2! | The science behind african hair cuticles
th-cam.com/video/7Z3rCU97rQk/w-d-xo.html
Last time a european-american man described textured hair as fragile all hell broke loose, we appreciate your bravery lol
Hahah I will die on this hill Foreal😭 he was right tho textures hair is more fragile that other textures 🤷🏾♀️
I love this but there should be more research on WHY some of us have low porosity symptoms (I hope this is coming across right) versus our people whose hair receives water right away. I’m a cosmetologist so this is something that I’ve noticed, not saying it’s a problem, but there are definitely reasons that need to be documented because this is an area of research that I’ve never seen
I always thought I had low porosity hair but it makes so much sense. My husband is Asian and you're right about how their hair seals moisture so well that they hardly ever need to moisturize it. Comparing my hair to his, my hair is not shiny and easily gets dry. The cup of water test is a lie 😭 I've always referred to my hair as a "sponge".
I agree with you on the cup of water test, I've done mine countlessly and my freshly washed hair free from product buildup floated for hours and days but my hair takes in water quickly without me needing to squeeze it in also my hair doesn't retain moisture more than few minutes so these all got me confused 😂
Same. I’ve never understood the description of our hair because my hair can only be described as spongey and soft - it’s not rough/hard
@@hamletoduahofficial7647 it can be confusing at first.
@@maloneaqua well moistured hair well be sponge like and soft.
If your hair is not well moisturised it will always feel over dry.
You did such an amazing job explaining this!!! Excellent video!!!
Thank you!😭 It’s difficult to include all the bits in but I’m glad you enjoyed
Totally agree with you. Great job explaining! Thank you very much! 😊
Honestly, I’m Asian, but my moms side all have very wavy or curly hair. But I never really understood how to care for it cause curly hair isn’t the norm in Asia. Hence I’d be borrowing my African and Caribbean friends products or else my mom would just braid it tightly or I give up and get it relaxed again 🥲 so here I am again watching natural hair videos. And as a nerd I am so happy you include all these scientific facts about it. My hair literally looks matte sometimes. And I’m so jealous of the girlies with straight shiny hair. I can go a week or two without washing and it’s still dry af.