Tips On How To Grow Your High Porosity Hair Fast

Hair porosity is surely a term you’ve heard being thrown around in the curly and natural hair community.

Hair’s porosity is a great factor to consider when planning your hair care routine. From choosing the right hair products to the best method for moisture retention for your hair. The hair’s porosity level matters.

When it comes to growing out your hair or trying to retain length, your hair type matters just as much.

When you know how to best care for your hair, you retain length. And when you retain length, your hair gets longer and you begin to see that growth you’re looking for.

Hair porosity refers to the hair’s ability to absorb moisture as well as moisture retention capabilities of the hair. There are 3 types of hair porosity levels: low-porosity, high-porosity, and medium porosity.

In this article, we’re gonna talk about high porosity hair growth and how to best care for all the new hair you’ll be having.

What Is High-Porosity Hair?

As I mentioned, porosity is how easily moisture can penetrate the hair through your hair shaft. This is determined by your genetics but can be altered by other factors like heat and chemicals.

When you have high hair porosity or highly porous hair, this means that your hair easily absorbs moisture but struggles with moisture retention. If you lose too much moisture due to a bad hair care routine it can result in very dry hair.

This is because high porosity hair has gaps and openings in both the cortex and hair cuticle layer, allowing moisture to escape easily, leading to dry hair.

A great thing about high-porosity hair is its ability to absorb moisture.

When you have a solid hair care regimen and you get moisture into the hair cuticle (which is the easy part) and you manage to seal this moisture in, you will have great moisture retention and manage to grow your hair out.

The Characteristics Of High-Porosity Hair:

Excessive moisture absorption: High porosity hair readily absorbs moisture, but struggles to retain it, leading to frizz and difficulty maintaining styles.
Prone to dryness: Despite absorbing moisture quickly, high-porosity hair often struggles to retain it, resulting in dry and brittle strands.
Rapid product absorption: Hair care products are quickly absorbed by high-porosity hair, but this can also lead to product buildup if not properly managed.
Difficulty retaining moisture: The cuticle layer of high-porosity hair is often damaged or raised, making it challenging to retain moisture within the hair shaft.
Susceptible to damage: High porosity hair is more prone to damage from environmental factors, heat styling, and chemical treatments due to its compromised cuticle layer.
The tendency for frizz: The raised hair cuticle of high porosity hair can result in frizz, especially in humid climates or when exposed to high temperatures.
Prone to tangling: High porosity hair may tangle easily due to its dry and rough texture, requiring careful detangling to prevent breakage.
Quick to lose hair color: High porosity hair may struggle to hold onto hair color, as the raised cuticle allows color molecules to escape more easily.

Hair Porosity Test:

The easiest way to do a hair porosity test is with some clean hair and a glass of water to do a water test. Your hair has to be clean for this test, do not do this on dirty hair as it will sway the results.

Take your clean, product free strand of hair and place it in a cup.

If your hair floats at the top, it is low-porosity hair. If it stays in the middle it is normal/medium porosity hair and if it sinks to the bottom it is high porosity hair.

How To Care For High Porosity Hair

Having high-porosity hair can be frustrating, especially because it won’t retain moisture and your hair needs moisture to thrive.

But, with a few of these high porosity hair care tips, you will have your hair looking and feeling more moisturized and alive.

You can mix and match these tips and find what best works for you because your hair has a mind of its own, not all these tips will work for you.

An important part of taking care of your hair is knowing how to listen to your hair.

1. Clarify Your Hair:

Clarifying your hair is important for removing product buildup that can clog up the hair follicles and prevent proper moisture absorption.
High porosity hair may be prone to product buildup due to its rapid absorption of products, so regular clarifying is important to maintain healthy hair.
Use a clarifying shampoo every wash day or every 4-8 weeks to keep the hair follicles clean and prevent potential hair loss.
You can also do apple cider vinegar rinse when you don’t have a clarifying shampoo on hand.

2. Deep Condition Regularly:

Add a deep conditioner to your wash day routine to help add moisture to your hair.
Heat can help open up the cuticle layer of the hair strand, allowing for better penetration of deep conditioning treatments.
When deep conditioning high-porosity hair, use warm water to open the hair cuticle, then apply a deep conditioner and cover with a shower cap to trap heat.
The use of heat from a hooded dryer or blow dryer can further enhance the benefits of deep conditioning for high-porosity hair.
If you don’t have a deep conditioner on hand, try some of these homemade hair mask ideas that my hair just loves!

3. Use Humectants On Your Hair:

Humectants like honey, aloe vera, and glycerin can help high porosity hair retain moisture by creating a protective film around the hair strands.
Incorporating humectants into your hair care routine can help combat the tendency of high porosity hair to lose moisture quickly.

4. Always Pre-Poo:

Pre-pooing can help protect high porosity hair from the drying effects of shampoo by creating a barrier between the hair and the cleansing agents.
Choose pre-poo treatments that nourish and moisturize your type of hair to improve overall hair health.

5. Add Moisture To Your Hair As Needed:

High porosity hair may benefit from mid-week moisturization to prevent dryness and breakage.
Using aloe vera or leave-in conditioner in a spray bottle can help replenish moisture in high porosity hair throughout the week.

6. Use A Sulfate-Free Shampoo:

Sulfate-free shampoos are gentler on natural hair, reducing the risk of further drying out the hair cuticle.
Look for sulfate-free shampoos with natural ingredients that won’t strip moisture from your hair.

7. Protective Styles Are Your Best Friends:

Protective styles can help high porosity hair retain length by minimizing exposure to environmental factors and reducing moisture loss.
Choose protective styles that keep the ends of your curly hair tucked away to prevent dryness and hair breakage.

8. Moisturize Properly:

Use the LCO method to moisturize high porosity hair, ensuring hydration, conditioning, and sealing in moisture with oils.
Opt for heavy oils that will really help with moisture retention and seal in that much-needed moisture.

9. Use Silicones:

While silicone-based products may be bad for low porosity hair, they are beneficial for high porosity hair.
They can coat the hair strand and form a protective layer that prevents moisture loss.

10. Do Regular Protein Treatments:

High porosity hair may benefit more from protein treatments than low porosity hair.
Do a regular protein mask (every 2-4 weeks), I like to do rice treatments or some of my favorite DIY protein treatments using coconut oil.

11. Use Heavy Oils:

Opt for heavy oils like olive oil or jojoba oil for high-porosity hair to avoid moisture loss after your wash day.
Avoid lightweight oils like grapeseed oil or avocado oil, which may make it easy for moisture loss in high porosity hair. If you want to find the best oils for 4c hair, read my blog post on it here.

12. Steam Your Hair:

Steam treatments can help your hair absorb moisture more effectively and improve the penetration of hair products.
While it’s not necessary, it is an added bonus when moisturizing your hair.

13. Protect Your Hair While You Sleep:

Use a satin bonnet or silk pillowcase to protect your curls while sleeping and prevent moisture loss.

14. Moisturize From Within:

Stay hydrated and maintain a healthy diet to promote overall hair health and moisture retention in your hair.

15. Apply Product To Wet Hair:

Apply products to your hair when it is wet to lock in moisture and enhance product absorption.

16. Get Trims When Needed:

Regular trims can help remove dry and brittle ends from your hair, preventing split ends and hair breakage.

17. Avoid Styling With High Heat:

Avoid styling your hair with high heat, excessive heat can cause your hair to get damaged because high porosity hair is more prone to heat damage than normal porosity hair.
When heat styling make sure to use a heat protectant to avoid further damage.

How To Grow High Porosity Hair

Many factors affect the rate at which your hair grows, like genetics, styling, manipulation, excessive heat, and chemicals.

The key to hair growth is a healthy scalp so clarifying your scalp as needed is important. Ensure your hair follicles are not clogged by oils and excess product.

While you may be growing your hair, if you do not take good care of it, you will lose the hair as fast as you grow it.

So you need to focus on length retention.

The best way to retain length is to get regular trims, keep your hair moisturized, and do protective styles.

My hair was stuck at shoulder length for years and I believed I was just one of those people whose hair didn’t grow until I started doing my protective styles at home.

Now I notice that I retain length much easier than when I manipulated my hair often.

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