How do you determine the hair's porosity?

Determining hair porosity involves assessing how the hair absorbs moisture, which is crucial for understanding the hair's ability to hold onto moisture and products. Porosity is a key factor in hair care because it influences how easily hair can absorb and retain water, as well as how it responds to various hair treatments. Hair with low porosity has a tighter cuticle layer, making it more resistant to moisture absorption, while high porosity hair tends to have gaps in the cuticle, allowing it to absorb moisture quickly but also causing it to lose moisture just as fast.

In contrast, examining hair texture focuses on the physical characteristics of the hair, such as whether it is fine, medium, or coarse, but does not directly indicate how well it absorbs moisture. Measuring hair thickness pertains to the diameter of individual hair strands, which can influence styling and care choices but is not an indicator of porosity either. Analyzing color retention may offer insights into how well the hair holds onto dye, yet it does not provide information about moisture absorption. Thus, evaluating how well hair absorbs moisture is the most direct method for determining porosity.