Hair Coloring for Dummies 101 Chapter 6 Porosity

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POROSITY

How porous the client’s hair is will determine what steps the colorist will use to achieve desired results.  In the state of normal porosity the outer cuticle layers are flattened or compact, and inhibit moisture penetration or moisture evaporation.  If the cuticle layers are overly compacted, it will be resistant, and may need to be pre-softened to achieve desired results.  Hair that is overly porous easily absorbs moisture as well as releases moisture becoming dry, and damaged.  Acidic conditioning treatments are great choices for helping to seal down the cuticle layer.  Overly porous hair needs to be approached using caution by the colorist due its high absorption qualities.  Permanent hair coloring has tendencies to take to strong with this type of porosity, and semi permanent/demi permanent colors tend to fade in a quickened manner.

 Hair Porosity

A colorist can determine hair’s porosity by simply feeling it from the scalp down the shaft.  If it feels rough/dry it is porous.  In a wet state, over porous hair tends to feel gummy or rubbery.  Another method is to take snips of hair and allow them to be placed into a glass already filled with water.  If after a couple minutes the hair is still afloat it is deemed normal porosity or healthy.

Porosity Care Guidelines

Virgin Hair-  Normal Porosity

Proceed with coloring service following manufacturer’s instructions

Color treatment shampoos should be used in conjunction with color treatment conditioners for at home maintenance 

Leave in conditioners designed for chemically treated hair after color service, and at home maintenance

Virgin Hair-  Porous/Dry

Neutral protein fillers or EFA(essential fatty acids) incorporated into the tint formula to equalize the rate of absorption

Pretreatment conditioning mask 48-72 hours prior to color application

Color treatment shampoos should be used in conjunction with color treatment conditioners for at home maintenance

Leave in conditioners designed for chemically treated hair after color service, and at home maintenance

Processed Hair-  Good Porosity

Conditioning treatments can be applied to hair ends after tint has been applied to re-growth

Color treatment shampoos should be used in conjunction with color treatment conditioners for at home maintenance

Leave in conditioners designed for chemically treated hair after color service, and at home maintenance

Processed Hair-  Porous/Dry

Pretreatment conditioning 24 hours prior to color application on porous ends only

Protein fillers added to tint mixture after the mixture has been applied to re-growth; plus dilute remaining tint mixture with half shampoo to be used on hair ends to refresh

Conditioning treatment applied to hair ends after tint has been applied to re-growth

Color treatment shampoos should be used in conjunction with color treatment conditioners for at home maintenance

Leave in conditioners designed for chemically treated hair after color service, and at home maintenance

Damaged Hair-  Overly Porous/Dry

Multiple conditioning treatments prior to color service and preliminary strand test prior to proceeding

Protein fillers added to tint mixture after the mixture has been applied to re-growth; plus dilute remaining tint mixture with half shampoo to be used on hair ends to refresh

Conditioning treatment applied to hair ends after tint has been applied to re-growth

Color treatment shampoos used in conjunction with color treatment conditioners for at home maintenance

Leave in conditioners designed for chemically treated hair after color service, and at home maintenance

Fillers and what they do:

Fillers are the colorist’s spackling to assist the colorist in dealing with issues of porosity.   Early warning signs of porosity concerns are:

• Final shade appears too drab or off color
• Ends look weak, or to light in color

In extreme cases of excessive porosity the hair holds little to no color.   

Color fillers are simple to use, and can be found in Gold, Red, Orange, Brown, and Platinum tones.  The key to selecting the correct filler or combination of fillers to use is to understand the direction of the shade problem.  The below guide can be used to help select which color filler would best suit.

Normal Porosity

Over Porous/Over Lightened

Porous Lightened

Tint fillers are another option to address an overly porous hair shaft.  They are excellent when reversing overly lightened hair downward towards its natural shade.  When using tint as filler, the filler portion is formulated using the color chart as the guide.  If the formula needs to be in the Level 6-8 range with normal porosity the incorporation of one part copper to two parts gold plus desired nuance and other contributing nuances is the formulation path that a colorist would take.  For levels 5 and below the ratio is two parts of a strong copper plus one part of a gold plus desired nuance and other contributing nuances.  The reasoning for using a stronger copper filler shade mix is that the deeper shades need the added pigment weight to cancel any undesirable shading. 

Tint fillers on over porous/over lightened hair should be applied first, using a 10 volumes or less in developer strength, and allowed to process for at least 15 minutes.  The filler is then wiped off of the hair, and the desired color formula is then applied.  Note that the hair is not rinsed but wiped.  It would also be advisable to use an appropriate color filler(s) into the desired formula as well.  This method called bridging builds necessary pigment weight on the over porous hair creating better depth and color shading.

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