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Finding the best low-porosity hair products can be a difficult task, as low-porosity hair requires very specific care. The daily battle includes trying to find the products that actually deeply penetrate the scalp and strands with moisture, all while avoiding product buildup. “Simply put, low-porosity hair contains a hair fiber that has overlapping cuticles,” says Bridgette Hill, trichologist and colorist with Paul Labrecque Salon and Skincare Spa. “These overlapping cuticles create a barrier preventing water and moisture from penetrating.” Additionally, low-porosity hair contains a lot of protein, making it dry and more prone to breakage, so it requires the right type of moisture. According to Hill, the first layer of moisture should be the humectant, which helps produce soft and shiny hair and “works as the adhesive layer of moisture that is small enough to penetrate the cuticle.” The second layer of moisture should be lipids, “found in fatty-acid oils like avocado and shea, [which] bind to the humectant, filling open spaces” within the hair shaft. This is created when one uses a clarifying shampoo “with moisture-binding ingredients.”
Here, from shampoos and conditioners to leave-in and styling products, we break down 21 of the best low-porosity hair products that will help solve your hair woes, whether it’s preventing breakage or restoring moisture, shine, and overall health to your hair.
Shampoos
Picking the right shampoo for low-porosity hair is essential. “Clarifying shampoos break down the protein structures that would allow the humectants and moisture to penetrate the hair fiber deeper, giving the hair more elasticity, softness, and shine,” Hill says. Hill recommends Design Essentials Oat Protein & Deep Protein Shampoo, equipped with soothing ingredients like chamomile. Klorane Aquatic Mint shampoo is also great for very-low-porosity hair because it works to remove buildup and purify the scalp.
To go the extra mile for low-porosity hair, a little exfoliant is a good idea as “the ingredients of these shampoos open the cuticle to allow moisture to enter.” Glycolix 10% Shampoo Wash is a great go-to: “It’s a therapeutically formulated shampoo to help normalize damaged scalp conditions caused by chemicals and the environment.”
Briogeo's Scalp Revival Shampoo also delivers gentle exfoliation. A blend of coconut oil, charcoal, peppermint oil, and tea tree oil work together to rebalance, cleanse, nourish, and scrub away dead skin cells on the scalp.
Conditioners & Leave-In Conditioners
Hill notes that it is crucial for people with low-porosity hair to “use conditioners and leave-ins that are water-based [or] light lotions or diluted heavy conditioners that do not sit on the hair shaft.” For that reason, she incorporates a few different types of water-based leave-in conditioners into her regimen and on her clients. Go-tos include Rene Furterer Solaire Moisturizing Spray, Klorane Leave-In with oat milk, Briogeo’s Roscaro Milk Leave-In Spray, and Design Essentials Coconut and Monoi Refresher. Carol’s Daughter Monoi Repairing Conditioner helps prevents breakage thanks to its star ingredients, monoi and shea butter. Celebrity hairstylist Nigella Miller swears by Verb's Leave-In Mist. “I love using it to refresh my curls day to day,” she tells Vogue. “It gives my hair what it needs to stay alive all week, leaves my curls frizz-free, and hydrates my low-porosity hair.”
Styling Products
Camille Rose’s Rose Curl Love Moisture Milk is a hydrating concoction of avocado oil, castor oil, rose hip, and macadamia nut. Tgin’s Butter Cream Moisturizer contains shea butter and vitamin E, while Bounce Curl Avocado & Rose Oil Clump and Define Cream is nourishing thanks to its combination of oils: avocado, organic black seed, Egyptian Abyssinian, and argan.
Oils
Hill advises that the best oils for low-porosity hair are natural lanolin, avocado, jojoba, and shea because they offer “loads of moisture.”
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Deep Conditioners
With its avocado, aloe vera gel, and shea butter, NaturAll Club’s sensitive-scalp deep conditioner is the perfect one-stop shop for a hit of hydration. Similarly, Ouidad’s Triple Threat deep conditioner stars coconut, avocado, and grapeseed oils, while the shea butter, jojoba oil, and sweet almond oil in Carol’s Daughter’s Almond Milk hair mask provide the hair with penetrative moisture that also protects it from future breakage.
