We've all done it. Asked questions. Watched YouTube videos. Compared our hair to others. We listen to everyone's recommendations and try different products. But what has it left us with? Sometimes the products we spend so much money on don't work. At least not for an extended period of time. After trying many products the question that is left is, “why is this happening to me? Why isn't this product working for me?” When these questions go answered, what do we do? We either cut our hair, wear protective styles for a long periods of time and barely show any love to our hair, while wearing them.
Caring for your hair while in a protective style is more than just oiling your scalp and using braid spray. You have to always consider what you're using on your hair when you wash it, prior to your hair going into a protective style and when it comes out of a protective style. Ever notice how much hair you loose when you take your hair out of a protective style? It’s not all from the old wives tale of "losing 100 strands of hair per day.” A lot of the shedding comes from your hair care regime on top of the care you provide while your hair is styled. If you're already using the wrong hair care products, rest assured your gonna be a little thinner up top.
I know that a lot of us have the same types of hair, such as 4C hair and when we see our Sistaz on the commercials advertising these hair care products we may feel that it's ok to try them. It works for a little while, sometimes not at all, stuff starts happening to our hair, so we switch products, repeat. So what is it about these products and the women that are advertising them? The thing is, you have to test your hair before you put any new product on it. The type of test them speaking of is called a porosity test. Porosity test are done to see how your hair responds to products, in turn, ensuring you use the right products, as all hair is not the same. Regardless of what it looks like. There are 3 levels of porosity. There's low porosity which means your hair does not absorb product and the result is dryness. The second type of porosity is regular porosity. This level of porosity means that your hair retains products as it should. This is where we need to be. Then, there's high porosity. This means your hair absorbs product quickly which causes dryness and dry hair is breakable hair.
With effort you can correct your hair's porosity. But you have to perform a test first. Once you've performed a porosity test you'll have a better understanding of what type of products to use for your hair.
There are hair care products for each level of porosity. Its recommended that you use products according to your hair's porosity, so anticipate that you are eventually going to have to switch your hair care products again and do another porosity test to ensure you’re using the right product. We don’t want your hair returning to the state of which you've taken it from. A porosity test should be done at least every 3 months. Our hair changes just like our bodies do. Also what we put into our bodies affects what our hair does.
Below I have added more information on how to do a hair porosity test, as well as black-owned hair care products that work best according to the porosity of your hair. I encourage you all to do this test to ensure a healthy hair care regime. I know it gets hard to deal with your natural hair. I know you get frustrated. I get like that too. However, I have seen and experienced what proper hair care can do for you, I would love for us all to continue to look our best and feel our best, especially when it comes to our hair. I got you if you need me. Holla!
How To Perforn A Porosity Test
In order to get the best results you have to perform this test on freshly washed hair. Do not add any oil or leave in conditioners to the hair as this will affect the results of your test. You'll need to pull a few strands of hair from your scalp ensuring that the root is still entact (the white ball on the end of the hair strand? You'll need a fresh cup of water. Once plucked from the scalp, place your hair in the water and wait at least 7 minutes to see results. Is the a hair's gonna float swim or sink? According to your results there is a list of recommended black- owned haircare products that you can use to restore your hair to a normal state.
The TEST
