Low Porosity Support Thread

uofmpanther said:

divachyk - I am liking Aubrey Organics more and more for my shampoos and conditioners. I think the Blue Green Algae hair mask may be too much protein for me, but I love the White Camellia Shampoo and the Island Replenishing Conditioner. I just bought the White Camellia Conditioner to try it. I tried to use the HSR as a leave-in, but it didn't work. That's why I like CJ better as a potential one line. My hair likes their cleanser, deep conditioners, and leave-in.

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[USER=381361 said:

Cocoloves[/USER];19027499]I finally read through the whole thread! I learned alot!!!

My hair background: twa with 3b-4b natural hair depending on what section you are looking at. I was natural 10 years ago and long nights of doing my hair no longer appeal to me because I gotta get my sleep. So I plan to keep a twa.

My hair issues: medium to low porosity. Youtuber - Green Beauty Channel discusses porosity in terms of a continuum and it makes alot of sense to me. My hair doesn't like alot of chemicals in ANY product as it will sit on my hair. But it will absorb all natural products, which is why I make my own (also got recipes from this you tuber too). Even with an inch of hair, my hair takes hours to dry. I can get build up quickly and this thread taught me to wash more often.

What works for me: AO HSR and AO GPB. Oil rinses, homemade leave-in(distilled, water, glycerin, herbal hot oil (recipe from green beauty), flaxseed gel and homemade creamy moisturizer using mostly mango butter, a little shea,and a little illippe butter (modified green beauty recipe- I should get a job with her as I am promoting her so much!!) Ayurveda: sukesh From Henna Sooq and Hibiscus powder. Castile soap based homemade shampoo - recipe from the web. I see no reason to reinvent.

What doesn't work: any protein use more than once a week. Henna treatment - very bad, very very bad, any product with alot of shea butter. Any product with ingredients I can't even pronounce. This stuff just sits on my head. And maybe ACV - I have a ACV creamy rinse from Ebene Naturals that I haven't used and my hair is staying soft.

I have learned from this thread to rinse with warm water.

Question: for those with lp with natural hair and color - what color have you used?

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faithVA said:

I'm going to check out the Green Beauty Channel. Thanks for the info.

As far as color, I have used Soft Sheen Carson brand from Target, Bigen, ION from Sally's, Naturatint and Shea Moisture.

I only use permanent because rinses and demi colors lay on my strands and make my hair dryer.

I'm currently using Naturtint.

I'm going to try using Walnut Powder next week. I will keep everyone posted on if and how it works.

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faithVA said:

I'm going to check out the Green Beauty Channel. Thanks for the info.

As far as color, I have used Soft Sheen Carson brand from Target, Bigen, ION from Sally's, Naturatint and Shea Moisture.

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Cocoloves said:

I can't did shea moisture hair color. Can it found online?

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[USER=20656 said:

blackeyes31626[/USER];19027699]How'd you like the Shea Moisture hair color? Did the color actually take? I wanna try it but I am afraid.

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faithVA said:

All permanent color takes on my hair. It worked fine. But I can't find a reason to pay the extra money for what I can get in Naturatint. They work the same as far as I can tell.

I color my hair every quarter, so it is just a matter of what brand I am going to use.

Bigen was a fail. And I felt a bit uncomfortable with the ION. It had a lot more chemicals in it than I wanted. As far as natural hair colors I think they all work about the same.

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shortdub78 said:

I want to go the perm route in a couple of weeks. Rinses don't last or barely take.

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hnntrr said:

New Regimen is working so great.!!! I am doing this 2-3 times a week. Rinsing under steady stream of water. Applying conditioner for further detangling Shampooing out conditioner/build up with no sulphate shampoo...(still doing curly girl method so all my products are silicone and sulphate free). Plop for five minutes Apply DC to damp/semi dry hair DC Overnight or with heat for 30 minutes. Rinse out DC in morning and apply curl custard and eco styler. Its not cold yet so I can still get away with leaving the house with a wet head. For daily maintenance I spritz with water and hit some pieces that feel a little dry with some more moisturizer and refresh the curl. Really happy. My curls are soft and bouncy, even my SO said my hair was really soft. I need to get my ends trimmed at some point. I am going home this weekend and I may get my mom to trim them for me using the twist out method. Had some breakage today but mostly was shed hairs....about a peanut m&m size since I last washed. I was so happy to see those long shed hairs!!! AHHH Things are going great. I am going to just stay with this regimen for awhile or at least until it gets to cold then I might do braids for the month or two its super cold. I might do the puff again tomorrow since it is less manipulation than shingling my whole head. We will see though. I really wanna do two puffs but it makes me feel like I am going to look like 15.

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Cocoloves said:

I plan on switching to shampoos more often too. I get build up quickly which means it hard to moisturize my hair. It's feels great after a shampoo. I use a Castile soap mix. It works without stripping my hair.

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Celesti said:

What is your Castile soap mix? I've been wanting to try it for sometime but Id like a recipe to follow for an example.

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Cocoloves said:

Here us the link that has a lot of Castile soap recipes. You can pick what you like. I use the one for super moisturizing. http://hairrecipes.homestead.com/shampoorecipes.html

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Celesti said:

Cocoloves The moisturizing shampoo does look really REALLY good! Though I don't think I can afford the oils on my budget, I'll probably have to go with the moisturizing one instead of super moisturizing. But thank you for the site, very insightful.

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uofmpanther said:

I am really loving the Purabody Murumuru Moisture Milk. Lately, I've been spritzing my hair with oil/water, then layering that on top. I'm trying out coconut castor oil on top of that.

Oddly enough, my hair didn't like coconut oil on it's own, but it seems to tolerate it with castor oil mixed in. My hair is so soft right now, and I'm only M&S'ing 1x per day, instead of my usual 2x per day.

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uofmpanther said:

I am really loving the Purabody Murumuru Moisture Milk. Lately, I've been spritzing my hair with oil/water, then layering that on top. I'm trying out coconut castor oil on top of that. Oddly enough, my hair didn't like coconut oil on it's own, but it seems to tolerate it with castor oil mixed in. My hair is so soft right now, and I'm only M&S'ing 1x per day, instead of my usual 2x per day.

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faithVA said:

It sounds good but I'm too afraid to try that. My hair isn't loving the murumuru. Hair is so fickle

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Celesti said:

-- Share your background.
I've been natural for about 2 years now. I stopped pressing my hair in Nov. 2011. I've never permed, but i straightened my hair very hard like a perm lol. I BC'd my hair to 7 inches. And now I'm currently and 15 inches.

-- What hair symptoms are you exhibiting?

I've experienced:
•hair that feels totally unmoisturized, after hair had dried from a wash. Aka: nothing is holding moisture.
•rough ends
• product sitting on my hair
•hair takes time to get wet

-- What have you tried that works so far?

1. Finding a conditioner with low molecular weight.

There are a few blogs and sites that talk about molecular weight and hair. I can't explain it well myself. But one easy example is: we have a hard time getting moisture in low porosity hair. The reason is that, water molecules are larger than the opening of are cuticles. Meaning it takes longer time for water to diffuse in. Different ingredients can cause water molecules to be broken down smaller sizes to get under the cuticle. Now as far as finding a conditioner with low molecular weight, there isn't some test you can do, just trial and error. I found a conditioner that works for me on a whim. And surprisingly it's Pantene lol. It doesn't feel like its just sitting on my hair. It actually affects my hair. Different conditioners have different molecular weights, so that's why some conditioners just sits on your hair and some actually give effect. For example, suave naturals feels like putting globs of Vaseline on my hair (it does great for my skin though lol) So it was trial and error/ whimsical choice for me.

2. Glycerin

Now I can't say it's as simple as put glycerin on your hair and you're done. You have to find the amount that works for you. For me, if I use I much, my hair feels coated and slightly dry. If I use too little it doesn't last very long. From my own studies, I believe glycerin binds to water molecules and clings to them. So when diluted, it's already bound. So when you spray glycerin/water mix onto the hair, it settles and retains moisture. I don't think it draws moisture from the air necessarily. If you use too much glycerin in comparison to water, then your hair can be dry because there is remaining glycerin that has nothing to bind to (So I've read, glycerin can bind to 3 molecules of water) which gives that coated feeling. If you use too little, all the glycerin is bound, however, it might not be enough to moisturize, or if it does,won't last very long. I do believe that moisturized hair has a higher tendency to be affect by humidity. I guess that's why people associate glycerin with humidity and believe that glycerin draws moisture from the air.

3. Letting my conditioner set.
When I put the conditioner in my hair, I let it set, with a shower cap on, while I scrub my body. It gives time to soften my hair.

4. Shampooing with a sulfate that works for my hair.
This took testing. The shampooing should help in removing oils and lint from scalp, (and hair if you prefer) so you can receive moisture. Now depending on how oily or dry your scalp is, you should find a shampoo that works for you. I use ammonium lauryl sulfate. I'm even surprised I use it, (I think it's because I get dandruff easily). But it doesn't strip my hair; however, it does remove some oil. (I recently started diluting a little water in it.) I think everyone should use some type of shampoo. It doesn't have to be mine, or a sulfate, but something to remove oil and lint. So it can give your hair higher access to moisture. I think the only reason to use specifically a sulfate is if you use silicones. And I do lol. But ammonium works for me.

5. Damp styling, with milky textured products.

I don't style on wet hair. I dry my hair with a towel, and I give my hair time to dry a little now. The milky product I use is a mix of conditioner water, glycerin, and oil. And my hair will conform to it. I use 150 ml of water/glycerin (25% glycerin and 75% water), 1/3 c. Conditioner and a little bit of oil... Like 1 or 1 1/2 Tbs. and it works pretty well now.

So far this had been helping a lot. I wish I had this info in the beginning. Because my hair was literally stuck on plateaus. And this stuff has been helping me get over the humps.

One thing I'd like to try is liquid Castile soap. Because it's like a less rough version of the Cherry Lola treatment. Also I've read that Castile soap can lower the molecular weight of water, or in other words, make it small enough to get under the cuticle! ( But to use a small amount) I just don't know how to use it yet. So I need to do a lot of reading.

I hope this helps somebody though, I truly knows how it feels to be stuck at one length, my info won't apply to everyone I'm sure, but I hope it helps someone.

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[USER=201322 said:

divachyk[/USER];19057741]Pura MM is my staple leave in. I use it with the LOC method as mentioned in my blog. uofmpanther faithVA

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mg1979 said:

Which Pantene conditioner and which sulfate shampoo works well for you?

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faithVA said:

I remember you mentioned that to me before. I have tried it for about a month and my hair just doesn't like it. I tried the Sapote as a leave-in, it wasn't crazy about that either. Now I can use the AIA Leave-in and follow it with the Sapote and that works just fine. I've actually stopped doing the LOC method. I got rid of oils all together. I now either do LC or LLC and my hair is doing much better. I think my issue is that there is enough oil in the leave-in and the creams I use and adding oil in addition was too much for my strands. I did buy the Beautiful Curl Leave-in since it was on sale. I will give that a try. I don't think it will work as a leave-in but it may be good for my "C" step.

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Saludable84 said:

LOC doesn't work for me either so I usually do LCO which works great or sometimes CO depending on how residuey my hair it. For me, water works as my best liquid and an oil with a small amount of silicones works better at sealing.

Please excuse my iPhone

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faithVA said:

I tried LCO as well. It didn't occur to me until recently that maybe I just couldn't do the "O" no matter where it is. After reading so many reviews, I thought I had to be doing it wrong. But after a year I had run out of ways and products to try. Even after just putting on the L and the C my hair feels greasy. Even though we all seem to share the characteristic of low porosity it doesn't seem to play out the same way in the different heads in here

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[USER=353935 said:

Celesti[/USER];19063219]That's very true, even though we all have similar traits of low porosity, LOC method varies.
I did the LCO method for awhile but it made it feel greasy like nothing was being affected. So now I mix it all in a bottle (to get a milky texture) and spray it on. It's working like a charm I guess it's different for everyone because some porosities are lower than others, even though we are all lower than normal? Idk I think I'm making this more confusing lol ^_^

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faithVA said:

I understood exactly what you meant. So what do you put in your bottle? It may be something I can use while my hair is twisted up.

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divachyk said:

I do not care for Sapote. It's too light for my hair. Provided no hydration benefit. What's AIA? I don't have fine strands, thus LOC works. @Nix08 has fine strands (she's relaxed though and her porosity is semi-low last we spoke on this topic) and she loves the LOC.

@faithVA, I'm glad you found a technique that works...that's all that counts.

I feel like I'm repeating myself...I sure hope not. If so, charge it to my mind, not my heart. I honestly forget what threads I say what in....but my process is this (LOC) -- check out today's post as I detail it there but in short it's....

DC / Seal / Rinse / Seal /

DC with condish of choice
Apply about a nickel size amount of oil to hair before rinsing (seals in DCner)
Rinse with warm not cool / cold (hair feels much better this way)
Seal water in with coconut oil soaked hands this is step 1 & 2 of the LOC
Tshirt dry to absorb excess water
Apply LI (the C)
Sometimes I add a drop of oil to ends only to ensure they are nice & coated

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