Porous Hair Part 3: Schedule, Ingredients, Product List

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Science-y Hair Blog © 2023 by  Wendy M.S. is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

 Preface: The previous parts (1 and 2) dealt with goals and strategies for managing porous hair. This one is about scheduling and specialty ingredients. You don’t need hard-to-find ingredients to manage porous hair. Conditioners, good conditioning techniques, protein, oils can get the job done. You do need to be consistent and observant. Pay attention to how your hair responds to what you do, so you can give it what it needs.

Stick to a Schedule: This table is an example of how one might manage porous hair based on different wash schedules. Spending 10 or 15 minutes strategizing how to work porosity-directed care into your usual hair-care routine is a worthy investment that may save time (and money) in the long run. Having a schedule makes it easier to be consistent. Porous hair needs consistent care. With consistent care, it can begin to act like less-porous hair because you’re providing consistent hydration and flexibility, so it's less fragile and healthier-looking. But you can’t permanently reverse cuticle-damage or cuticle-loss and the natural vulnerability of porous hair to dehydration. Without consistent care, porous hair will be especially vulnerable to dehydration. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2023


How to read this table: Start in the column on the left and pick your hair-washing-frequency. 

Then follow that same-color row across to the right to see the frequency for protein, oil treatments and deep conditioning. 

If you wash once weekly - follow that yellow row to the right and in the protein column you see "every wash." In the Oil pre-wash and Deep Condition column, you see "alternate with deep conditioning or do both" and "every wash, respectively."

Click on the image to enlarge.


Also - switch things up: Seasons change in many places - along with humidity. If you change products, you might have to change your schedule, depending on how they work for you.


Ingredients / product categories that specifically reduce porous-behavior: There is a shortcut when shopping for products designed to reduce porosity - look for products for color-treated hair - for color-retention / color preservation. Too much water getting deep into strands is the enemy of hair-color-retention! Preventing "water logging" of hair helps preserve hair color - and also keep porous hair well-hydrated.


If schedules don't work for you, or you want an extra assist, there are ingredients that can help porous hair withstand washing and styling with less stress and dehydration.


How do we know these ingredients work? The chemists who created them did a little testing. Hair care formulation is based on science, but it’s also an art. If an ingredient is marketed as preventing loss of hair color, it means that they have taken hair samples in a lab, bleached and colored them, then subjected them to multiple cycles of washing with shampoo and/or conditioner (containing the ingredient in question) and heat-drying. Then they compared color visually, or mechanically or both. The active ingredient has to outperform the same formula (or a similar one) without the active ingredient or they're not going to bother developing it further and marketing it. Those aren't quite real-life conditions, but it’s about as good as we’re going to get. The formula matters a great deal - if you need maximum porosity management, you want a product with not only a fancy active ingredient, but also some supportive, boring ones like oils and humectants or proteins.

  • Polyquaternium-47
  • Polyquaternium-53
  • Polyquaternium-55
  • Amodimethicone
  • Non-sulfate-free shampoos:
    • Containing any of the ingredients above, and/or containing proteins or oils.
  • Sulfate-free shampoos.  ©Science-y Hair Blog 2023
    • In particular these detergents: Ammonium cocoyl isethionate and/or Sodium cocoyl isethionate surfactants + cocamidopropyl betaine 
  • UV-protecting products (see this post for ingredients and products)
  • Heat-protectants for blow-drying or iron straightening or curling (see the post for well-tested ingredients and a product list)
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Products with color-retention and porosity-managing ingredients:©Science-y Hair Blog 2023

Amodimethicone: 

Amodimethicone is an amino-modified silicone: It combines a silicone film-former with an amino acid - which means while it doesn't rinse off (not water-soluble), rather it does something unique. It bonds to damaged areas in hair and then creates a water-resisting film over those areas to make hair behave in a less-porous manner. It also is not inclined to up on top of itself because it must bond to charges on hair. The film it forms is a result of attaching to hair. More like a smart-network of protection, rather than a simple film like "normal" silicones.
Amodimethicone reduces cuticle damage and moisture loss during high-heat styling, and helps hair retain color better. It behaves like a conditioning ingredient more than "traditional" silicones. Where present - it is indicated below.


Polyquaterium-47:

Polyquaternium-53

Polyquaternium-55
©Science-y Hair Blog 2023
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Comments

  1. This is my lifeDecember 1, 2023 at 11:05 AM

    It is time for me to purchase shampoo again and I was weighing all the many, many options that are out there. I am satisfied with what I am using, but I am also always looking for the next best thing. So glad to find my current Aveeno Blackberry and Quinoa is on this list. Very affordable and smells so good! I think I will stick with it.

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  2. This is my lifeDecember 15, 2023 at 12:01 PM

    I was wondering what your thoughts are on bonding treatments or if you have any articles on the subject. Specifically, treatments that you leave in your hair for a while. I am not so much interested in the "bonding" shampoos as I want my shampoo to do its job of cleaning. But maybe you think bonding shampoos are legit? I have tried Olaplex 3 and Hairitage by Mindy bonding treatments and while they make my hair feel good at the time I rinse them out, I'm not sure they have any long term benefits.

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    Replies
    1. WSDecember 17, 2023 at 10:20 AM

      Hello, I have "Bonding products" on my blog-to-do list. They don't contain the same active ingredients, "bonding" has become the newest marketing trend for any product that might provide deep or superficial benefits for hair. There is no legal requirement that cosmetics actually do what they claim. Active ingredients in shampoos can stay behind after rinsing in a few different ways - they can stay inside the hair (small humectants) or bond to it (conditioners, some proteins) or be deposited on the hair along with other ingredients (coacervation). That post will be coming soon. Thanks for reading! -W

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