I’m finding these aspects about porosity & texture a bit tricky as well.  To get started on my trip back to being a natural CG I spent the w/end reading all the articles on the BC web site & following the links to the others.  I also started washing my hair & leaving it to dry naturally.  (It’s going well so far but need to get started using some products to try to help control the dryness & frizz now on my Type 2c/3 short wavy frizzy hair.)
 
I tried running my finger & thumb along a strand of hair from end to root (up the hair shaft)  & it felt smooth.  (That puzzled me because I always remember years ago when I did that it felt slightly rough.)  So I assumed smooth must mean low or medium porosity.  But yet my hair feels very dry though so surely it cant have normal porosity, can it?  I also took a walk on the sea front yesterday & when I started out my hair was behaving ok, but by the time I got back home & looked in the mirror…......my hair was a terrible ball of FRIZZ sticking out all over!!    Had to wet it through & start from scratch again.

So, I also want to ask if colouring my hair could account for the smooth feeling on the hair I tested?  If so then it probably means I still have very porous hair, right !  Oh please help my heads done in trying to think this through! 

I hope I’m doing the right thing here - I’ve decided to start by trying the Dr Organics range from Holland & Barrett (both poo & conditioner).  I’ve also picked up a trial size Tresemme Organics conditioner & GFructis Repair & Shine conditioner.  I’ll try them all one by one & see what happens.  Do you think I also need to try something to replace some Protein as well ?

Any pointers and suggestions very, very welcome indeed cos I’m very puzzled at the moment. 

Still trying to fathom out the porosity of my hair.  Serves me right for ignoring it & ‘torturing’ it for years & years - means I’m having to get to know it from scratch !!  Tried putting a few strands in water to see if they floated or sank.  They all floated.  After a while I tried pushing them under water to see what happened.  Parts of them came back to the surface again.  So maybe my hair isnt as porous as I’ve always thought it was?  But I’m not totally sure.

Anyway, I started this last week using (& getting along fine) with both DrO MH shampoo & conditioner and then Aubrey O HR poo & conditioner.  Seemed like my hair preferred AO’s more as it felt softer & more moisturised.  (Or maybe it just likes being treated with respect since starting my CG routine )  Felt especially good when I also used the AU cond as a leave in.  Kept more wave definition & a few curls well into the day but got to looking a bit dry later on.

This morning I just rinsed my hair then used one of the new products I just received from Crown Pride - Avocado Detangling Conditioner.  It has several different oils, honey, & other ingredients & is quite thick, but felt good to apply.  I rinsed it out, but then decided I’d apply some more to use as a leave in.    It took a while to dry (as usual) but I was REALLY happy with the outcome.  Where I usually have just kinky waves I had definite curls instead and my hair felt so smooth and moisturised.  Felt like someone else’s hair !!  I did go out for a while this afternoon & even though its freezing outside my hair didn’t frizz, kept the curls & still looked as good as it did this morning.  So it seems like for now my hair definitely likes the oils.  I just can’t wait for it to grow so that it looks a bit longer - having curls makes it appear shorter, right ! 

Hi mrsgemini - glad your new products seem to be working.  (re the porosity - chances are if you colour without any problem and by that I mean that your hair has no problem taking colour and you have coloured for a few years then I would say that you have a degree of porosity.) I don’t really trust the float test or the running your finger along a strand.  It good though that the products you are using and giving you good hair.  Oils could be sealing your hair and keeping in moisture hence less frizz. And yes, more curls - shorter looking hair

Hi, yes I have coloured my hair for a number of years so that must have affected it.  I tend to think you’re right - it must be more porous than the float test indicated.  In fact I was researching colourants yesterday - looking for a more natural & less damaging alternative & I found the info on Naturetint & also read that KJ used it recently.  It certainly sounds much better than the one I’ve got used to using over the years & I really did think the colour KJ chose looked great on her hair too.  Next time I have to re-colour my roots I’m def going to use this brand.
But for now I’m just enjoying seeing curls again…....