Porosity

Understanding porosity:
A highly important element to consider is hair porosity. Basically, having low porosity means your hair tends to repel water and is not as easily moisturized as high porosity. Which sounds great for those with high porosity except when your hair retains so much water like that, it requires more products. Curls feel and look dry and become frizzy. So to break it down. Low porosity repels moisture, yet retains it much longer. High porosity let’s it in, but has a hard time keeping it in. And both unfortunately, can result in dry hair, breakage, and frizz. But there is a separate solution for each.

Solutions:
High porosity- You will need lots of protein. Protein helps to seal in the moisture. Try to find a good protein treatment or conditioner with keratin, wheat, or silk protein. Reduce heat damage as much as possible. Try oil treatments with heavy oils like castor oil, olive oil, jojoba, and Avocado. Pre-shampoo treatments have been known to work wonders for some. Avoid hot water when washing your hair. And if you aren’t already, it is more important when you have high porosity to use a leave in conditioner.

Low porosity- Quality of products over quantity. You may notice that products tend to almost sit on your hair instead of being absorbed into it. Adding more won’t help. Honey, glycerin, sunflower, and avocado are all ingredients you’ll want to keep an eye out for. They are good. Butters are too. Avocado, Shea, and Murumuru butter are all examples of good light oils. Steer clear of heavy oils. Apply products whenever your hair is wet and warm. Dilute conditioner with water before applying. Deep condition and stay away from products with protein.

Knowing your hair:
How do you know your hair porosity?
Wash your hair and break off a strand or pull one from your brush.
Drop it into a cup of water.
Let it sit for about 2-4 minutes.
If it floats it’s low porosity and if it sinks it’s high.

The rice treatment:
The famed rice treatment. Some swear by it, others swear it’s a scam. These differing opinions have to do with different porosities. The rice water treatment is ideal for high porosity hair. If not used in moderation and with caution, it can do more damage to low porosity than good.

Hair Types: what’s yours?

So let’s cut right to the point. There are 10 different hair types. They are shown on the chart pictured. Normally, people can look at the chart and place what they are. But if it’s still a little confusing, that’s perfectly ok. Here are some reasons why it might be.

• You have an uneven or mixed up curl pattern. (Shrinkage)
How can you fix this? Moisture. You are going to want to find products that add moisture to your hair like leave in conditioner, deep conditioner, hair masks, and avoid products with unnatural ingredients. You’ll want to strictly use products that follow the curly girl method to regain moisture and grow healthier. There are tons of products out there that stick to the method. The best choices can be hard to find so we have a few top picks in our inventory.

•You are using too many products with sulphates and parabens for your be able to develop a consistent/distinct pattern. This is most likely the reason if you have a type 2 hair and it hasn’t been able to define your curls for lack of healthy products. Do you straighten your hair every day? That will only make it worse. The curly girl method discourages using heat on your hair. If you want your hair to be healthy, put that iron down. The sad part of type 2s is most of them don’t even know they have curly hair. They think they have frizzy straight or mildly wavy hair.

• The chart is too specific. It is meant to sum up the hair types. If you don’t see exactly what your curls look like, no worries. Just find the closest thing.

Now that you know your type, you know more about what your hair needs. Most all products in our inventory have which hair types it works best for labeled in the descriptions. So if you’re unsure of how to work with what you have, start there. It is created to help you find what works best for you.

Step by step hair care

The out come can be surprisingly different when you know what order to to put your products in. So let’s start all the way at hair washing day. What do you use?

1. Co-wash
The CGM discourages use of shampoo. It can strip the natural oils from your hair. But of course, you still have to clean it. The solution? A co-wash. So replace your shampoo, and conditioner if you so chose, with a co-wash that is suitable to your hair type.

2. Hair mask
You definitely do not need to use this every time. Some people do like to use it once a week but it isn’t necessary. How often your should use one differentiates by your hair type and how much damage your have to your hair. Damaged and dry hair need to use it about twice a week. Find a hair mask with good natural oils and proteins. And it goes with out saying… one that matches your hair type.

3. Leave-in
Once you have rinsed out your mask it’s time to apply your leave in conditioner. You want to make sure it gets everywhere especially if you have really thick hair. If you don’t disperse it everywhere, your hair will dry with mixed curl patterns and frizz. Try applying it in layers or raking through every inch with your fingers. Raking doesn’t work for everyone though. It can separate curl clumps too much and make it look stringy.

4. Oils
This one can be a minefield. There are so many oils and brands not to put in your hair. And do not put it at your roots. It may cause your hair to go flat and obviously greasy. But you’ll want to look for one with natural oils that has no extra artificial ingredients and apply a very small amount to wet hair. Sometimes dry but that rarely works. Recommendations: vitamin E, jojoba, Shea moisture mix

5. Hold
This could be a gel, cream, custard, mouse, smoothie etc. But this is completely unique to each person. Some people need a heavy, tight thick hold and others need it more light and thin. As long as the product is approved by the CGM, and works well for you, then it’s fine.