Is Biotin Good for Low Porosity Hair?

All hair is not created equally. A hair concern that you might have could be something that another person has never even considered. It is so vital to know what type of hair you have, and what works best for your hair to get the best results possible. Low porosity hair is something that many people struggle with, we want to help you find out what is going to work for you.

Is Biotin Good For Low Porosity Hair?

No, biotin is not necessarily a good product to put in your hair. Hair that is deemed to be low porosity is very sensitive to protein. This means that you do have to be rather careful about what product you put on your hair and what proteins you use with your hair. Biotin in low porosity hair can cause build-up and changes in the texture of the hair. So, it’s better for go for products that are specifically designed to help your low porosity hair.

If hair needs protein to be healthy, why is it so potentially damaging to low porosity hair? To better understand this question, it does require a close look at low porosity hair, what it is, how it functions, and what types of products are going to work best to keep it healthy and growing.

How Does Biotin Affect Low Porosity Hair?

Biotin is a protein that is often taken as a vitamin supplement. It can be found naturally in foods such as eggs, milk, bananas, and more. Biotin is a necessary protein for the body to properly function. For high porosity hair, it can also help to bond the hair and help to strengthen the strands and encourage growth. For low porosity strands, it can cause build-up, it can change the texture of the hair, and it can cause the hair to become brittle, to break off, and to stop growing.

Biotin is not something that you want to put on your hair if you have low porosity hair as it can have negative effects. Keeping this in mind, it can be difficult to find products that do not contain biotin or that do not contain proteins. If you have low porosity hair, it is important to take the time to look for products that are either very low in terms of how much protein is in them, or that do not contain protein at all.

If you do have low porosity hair, and you want to keep it in good health, there are a few things that you can do:

• Look for lightweight oils- lightweight oils are going to help penetrate the hair without weighing it down.
• Use heat when you are doing a deep conditioning treatment, the heat will help to open up the pore of the hair and help the treatment penetrate deeper.
• Treat and work to prevent build-up, you want to avoid build-up as it can make the hair feel brittle and dry, and it can also cause your hair to feel heavy and weighted down.
• Avoid silicone, again, silicone can cause build-up and can cause the hair to feel weighed down and less than soft and healthy.
• Try water-based products, water-based products are going to be gentler on your hair and are going to give you a better feel overall.

What is Hair Porosity?

Hair porosity refers to the ability of your hair to both absorb, and then retain moisture. This also refers to the outer sheath of the hair shaft and how it is actually formed. There are three different types of hair porosity, low, medium, and high. Low porosity means that your hair cuticle is tightly bonded, the cuticles are very close together and there is very little room for products and for water to penetrate the hair shaft and get to the center of the shaft. Generally, low porosity hair has more protein than the other two porosity hair types, so added protein sits on the hair shaft and can cause damage.

Medium porosity hair is less tightly bound, the cuticles are still rather close, but they are not as close as low porosity hair. This means that you can find more treatments that are going to penetrate the hair shaft. The last is high porosity hair, this type of hair has cuticles that are very widely spaced. This hair type takes on moisture well and retains it. This is also the best hair type if you are looking to use a biotin or other protein treatment.

What Affects Hair Porosity?

For the most part, the porosity of your hair is determined by genetics. If your parents had low porosity hair, you are likely going to have low porosity hair as well. Genetics play the biggest part in the overall structure of the hair and the shaft itself.

There are some other factors that can change the hair and that can damage the hair as well. Blow drying, color treating, straightening or using excessive heat tools, using harsh chemicals, or exposing your hair to too much UV light can all damage the hair. What happens when the hair is damaged is that the hair shaft gets roughed up essentially and the cuticle no longer overlays the way that it is meant to.

How to Test Hair Porosity

There is a way that you can test the porosity of your hair to help you figure out what type of products are going to work best for you.

• Shampoo and rinse your hair to fully remove any residue
• Fill a glass with up with water
• Drop one dry strand of hair into the water
• Depending on where the hair stays, if it sinks or floats, this will help you determine porosity.

Hair that stays on the top of the water is low porosity and is going to stay floating. If it sinks a bit, it is medium, and if it sinks fully, your hair is high porosity. This will help you get a better grasp on your hair type so that you can the start to figure out what type of hair products are going to work best for you and your particular hair.

There are also some characteristics of low porosity hair that you may have noticed over time. If hair products tend to sit on your hair and do not fully absorb, if your hair is hard to fully wet when shampooing, or if your hair takes a very long time to air dry, it may be low porosity.

How to Care for Low Porosity Hair

For those that have low porosity hair there are a few things that you can do to help take care of it. First, you should look for shampoos and conditioners that are free of any added protein. As we have already discussed, this will sit on the hair and can make your hair brittle and can cause breakage very easily. Another tip to help take care of your hair is to apply conditioners and any leave in treatment to hair that is already wet.

Hair that is already wet is going to help dilute the conditioner so that it is easier to absorb into the hair. You can look for ingredients like honey and glycerin as these are going to be lightweight and are going to help moisturize the hair without damaging it or without causing a ton of excess build up.

Conclusion

Taking care of your hair can make such a huge difference in how it looks, in how it feels and in how well it grows, and how healthy it is. Hair is something that we all wear with pride, it is an extension of ourselves, it is a form of expression. Though low porosity hair can be challenging, if you know how to properly care for it, it can be something you come to love and something that you enjoy styling each day.