How I Moisturize My Mini Twists + Hair Porosity

Happy new week guys. Today’s all about retaining moisture on natural hair. I’d love to share with you how I moisturize my own mane and why I do so.

I also felt that it’s important to talk about hair porosity just because it’s the foundation of learning how to retain moisture on natural hair. This is the hairs ability to retain moisture. This is divided into three:

High porosity
_The hair cuticles are highly raised; moisture can get in and out easily.
_Experiences severe freeze
_Dries up very fast.
_Rarely experiences product build up.

Medium porosity
_The hair cuticles are a little bit raised.
_Experiences freeze but can be managed using a good hair conditioner.

Low porosity
_The hair cuticles are almost closed; hard to moisturize.
_Cuticles are almost closed therefore has a shiny look.
_Rarely experiences freeze
_Takes a lot of time to dry up.
_experiences a lot of product build up

So by now am sure you’re wondering where you lie if you’ve never known you’re hair porosity. There are two ways to determining this.

1.The water test.

Take one strand from your hair and place it in water. leave it in for roughly 10-15 minutes. If it’s still on the surface then it’s of low porosity, if it’s in the middle then it’s medium and if it’s at the bottom then its low porosity.

2.Slide test.

Hold one strand of hair between your index and thumb finger. Use the other hand to rub the strand up and down for a few seconds. If it feels slippery the whole time then it’s low porosity. If the rubbing feels less slippery then it’s of high porosity due to the opening of the cuticles.

Personally, I have high porosity hair. I need to moisturize my hair more often just because I lose the moisture very fast. On that note, I try use products with thick consistency to seal it in. This can also apply to medium porosity hair.  As for the low porosity, One should go slow on thick products to avoid closing the cuticles more. The key thing is to apply heat every time one moisturizes or deep conditions. Not necessarily using a hair dryer but one can use a shower cap to generate body heat. This will open up the cuticles and allow the hair products to get in. Once this has happened, seal it in with light creams and oils like coconut or olive oil.

This is what I’ve used so far:

Water

Glycerin (A humectant that I add into my water to help in retaining moisture)

Coconut Oil

Castor Oil

Cantu Leave-in Conditioner

I’ve been using the L.O.C.O (water, coconut oil. conditioner, castor oil) method to moisturize my hair. I initially used the L.O.C method but somehow my hair just sucks in the coconut oil  because of its light consistency. I had to get the castor oil which is thick enough to seal in all that good stuff. I do this twice or thrice a week (between my deep  conditioning/wash days) depending on how my hair feels.

I feel like I’ve done so much typing today but it’s important. Lack of moisture retention= dry hair ends breaking=lack of length retention. 😦 😦 Doesn’t sound so good. How do you moisturize you hair? What’s your hair porosity? I’d love to know.

Lots of Love

Akinyi Fiona

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