Article: Trichologists Gloucester: Frizzy, Dry Hair and the Porosity Myth

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Woman touching her curly, frizz-prone hair under a cloudy sky, a common reason people search for trichologists Gloucester

Jul 19, 2025Hair Care

Trichologists Gloucester: Frizzy, Dry Hair and the Porosity Myth

Frizz is usually a message from the lengths of your hair, not from the roots, and that changes who can help.

If you are searching for trichologists Gloucester because your hair has turned frizzy, dry, rough or dull, look at the lengths before the scalp. Frizz mostly comes from a worn, raised cuticle that soaks up damp air and catches on its neighbours, and the popular float test cannot tell you your porosity. Gentler washing, conditioner, a light oil and a trim sort out most cases. A registered trichologist, or your GP, is worth it when texture changes come with shedding, patches or scalp symptoms.

Key takeaways

Hair takes up more water as the air gets damper: a 2007 study in the Journal of Cosmetic Science found water uptake rose in a straight line between 40% and 85% relative humidity.
Humidity changes the feel of frizz in curly hair more than in straight hair, according to a 2021 friction study led by L'Oréal Research and Innovation.
We could not find a peer-reviewed study that validates the glass-of-water float test; laboratories measure porosity with nitrogen sorption or thermoporometry instead.
A 2014 analysis of 123 shampoos found 61.78% had a pH above 5.5, and its authors concluded that lower pH shampoos cause less frizz.
The NHS lists dry hair alongside hair loss, tiredness and feeling cold among the signs of an underactive thyroid, so texture change with other symptoms is a reason to speak to your GP before looking up trichologists Gloucester.

What actually is frizz?

Frizz is the halo of strands that refuse to lie flat, and it happens when the cuticle, the layer of overlapping scales on the outside of each hair, has lifted or worn away, so individual fibres absorb water unevenly, bend in different directions and catch on each other instead of sliding past.

A healthy cuticle carries a thin, water-repelling layer of a fatty acid called 18-methyleicosanoic acid, or 18-MEA. A 2025 review of hair friction by researchers at Imperial College London and Procter & Gamble explains that this layer is lost progressively as hair ages and weathers, and that bleaching, colouring, straightening, curling, brushing and combing all speed up the loss. Without it, friction between strands rises and hair feels rough. The rougher surface also reflects light less evenly, which is why frizzy hair so often looks dull as well.

Frizz is partly about shape too. Inside the fibre, water forms and breaks temporary hydrogen bonds that help hold a curl or a blow-dry in place. When damp air gets into hair that was styled dry, those bonds reset in new places, so a smooth finish drifts back towards its natural pattern, and the strands that take up the most water move the most. That is why one section of your head can frizz while another stays sleek.

Frizz and dryness are related but not the same thing. Dry hair has lost water and surface lipids; frizz is how that worn surface behaves in the air around it. You can have one without the other, which our guide to hydrating versus moisturising hair unpacks in more detail.

Why does damp weather make hair frizz more?

Damp weather makes hair frizz more because keratin soaks up water vapour from the air, and the more humid the day, the more water a strand holds, so a worn cuticle swells unevenly and the fibre loosens out of the shape it was styled in, especially when the hair is naturally curly.

The numbers back up what most people feel on a wet morning. In Gao's 2007 study for the Journal of Cosmetic Science, the water taken up by both untreated and bleached hair rose in a straight line as relative humidity climbed from 40% to 85%, while the fibre's stiffness fell as humidity rose from 50% to 80%. A 2022 study of moisture uptake by researchers at KAO Germany found a glass transition, a kind of softening point, in hair at around 60% to 70% relative humidity.

Curly hair feels the change most. A 2021 study published in the journal Perception, led by L'Oréal Research and Innovation with Swedish partners, tested how people perceived curly and straight hair by touch at different temperatures and humidities. Humidity changes affected the perceived frizziness of curly hair disproportionately, because friction between the strands changed at the same time. The authors also pointed out how few attempts had been made to measure the popular belief at all, a useful reminder that a lot of frizz advice is folklore.

A wet walk along Westgate Street undoes a blow-dry for exactly this reason. You cannot change the air, but you can change how readily your lengths take it up, which is where porosity comes in.

Quick fixes for a humid day

Finish every blow-dry with a blast of cool air, smooth a few drops of oil or a leave-in over the dry lengths, keep your hands out of your hair once it is styled, and carry a soft scrunchie so you can pull the lengths into a loose plait if the air turns heavy.

Woman with curly hair sheltering under an umbrella on a damp street, the kind of humid air that makes hair frizz

What is hair porosity, and does the float test really work?

Hair porosity describes how easily water, oils and conditioning ingredients move into and out of the hair fibre, and the float test, dropping a clean strand into a glass of water to see whether it sinks, is a poor way to measure it because the result depends more on the strand's surface than on its structure. If relaxing or keratin smoothing has left your lengths snapping, our Southend-on-Sea guide to chemical straightening and breakage looks at spacing and aftercare.

Porosity is not a fixed hair type you are born with. It rises as the cuticle wears and as chemical processes open the fibre up. Kaushik and colleagues showed in 2022 that the surfactants in ordinary shampoo diffuse into hair and dissolve some of its protein, increasing its internal porosity, which they measured with nitrogen sorption, a laboratory technique borrowed from materials science. A 2025 paper in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science measured hair porosity by thermoporometry in a differential scanning calorimeter. Neither method involves a glass of water.

The float test misleads for four practical reasons:

Surface oils and product residue. Sebum, silicones and styling products repel water, so a strand can float for minutes whatever is going on inside it.
Air and surface tension. A single dry hair traps tiny air bubbles and rests on the surface tension of the water, which holds it up however porous it is.
Timing. Keratin is denser than water, so almost every strand sinks in the end, and "floats" and "sinks" really mean "sinks slowly" and "sinks quickly".
One strand, one spot. A hair from the roots and a hair from the ends can behave differently, and a single shed hair only tells you about its own history.

We searched the peer-reviewed literature and could not find a study that checks the float test against a laboratory measure of porosity, so read the result as a party trick rather than a measurement. Your hair's history is a far better guide. Bleached, highlighted, permed, relaxed or regularly straightened hair is almost always more porous at the ends than at the roots, whatever a glass of water says.

Clue	Points to lower porosity	Points to higher porosity
Chemical history	Uncoloured and rarely heat-styled	Bleached, coloured, permed, relaxed or often straightened
Wetting and drying	Slow to soak through, slow to dry	Soaks through quickly and dries quickly
How products behave	Sit on the surface and can feel greasy	Vanish fast and need topping up
In damp air	Holds a style for longer	Frizzes and tangles quickly
Where on the head	Usually near the roots	Usually the ends and the outer layer

Three glasses of water like those used for the hair porosity float test, which gives unreliable results

How should you care for low porosity hair?

Low porosity hair has a tight, intact cuticle that resists water and products, so it usually does best with lighter formulas, a little warmth to help conditioner in, and occasional clarifying to clear build-up, rather than the heavy butters and layered oils that suit dry, bleached lengths. For fine hair that goes flat under heavy products, see our Bedford guide to conditioner and thinning hair.

Lighter oils make sense on chemistry as well as feel. In a 2024 study in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, Marsh and colleagues at Procter & Gamble, working with the Royal Botanic Gardens and the University of Hong Kong, found that plant oils penetrate the lipid-rich cell membrane complex inside hair, and that triglycerides with shorter chains and unsaturated fatty acids penetrated more readily. Coconut oil and camellia oil were among the oils they tested, and every oil in the study improved the fatigue strength of single fibres in the lab.

Condition soaking-wet hair. Apply conditioner straight after rinsing and leave it for a few minutes in the warm shower before rinsing again.
Clarify now and then. A deeper wash every few weeks clears the silicones and styling residue that sit on an intact cuticle.
Go easy on oil. Two or three drops smoothed over dry ends is plenty; more will sit on top and weigh fine hair down.
Pick sprays and lotions. Light leave-ins spread more evenly than thick creams on hair that does not drink them in.

Watermans Camellia and Black Castor hair and body oil for smoothing a few drops over dry, frizzy ends

Camellia & Black Castor Hair & Body Oil

A multi-use hair and body oil made with camellia oil and black castor oil, rich in oleic acid and omega 3, 6 and 9, £24.95 in September 2026. Warm two drops between your palms and smooth them over dry ends so they look glossier and feel softer.

How should you care for high porosity hair?

High porosity hair has a raised, chipped or partly missing cuticle, usually from bleach, colour, heat or sun, so it drinks in water quickly, loses it just as fast and frizzes in damp air, which means it needs a gentle low pH wash, rich conditioning and a protective layer before any heat.

Shampoo pH matters more than most labels admit. Gavazzoni Dias and colleagues measured 123 international shampoos in 2014 and found values from 3.5 to 9.0, with 61.78% above pH 5.5. Their review concluded that an alkaline pH increases the negative electrical charge on the fibre surface and the friction between fibres, and that a lower pH shampoo causes less frizz. Salon shampoos in their sample were far more likely to sit at 5.5 or below than popular high-street brands, and few bottles print the figure at all.

Oil before washing can help the most worn lengths. Rele and Mohile reported in 2003 that coconut oil, used before and after washing, was the only one of three oils tested that markedly reduced protein loss from both undamaged and damaged hair, while sunflower oil and mineral oil did not help with protein loss. In 2022 Kaushik's group found coconut-based oils limited the rise in porosity that washing causes. Both studies came from researchers at Marico, a company that sells coconut hair oil, which is worth weighing. Our Gillingham guide to hair oiling compares coconut, castor and argan oil and explains how much to use on porous lengths.

Heat is the other lever. A 2011 study in the Annals of Dermatology dried hair tresses 30 times at different settings and found surface damage increased as the temperature rose, but a dryer held about 15 cm away and kept moving caused less damage than leaving hair to dry naturally. For a full routine for parched lengths, see our guide on how to fix dry hair in four steps.

Step	Low porosity hair	High porosity hair
Washing	Regular wash, clarify every few weeks	Gentle, low pH shampoo focused on the scalp
Conditioning	Light conditioner on wet hair, with warmth	Rich conditioner every wash, plus a weekly mask
Oil	A few drops of a light oil on dry ends	Oil on the lengths before washing
Heat	Moderate, with a protection spray	Lowest setting that works, dryer kept moving
Watch for	Build-up and limp roots	Frizz, tangles and snapping ends

Watermans Masque Me deep conditioning hair mask for dry, porous and frizz-prone lengths

Masque Me® Hair Mask

An 8-in-1 deep conditioning mask with argan oil, provitamin B5, rosemary and hydrolysed lupine protein, £24.95 in September 2026. Leave it on the lengths once a week so dry, porous ends look smoother and feel softer.

Watermans Protect Me leave-in conditioning spray with frizz control and heat protection

Protect Me® Leave-In Spray

A leave-in conditioning spray with panthenol, niacinamide and sunflower oil, with frizz control and heat protection up to 230°C, £13.95 in September 2026. Mist it through damp lengths before drying to help hair look smoother on humid days.

Woman examining the ends of her dry curly hair to judge how porous and rough the lengths feel

Get a discount on the frizzy dry hair range

Join the Watermans mailing list and we will email a discount code straight to your inbox, so you can try the frizzy dry hair range for less. Vegan, made in the UK, over 6.5 million bottles sold since 2012.

When is frizz really breakage or weathering?

Frizz is really breakage when the fuzzy halo is made of short, snapped hairs standing up along the parting, crown or hairline, and it is weathering when the ends feel rough, look paler and split, because years of washing, brushing, sun and heat have gradually worn the cuticle away between root and tip.

Weathering is the ordinary ageing of the fibre along its length. The roots are new growth, while the ends of long hair have been washed, brushed and heated for years. Sun adds to the wear: a 2008 review of UV damage in the journal Collegium Antropologicum explains that UVB radiation is responsible for protein loss from hair and UVA for colour changes, which is why sun-bleached ends feel straw-like. The 2025 Imperial College review adds that friction climbs as the protective 18-MEA layer disappears, so weathered ends tangle and fluff up more easily than the rest.

Breakage frizz looks different up close. If the short hairs sticking out are all roughly the same length and have blunt or frayed tips, they have snapped. A 2017 review by Haskin, Kwatra and Aguh on acquired trichorrhexis nodosa, a common pattern of breakage at weak points in the shaft, puts a gentle hair care routine, with careful cleansing and conditioning, at the centre of the approach rather than medicines. The self-care advice from the British Association of Dermatologists points the same way: avoid harsh brushing, limit heated tools such as hairdryers and straighteners, and avoid harsh chemical processes such as bleaching and relaxing.

It helps to keep three different problems apart:

Hair breakage. The fibre snaps somewhere along its length and the follicle is untouched. You see short pieces with no bulb at either end.
Hair shedding. A whole hair with a small, pale bulb falls out at the end of its growth cycle. The NHS says losing 50 to 100 hairs a day is normal, and the British Association of Dermatologists explains that in telogen effluvium the share of resting hairs rises from about 15% to 30% or more, often around 3 months after a trigger.
Hair loss. The follicle itself changes, so less hair grows back and the parting widens or patches appear.

Frizz, dryness and roughness belong almost entirely to the first group and to weathering. A trim removes the oldest, most porous centimetres at the ends, and that alone often calms frizz where it is worst. Our guide to the habits that keep split ends at bay covers trims and everyday handling in more depth.

Hairdresser trimming frayed, weathered ends from long red hair, often a better first step for frizz than trichologists Gloucester

Can dry, dull or rough hair be a sign of something medical?

Dry, dull or rough hair is occasionally a sign of something medical, most often when it arrives alongside other changes such as tiredness, feeling cold, weight gain or heavier shedding, because the NHS lists dry hair and hair loss among the typical symptoms of an underactive thyroid gland.

The NHS symptom list for an underactive thyroid also includes constipation, low mood, dry skin and a hoarse voice, and it notes that symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time. Separately, the NHS names illness, stress, weight loss and iron deficiency among the causes of temporary hair loss, and the British Association of Dermatologists says a blood test can rule out thyroid conditions and iron deficiency when shedding is heavy.

The pattern is the useful clue. Weathering affects the ends and the outer layer, gets worse the further you go from the scalp and improves when you trim. A change with a medical cause tends to show up in the new growth at the roots as well, and usually comes with shedding or other symptoms elsewhere in the body.

Speak to your own GP first if

Your texture has changed suddenly across the whole head, including the new growth; frizz comes with heavier shedding, patches or a widening parting; your scalp is itchy, sore, red, flaky or scaly; you also feel unusually tired, cold or low, or have noticed weight changes; or any change in your hair is worrying you.

When do trichologists Gloucester help with frizz more than a good hairdresser?

A registered trichologist helps with frizz more than a good hairdresser only occasionally, mainly when a change in texture comes with shedding, thinning or scalp symptoms such as itching, flaking or soreness, because those signs point to the scalp and follicles rather than to the weathered lengths a hairdresser can cut and advise on.

A hairdresser sees your hair every few weeks, knows its colour and heat history, and can cut away the weathered ends behind most frizz. Among the trichologists Gloucester has, the useful extra is a close look at the hair shaft and scalp under magnification: DermNet describes trichoscopy, examining the hair and scalp at 20 to 160 times magnification, as a low-cost, non-invasive technique. Most trichologists are not doctors and cannot give you medicines, and the NHS advises seeing a GP to find out what is behind hair loss before thinking about a commercial hair clinic.

Who	Best for	Go here first when
A good hairdresser	Frizz, rough or dull ends, split ends, colour and heat wear	Frizz is the only change and your scalp feels normal
A registered trichologist	Magnified checks of the shaft and scalp, routine review	Texture change or breakage persists after a gentler routine and a GP check
Your GP	Blood tests and referral to NHS dermatology where needed	Change is sudden or patchy, or comes with shedding or feeling unwell

How do you vet the trichologists Gloucester has to offer?

Vetting the trichologists Gloucester has to offer starts with the register: the Institute of Trichologists keeps a searchable UK register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority, and the Trichological Society is the other main UK body, so check membership on the organisation's own website before you pay for anything.

The Institute of Trichologists says its registrants complete a two-and-a-half-year Level 5 distance-learning course, accredited by NCFE and backed by supervised practical training. For a frizz or texture question, ask three things:

Will you look at the hair shaft under magnification and go through my colour, heat and washing history?
If this looks like shedding with a medical cause, will you send me back to my GP?
Are you recommending products you sell, and can I keep using my own?

We sell hair care, so weigh our view accordingly. Watermans hair care is vegan apart from Condition Me conditioner and made in the UK, with over 6.5 million bottles sold since 2012. They are cosmetic: they help hair look and feel smoother and healthier and reduce breakage, but they cannot change how a follicle behaves.

What are the most frequently asked questions about frizz and trichologists Gloucester?

Should I see one of the trichologists Gloucester lists for frizzy hair?

Usually not first. Frizz on its own comes from a worn cuticle on the lengths, so a trim, a gentler wash, conditioner and a light oil help most people. A registered trichologist is worth considering when texture change comes with shedding, thinning or an itchy, flaky or sore scalp, and your GP comes first for patches or heavy shedding.

Is the hair porosity float test accurate?

No. Whether a strand floats depends mostly on surface oils, product residue, trapped air and how long you wait, and almost every strand sinks eventually. We could not find a peer-reviewed study that validates it. Your colour and heat history, how fast your hair dries and how products sit on it are better clues.

Why does my hair frizz more when it rains?

Hair absorbs water vapour from the air. A 2007 study found the water taken up by hair rose in a straight line as relative humidity climbed from 40% to 85%. Strands with a worn cuticle take up water unevenly, lose the shape they were styled in and rub against each other, which shows as frizz.

Does a low pH shampoo reduce frizz?

It can help. A 2014 review that measured 123 shampoos found most sat above pH 5.5, and concluded that an alkaline pH increases the negative charge and friction on the hair surface, while a lower pH shampoo causes less frizz. Few brands print the pH, so a pH-balanced label is only a rough guide.

Which oil is best for frizzy hair?

Lab studies suggest oils with shorter chains, such as coconut oil, penetrate hair more readily, and a 2024 study found camellia and coconut oils both entered the lipid layer inside the fibre. Heavier oils mostly coat the surface, which still smooths frizz. Use a few drops on dry ends if your hair is low porosity, and more on bleached, porous lengths.

Is frizz a sign of hair loss?

Not usually. Frizz is a surface problem with the lengths. Short snapped hairs can look like frizz, but that is breakage, not hair loss. Shedding whole hairs with a small bulb is normal at 50 to 100 a day, according to the NHS. Speak to your GP if you notice patches, a widening parting or heavy shedding.

Can an underactive thyroid make hair dry?

It can. The NHS lists dry skin, dry hair or hair loss among the symptoms of an underactive thyroid, alongside tiredness, feeling cold, weight gain and low mood. If dry, rough hair comes with changes like these, speak to your own GP rather than a hair professional first.

Does trimming help frizz?

Yes, for frizz at the ends. A trim removes the oldest, most weathered and most porous centimetres, where split ends and frizz concentrate, so hair often looks smoother straight away. A trim does not change how new hair grows, but it takes splits off before they fray further up the strand.

Sources & references

What is the bottom line on trichologists Gloucester?

Frizzy, dry, rough or dull hair is almost always a story about the cuticle on the lengths: worn by washing, heat, colour, sun and brushing, then swollen by damp air. Skip the float test, judge porosity by your hair's history, match your care to it and get the weathered ends trimmed. Save trichologists Gloucester for texture change that comes with shedding or scalp symptoms, and speak to your own GP first about patches, heavy shedding or feeling unwell.

For the smoothing layer that damp days call for, a leave-in conditioning spray such as Protect Me coats the lengths with panthenol and sunflower oil and shields them from styling heat up to 230°C.

Watermans products are 100% cosmetic and do not treat medical hair loss. Individual results may vary.

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Medically reviewed by Dr. Amy Revene M.B.B.S. A dedicated General Physician at New Hope Medical Center, holds a distinguished academic background from the University of Sharjah. Beyond her clinical role, she nurtures a fervent passion for researching and crafting hair care and cosmetic products. Merging medical insights with her love for dermatological science, Dr. Revene aspires to improve well-being through innovative personal care discoveries.