Wow! This is giving me a throwback to my biochemistry class in undergrad. We learned about disulfide bonds and how perms breakdown these bonds thus creating a sulfur smell. Love seeing your passion for hair science!
How cool that you learnt about hair in your biochem class! Really glad it could take you back to those (blissful - I hope) days in uni! How do you spend your time now?
This is my favourite video on RU-vid!!!! It is time we take the time to understand how our hair is structured so we can “crack the code “ on Natural hair care. We need to filter the information being presented to us on the web. It can either :hold us back or propel us forward! Thank you Asha. KEEP IT COMING… this information is not going in vain. Oddly enough, I understand the information considering all the scientific jargon. 📝
Thank you for the constant stream of love you've been pouring! I'm really pleased to hear that it was still understandable, because I've since realised it was a bit too much detail for most of my audience. :/
I know it may not be for everyone but I absolutely love this kind of content. I find your scientific videos very easy to understand and I love learning the science behind hair. It makes understanding my hair so much easier and eliminates all the confusion caused by more vague hair information I've absorbed that really didn't answer my questions.
@@NaturallyHigh I really enjoyed the video. But it made me wonder about natural hair with high porosity that is not damaged... I have that by nature. My hair has been highly porous ever since and I don't think I have a scalp pathology... Or do I?🥲 Could you please do a similar video for natural hair that is highly porous by nature?
I love 'nerding out' to hair science - so informative and interesting. Thank you! There is a section of my hair that feels softer, smoother and silkier. I believe this to be my normal porosity section. This part seems to hold moisture and has minimal frizz. The other sections feel rough, gets wet quickly, does not hold moisture long and frizzes easily. I believe these sections to be high porosity. It now makes total sense to me that coloring my hair has resulted in me having high porosity hair due to the loss of my fatty, epicuticle, and exocuticle protective layers. This is also why I believe I need oils because I do not have a fatty layer. Putting oils on my high porosity hair gives me that lubricated feel that my section of normal porosity hair naturally has. How is it that my normal porosity section's protective cuticle layers seem to stay in tact or remain feeling soft and silky after coloring my hair?
@@NaturallyHigh Yes, my normal porosity section seems to have thicker strands and a looser, larger curl pattern. I guess this different texture has more cuticle layers which makes it stronger and results in less break down or loss of the cuticle protective layers?
Sis you are amazing. I love your wonderful research with the science behind hair. You are so underrated and, a gem in our natural hair care community. You are so needed and I look forward to your phenomenal career. Many blessings 🙌. Thank you for another great video.
Thank you for this video. I never understood the obsession with hair typing or what later seemed to become an obsession with knowing one’s individual hair porosity. I believe, due to age, my ends are more porous than my roots, but despite watching several videos on porosity, the focus on individual porosity doesn’t make sense. I still don’t understand the significance of knowing if I’m high, medium, or low porosity, how I can tell, definitively, and why it matters. I’m just gentle with all of my hair, especially my ends. I always keep my hair oiled, and protect and coat my ends even more so. Thus far, I’ve had great success. My latest change was to stop using color altogether. It’s been 2 1/3 years since I’ve done that. ❤️ NOTE: I submitted the above comment before even watching the video. Now that I have, it has been confirmed that all this focus on individual porosity is for naught, as I suspected. 😊
I wonder what's the implication of this though... are we really supposed to be spritzing our hair with water daily? Or should we be mostly oiling it? I don't get it. When I was younger (before my hair was relaxed) my mother washed my hair once every two weeks, greased it and combed it into plaits. It wasn't spritzed with water daily or anything. The most water it was getting before the next wash day was steam from the shower, because I didn't (intentionally) wet my hair while bathing. That was it. And my 4C hair was longer than waist length! (I only discovered that when I relaxed it in my early teens.) So no leave in moisturizer, no water spritzing - just washing with sulfate shampoo, conditioner, and grease. What changed between then and now I wonder? Global warming probably necessitates using more water or something? 🤷♀️😅
hey Paula! Firstly, grease doesn't break down in the way that leave-ins do, so your strands will remain both moisturised & conditioned for longer. Secondly, what you should do really depends on how your hair feels, and what styles you're wearing etc. There's not really a rule for everyone. It's really special that when you were little, your mum maintained your hair so well! Are you confident in how you're caring for it?
@@NaturallyHigh I'm still trying to figure out what works for my hair now. I'm in my forties, and only natural for a little over 2 years. First year it was tucked away in braids while I transitioned, so I only dealt with it once a month when I washed it and rebraided it. Now I'm trying to settle on something easy. So far, medium twists and flat twists are working well. I've settled on a shampoo my hair likes. Everything else- deep conditioner, leave in, oil and grease are subject to change. I'm at 12 inches now, and my goal is 23 inches! Hope I can retain that length before my anagen phase ends! 😅
I am not very qualified but hope to help somehow. I been watching videos analyzing studies and textbooks on hair structure, and what I think I've learned is this. Products that are marketed as moisturizers should really be called conditioners, as they smooth the surface of our hair strands and make it feel softer. The objective isn't actually to add water to our hair, that seems to be just a huge marketing gimmick. Sebum naturally coats our hair (conditions it), but black people produce less, and it is harder for it to travel down our textured strands due to the shape of our follicles as well. So using conditioning ("moisturizing") products and some oils is good to coat the strands, since black hair cuticles tend to be fewer and more open than other races. This along with the lesser sebum production causes the amount of water within the strand itself to vary, which causes damage (water going in and out of the cuticle causes them to open and close, which is damaging as tbe hair strand can ot take so much of this before weakening and becoming prone to breakage. I've got more to say but I'll post this one so I can attempt to be a but more organized with my thoughts... I'm kinda just vomiting info at you
I love that you give us a scientific breakdown so we can really understand what is going on with our hair. I’ve been worrying about my low porosity fine hair for some time so this came at the perfect time! Is there any way I can make my hair fuller/thicker?
Wow, Sis! I never understood that low porosity hair is a blessing, and a characteristic of healthy, virgin hair! I have noticed that most of our people have low porosity hair, which is how we were created! My low porosity hair stays moisturized longer when prepared well. Thank you for setting the record straight! You go, Sister Scientist! 😊
Wow! This video was truly delightful and I did had a similar theory on the chemistry of water and the way it interacted with my hair. I always found it crazy that my low porosity hair just didn't liked being wet; opposite to what's pushed on YT at the time *water, water, water!!*. My hair has always preferred oils/butters over water except on the cases of using water mixed with honey or other Humectants in a specific ratio. I guess this has more to do with the greater elasticity it provides. Can't wait for further videos from you!!
Shenice!!!! I've been looking for you - please message me on IG. How are you? Really glad you liked this video :) and that it could help things you already knew about your hair make sense.
Interesting, I don’t straighten my hair and my hair is very high porosity. I have been natural for 10 years. I’m also very healthy. So I would love to learn more ways to make my hair lower porosity. 🙌🏾
Hey! So your case is absolutely fascinating and there’s essentially very little literature on naturally “high porosity”hair. I’ve spoken to a hair researcher about this and she wants to look more closely into this phenomenon because some people do seem to perceive their natural hair as highly porous. Some things to bear in mind (obviously not ALL of this could go into this one video): - UV rays & braiding can also affect your hair’s hydrophobicity - higher humidity makes your strands absorb water more easily - do you live in the tropics? There’s also some discussion about the “intercuticular” space and how that affects porosity. Lots to explore, definitely, and it would be sooo interesting to get a full model for this. Thanks for the love, as always 😉
@@NaturallyHigh Is there research that addresses the science of porosity as it pertains to gray hair? I started graying at 16. I've been natural for 9 years and my hair appears to definitely be high porosity.
@@NaturallyHigh thanks for your response. I have watched you for years. To answer your question, I live in Canada so only humid in the summer. Also, my strands are very fine. As soon as I put products on my hair, it absorbs no need for heat. For that reason my strands break so easily that I would love to fix my porosity.
Hi I enjoy your channel and respect your opinion on afro hair. I recently watched a video by Natural Nadine she states that most African American hair is high porosity by nature, when a lot of us are thinking our hair is low porosity (if it hasn't been relaxed or color treated). She references crime scene investigations where police can determine the race of a suspect based on their hair noting that most African American hair has raised cuticles ( high porsity). Please comment on this and tell me your opinion. Thank You! P.S. - I think this topic would make a great video.
Your so funny, I had to laugh at the part you ask the question about Crosslinking and you say end by saying noooo cheating pause the video 😂😂... I did pause because I was laughing but I think that the outside part of our hair has more crosslinking 🤔... did I get it right ? 😅
We “need” our hair to be malleable when we touch it. Water and conditioner help with this. And then we “need” it to stay that way for a while so it doesn’t get brittle fast or feel hard. You will find that coarse kinky hair naturally feels hard while fine hair does not. With this in mind, there are different approaches you can use.
I am not very qualified but hope to help somehow. I been watching videos analyzing studies and textbooks on hair structure, and what I think I've learned is this. Products that are marketed as moisturizers should really be called conditioners, as they smooth the surface of our hair strands and make it feel softer. The objective isn't actually to add water to our hair, that seems to be just a huge marketing gimmick. Sebum naturally coats our hair (conditions it), but black people produce less, and it is harder for it to travel down our textured strands due to the shape of our follicles as well. So using conditioning ("moisturizing") products and some oils is good to coat the strands, since black hair cuticles tend to be fewer and more open than other races. This along with the lesser sebum production causes the amount of water within the strand itself to vary, which causes damage (water going in and out of the cuticle causes them to open and close, which is damaging as tbe hair strand can ot take so much of this before weakening and becoming prone to breakage. I've got more to say but I'll post this one so I can attempt to be a but more organized with my thoughts... I'm kinda just vomiting info at you
So apparently the cuticles function is to protect the hair and stabilize the amount of water in it. There is generally a set amount of water inside your hair due to diet and the climate in which you live. Using this info, I am hypothesized that the success of oil pre-poos is due to the fact that the oil prevents the shampoo from removing all oil (added protection and help to the hair cuticles) from the shift while scrubbing causes friction and can lead to weaker strands. Also, the oil prevents water from being able to quickly get into and exit the hair shaft, which is damaging. Have you noticed that if you don't use a moisturizer (really should be called a conditioner) after washing your hair, it air dries and feels rough? I believe this is because of the raised cuties that no longer have oil helping them to seal and protect the shaft
Oil and/or "moisturizers" that also serve to condition and protect the shaft. These products both stabilize the interior of the hair shaft, make hair feel softer to the touch, and help to prevent knots and breakage. But I believe that no, water penetration and retention is not the main goal.
However, I have yet to learn about the potential ways that genetic hair structure relates to different humidities and climates, so it may be possible that living in a climate that does not match up with your genetics might create a need for intentional water retention to make up for some deficit (like hypothetically if my hair structure is meant to thrive with a humidity of a certain level, and therefore have a certain level of water naturally in my hair, but I happen to live in a much drier place, then maybe I would need to penetrate my shaft with water ... but that is random questioning on my part, I have no clue. For all I know, the goal is keeping the shaft conditioned/coated to help the fact that African cuticles don't perfectly coat the shaft, keeping the shaft smooth and therefore protecting against breakage. Keeping hair stretched and avoiding combs will also help with this
I love your nail color!! I notice that the nails on your right hand are shorter, is that because that is the one mostly use to manipulate your hair?? JW, thanks for the informative video!!! I was wondering if genetics play into porosity as well??
What's your long healthy hair IQ? Click here to take the quiz! www.tryinteract.com/share/quiz/62b583b819f5b900189bcdfc Lots of naturals worry about their low porosity hair but low porosity is actually a natural characteristic of healthy virgin hair. There's some variation to this but in general, hair is a water resistant structure that becomes more porous over time due to wear and tear. This video reveals the underpinnings of water and hair chemistry so that you can understand in detail how water interacts with your hair. Last year I was so curious about this topic that I wrote my final paper (for the cosmetic science unit of my Hair & Scalp Science course with the College of Trichological Science and Practice) on water. This video delves into some of the concepts I explored while writing it. I hope it clarifies a few things! 00:00 Introduction 00:49 Water's incredible properties 02:14 What happens when you try to wet something? 02:45 Researchers use water absorption rate to measure how damaged hair strands are 03:04 Hair structure - intro 03:58 Proteins 04:17 Cysteine - an important amino acid in our hair 04:58 What's your long healthy hair IQ? 05:09 Variations in disulphide bonds in hair 06:12 Zooming into the cuticle: the F layer 06:46 Why isn't water attracted to the surface of your hair? 07:31 Zooming into the cuticle: the epicuticle 07:41 Zooming into the cuticle: the exocuticle 07:54 Zooming into the cuticle: the endocuticle 08:05 Regions of your hair that are less water resistant 08:39 How damage affects your hair's resistance to water
A RU-vidr by the name natural nadine said black people cant have low porosity hair and backed her argument with forensic study on hair. Is this true? cause now I’m confused
Thank you for asking this question! I also saw natural nadine's video about that recently and was so confused since I thought that my hair was low porosity based on the float test. I know that she mentioned that she was a chemical engineer but I don't know if she is actually a trichologist It can be so confusing at times when we have so much contradicting information asserted with confidence in relation to our natural hair. Luckily I've been able to learn my hair over the years but having accurate information helps as well.
@@bee3828 I saw a similar video,, I think that the truth may be along the lines of black people having generally higher porosity compared to other races, but within ourselves there is still much variation that requires different methods. I did the porosity test too and got low, but now I'm thinking that if I had left my hair in the water with a person of another ethnicity, for hours or days or who knows, maybe my hair would sink first because it is technically higher porosity when compared with other ethnic groups...
Hey love, hair can only be preserved and destroyed but you can improve its hydrophobicity through the use of oils and emollients. Other than this, I'd need a more in-depth conversation with you to provide a more specific recommendation. Feel free to DM me on IG (@Naturallyhigh__) via this link instagram.com/direct/t/118584126199949/so we can discuss this further and I can see how I can help.
With the knowledge of this, do I need to select hair products based on my hair porosity? Is that necessary for hair health & growth as is been said in the hair care community?
there is a correlation between damage (aka high porosity) and certain ingredients over others. Since high porosity hair is more charged, charged ingredients work better on it than fatty ingredients. It also benefits more from penetrative oils. This workshop I made breaks down the oil part and gives you steps for choosing oils for YOUR hair. Check it out. naturallyhigh.podia.com/decoding-oils-and-butters
I am not very qualified but hope to help somehow. I been watching videos analyzing studies and textbooks on hair structure, and what I think I've learned is this. Products that are marketed as moisturizers should really be called conditioners, as they smooth the surface of our hair strands and make it feel softer. The objective isn't actually to add water to our hair, that seems to be just a huge marketing gimmick. Sebum naturally coats our hair (conditions it), but black people produce less, and it is harder for it to travel down our textured strands due to the shape of our follicles as well. So using conditioning ("moisturizing") products and some oils is good to coat the strands, since black hair cuticles tend to be fewer and more open than other races. This along with the lesser sebum production causes the amount of water within the strand itself to vary, which causes damage (water going in and out of the cuticle causes them to open and close, which is damaging as tbe hair strand can ot take so much of this before weakening and becoming prone to breakage. I've got more to say but I'll post this one so I can attempt to be a but more organized with my thoughts... I'm kinda just vomiting info at you
Pt 2- So apparently the cuticles function is to protect the hair and stabilize the amount of water in it. There is generally a set amount of water inside your hair due to diet and the climate in which you live. Using this info, I am hypothesized that the success of oil pre-poos is due to the fact that the oil prevents the shampoo from removing all oil (added protection and help to the hair cuticles) from the shift while scrubbing causes friction and can lead to weaker strands. Also, the oil prevents water from being able to quickly get into and exit the hair shaft, which is damaging. Have you noticed that if you don't use a moisturizer (really should be called a conditioner) after washing your hair, it air dries and feels rough? I believe this is because of the raised cuties that no longer have oil helping them to seal and protect the shaft
Pt 3- Oil and/or "moisturizers" that also serve to condition and protect the shaft. These products both stabilize the interior of the hair shaft, make hair feel softer to the touch, and help to prevent knots and breakage. But I believe that no, water penetration and retention is not the main goal.
Pt 4- since there is less research done for our hair type compared to other races, I think it makes sense to observe the biological differences between out hair and other ethnicities' hair, and qhat we/they do with hair, and what seems to work. For example, Asians tend to have more cuticles that lay more flat and uniform. They don't add moisture to their hair. Their hair seems to grow fine and nor prone to breakage. So I hypothesize that this could mean that no, we don't need to penetrate our shaft with water, though it helps se of us to detange our curls. Also, a smoothly protected shaft paired with higher levels of sebum production (which can more easily travel down and coat straighter strands with flatter cuticles) seems to be what's helping them. So, making up for our less smoothly protective cuticles with moisturizing/conditioning products and oils may be a great way to make up for that defecit
Pt 5- However, I have yet to learn about the potential ways that genetic hair structure relates to different humidities and climates, so it may be possible that living in a climate that does not match up with your genetics might create a need for intentional water retention to make up for some deficit (like hypothetically if my hair structure is meant to thrive with a humidity of a certain level, and therefore have a certain level of water naturally in my hair, but I happen to live in a much drier place, then maybe I would need to penetrate my shaft with water ... but that is random questioning on my part, I have no clue. For all I know, the goal is keeping the shaft conditioned/coated to help the fact that African cuticles don't perfectly coat the shaft, keeping the shaft smooth and therefore protecting against breakage. Keeping hair stretched and avoiding combs will also help with this
So what’s the solution ? Hair repels water but it needs water so what’s the solution to get moisture into hair that repels it ? I have super low porosity hair that is dry and brittle but when I add water or a moisturizer it seems to actually get worse.
Hey! I hate to break the bad news to you but our hair varies so much, so what works for one person may not work for someone else. It sounds as though you’re having difficult building a moisturising regimen and choosing the right products. Is that right?
@@NaturallyHigh I have tried every product 😢 nothing will work on my hair when I put anything on my hair it feels slippery and dry at the same time. I know that sounds like an oxymoron but that’s the best way I can explain it. My hair doesn’t feel good when I add any product or water 😩 I’m almost to the point of locking it because it is breaking so bad.
@@khadijahx4223 Oh no - I'm so sorry to hear this. These are the exact situations I help my clients resolve. Would you like to hear more about how I can help you?
