Know Your Hair Type and Porosity Before You Buy Another Product | The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast Ep. 12
Delena MarklandMost product disappointment is not the product -- it is buying for the wrong hair. In this episode Delena, a licensed cosmetologist, explains the two things to know before you spend another dollar: your hair type and your porosity. She shows how to test for both at home with the float test and how the right match changes everything from frizz to hold, using the lightweight Rice Water Shampoo Bar and the alcohol-free Hair Finishing Stick as her examples.
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Episode Summary
Licensed cosmetologist Delena Markland teaches the hair-type and porosity basics every product decision should start from -- the at-home float test, what low and high porosity each need, and how matching products to porosity fixes frizz and buildup. A practical, salon-grade framework rather than a sales pitch.
The finishing stick Delena reaches for to seal and smooth high-porosity hair has its own full guide: Hair Finishing Stick: Your Guide to Salon-Quality Results.
Featured in this episode
Rice Water Shampoo Bar — a lightweight rice water bar that low-porosity hair loves without the buildup heavier formulas leave behind · $11.75
Hair Finishing Stick — alcohol-free finishing gel that seals and smooths high-porosity frizz with a flexible hold and no white flaking · $6.95
Full Episode Transcript
Jess: Welcome to The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast. I am Jess, here with licensed cosmetologist Delena Markland. Delena, people spend a fortune on products that do nothing for them. Why?
Delena Markland: Because they are buying for a hair type they do not actually have. Before you buy anything else, you need two things: your hair type and your porosity. I will give you a real example -- the Rice Water Shampoo Bar is lightweight, so it is wonderful for low-porosity hair that gets weighed down, but a high-porosity, color-damaged head needs more sealing and protein support. Same shelf, totally different match. Knowing your hair is what makes any product work.
Jess: Start with porosity. How do I find mine?
Delena Markland: The float test. Drop a clean strand in a glass of water. If it floats, you are low porosity -- your cuticle lies flat and resists moisture. If it sinks fast, you are high porosity -- the cuticle is raised, so it soaks up and loses moisture quickly. That one test tells you more about how to care for your hair than any label on a bottle.
Jess: What does each one actually need?
Delena Markland: Low porosity needs lightweight products and a little warmth to open the cuticle so product can get in -- think warm water, lighter formulas, and avoiding heavy oils that just sit on top. High porosity needs the opposite: protein-moisture balance, cooler rinses to close the cuticle, and a sealing finish to lock moisture in and stop frizz. When I want to seal and smooth a high-porosity client, I finish with the Hair Finishing Stick to lay the surface down.
Jess: And hair type on top of that?
Delena Markland: Type -- straight, wavy, curly, coily, plus your density and texture -- tells you how to style and how much weight your hair can carry. Porosity tells you how to feed it. Together they are your whole playbook. Once a client knows both, she stops buying randomly and starts buying on purpose, and her hair finally behaves.
Jess: Test your hair before you trust a label. Smart. The Rice Water Bar and Finishing Stick are at thepixiegarden.com. Thanks for listening to The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast.
Ready to buy on purpose instead of at random?
Delena's picks from this episode: the lightweight Rice Water Shampoo Bar and the alcohol-free Hair Finishing Stick.
Hosted by Delena Markland, Licensed Cosmetologist and Owner of The Pixie Garden. New episodes weekly. Browse all episodes.
