Psst… I have a secret; I often reek with the smell of apple cider vinegar. I remember a few years back going through my organic/green phase when I obsess over reading labels on all my products. During this strange, yet highly fulfilling phase I discovered a lot of amazing household items that makes the world goes ‘round… but none would beat good ole bacon, of course.
Despite my exhilaration of going green, I found it to be extremely difficult to replace my daily items… some of which of course we never think about because they’ve become second nature. However, upon my discovery for this particular ingredient, my life literally changes. What else but the wholesome apple cider vinegar (ACV).
Apple cider vinegar is one of the many variety of vinegar available today. It contains acetic acid, as well as some lactic, critic and malic acids. Usage of ACV have become quite a wide spread, from food, drinks to home cleanser, and my personal favorite as hair conditioner.
One important caution is that apple cider vinegar can damage skin, teeth enamel, stomach and throat tissue when taken in high dosage (undiluted). So please please always be cautious and dilute ACV (liquid or pill form) properly. Here is my HG recipe for a vinegar conditioner rinse.
Vinegar Hair Rinse:
- For after shampooing. Don’t get it in your eyes, not a tear-free friendly product.
1/2 to 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (preferably organic)
1 cup of water (preferably cold)
* Over time, I just eyeball everything, add a little vinegar, some water, look to see if it looks diluted enough.
Benefits: Combat dandruffs by restoring your pH balance, strips product build-up and residues which will help give your hair its shine and help it to tangle less.
I can testify for all of the above. I’ve been using this for about three years now. No dandruffs (even while adapting to Boston’s hard water), really nice shiny and tangle-free hair.
Some notes:
- After a vinegar rinse, you can choose to wash your hair or leave it in to dry. When your hair is still wet, you will smell of vinegar, but once your hair dries, the scent is completely gone. If the scent does bother you greatly, you can choose to add some herbs such as rosemary or lavender to balance it out. Check the websites below for a list of herbs and their usage purposes when infused in vinegar.
- Vinegar rinse can be a little drying for most people, so I suggest twice a week. However, it really depends on your type of hair; I use it every other day.
- Due to the acid in ACV, ACV serves well as a facial toner (use organic ACV for this) too. This come especially handy since I’m just pouring the ACV rinse over my head before walking out of the shower, and some of it runs down my face. As a facial toner, it does similar things to our skin as our hair, reduces the scaly build up that makes our skin looks dull hence a smoother and softer complexion, restores the skin pH balance and supposedly has a lightening effect.
You can do a quick google search for more information and ways to utilize ACV. However since it is my HGS, I’ll only highlight one usage.
References:
Planet Green at Discovery.com – Top Five DIY Eco Friendly Conditioner
Alternative Medicine at About.com – Facts on Apple Cider Vinegar
History, Facts, and Information at WebMD.com – Lots of information of ACV.
ACV Rinse infused with herbs at Apple-Cider-Vinegar-Benefits.com – Lists of herbs and when to use it.
Image taken from Bragg.com.
Disclaimer: I am not associated with any of the websites and or product above.
I was pretty excited that you wrote about this topic as I use apple cider vinegar as a hair rinse too! I was wondering if you are using a green shampoo or have one to recommend. I've been doing the no-shampoo baking soda thing and was wondering if there was an easier more effective alternative. =D How often do you wash your hair?
ReplyDeleteHi LePetiteLemon!
ReplyDeleteI used to use baking soda as well! It was great but I really missed the "poo" foam. Just several months ago, I found the Dr. Bronner's magic soap and is amazing. I still get a small amount of foam, but it doesn't contain all the chemicals of regular shampoo.
My younger sister recently tried it, but she didn't like it as much as baking soda. I think the hair just needs to get used to it before you'll find it silk soft.
I highly recommend for you to try them out. My current favorite is the pink bottle, the rose infused one. However, I hear the turquoise one with the almond extract is also really good. Let me know if you do try it out... especially if you try a kind outside of the rose and peppermint. I'm still waiting on a chance to try the others.
Thanks for your response, Gracie! Currently, baking soda is working okay for me, though it is a pain in the butt sometimes. This past weekend, my hair had a taste of regular chemical shampoo and conditioner and my hair felt great! Hahaha.
ReplyDeleteI too have used Dr. Bronner's in the past, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the almond extract one with a passion! I used to use that stuff as my body wash and dish soap as well. Unfortunately, when I had tried using it as a shampoo, I felt like it made my hair feel.....rubbery? That was before I used apple cider vinegar as a rinse though. Perhaps I just needed to get used to it! I think I will try it again.
I just checked Amazon and the shipping isn't ridiculously expensive anymore, so I'll put in my order! 2 bottles, 32 oz each! That might take forever to finish up! I'll let you know how it goes! :)
My hair felt that way at first too! At the beginning, I only used them with the ACV, but after a couple of weeks, I tried it without the ACV and was surprised by the change.
ReplyDeleteI currently use the Rose and it has a sweet scent. I haven't been using the ACV as much because i want to keep the scent in my hair for as long as possible.