Amla and/or white vinegar&water and/or honey WORKED for my itchy scalp

[tabitie]

I have had a chronically itchy scalp for the past few months. Ever since I used L'***** Natural **stincts #6N to cover my 1-2% gray hair (mostly around the crown and a patch in front in the center of the forehead). My hair's texture was incredibly damaged and felt like hay and wires every shampoo, until it was coated with the special proprietary conditioner in the green tube that came with the product. Regular conditioner would no longer work. I was also using dimethicone to make the hair smoother and shiny.

This proprietary conditioner left heavy buildup on my hair and scalp and my scalp was itchy ever since, getting worse and worse.

Thanks to Aisha and many others' info on this forum, I recently shampooed my hair with no shampoo. No more itching and the hair feels smooth and clean. I hadn't shampooed for a week, my normal proceedure on my very thick BSL hair.

Here's what I did:

Mixed 2 cups of white vinegar in a glass with a tablespoon full of honey, a cup of tap water, and some balsamic grape vinegar.

Mixed 2 tsp amla powder I got off ebay in a glass of water. The amla smells fantastic, like christmas cookies! Just in case though, I added a half tsp of cinnamon for smell. The amla and cinnamon together smells even better.

-----

Then I carried those two glasses and a box of baking soda up to the bathroom and washed my hair consecutively, in each one. It is hard to coat your scalp with each. They are liquid, not cream. Carefully poor over scalp... I missed some spots. After rinsing the vinegar mix (left it on for a couple minutes and massaged through scalp) I poured on the amla. It felt very grease-cutting, and dirty-powdery-rough at the same time. But it felt good. I gently massaged the amla to try and coat the scalp. Then rinsed but couldn't get it off with the water alone.

Had to use a handful of bulk conditioner from Whole Foods to get the amla out.

Now it feels very silky, no buildup, no itching, and "magically" repaired from the damage of chemical dye. I am air drying it.

We'll see how this works.

I will try to use "quote" to post the info I got from others on this process.

Stay tuned!

I'm a happy camper!! :cheese::cheese:

[tabitie]

Warning-- scrub tub immediately with baking soda and rinse to get brown amla off of the fiberglass tub.

[tabitie]

Warning #2: Keep eyes tightly closed; vinegar and amla will sting!

[Aisha25]

Was this your first time trying these? I am glad you found some relief from itchy scalp and build up .

[tabitie]

Yep! First-timer.

Thank you again so much, for your help. The glossy coil on the back of your head told me to listen carefully to your beauty tips. :}

[ktani]

A couple of things to watch out for.

Vinegar has a pH of about 2.3. Anything with a pH of below 3.5 can be damaging to hair but it depends on variables. You did dilute the vinegar but you may be able to get away with itch relief, with more of a dilution.

Baking soda can be abrasive if it is not fully diluted in water. It dissolves completely in hot to warm water and its pH of 8, though alkaline, is considered to be weakly so.

You can try a diluted catnip solution to finish up, after your routine, to condition your hair. 1 teaspoon to just under 300 ml of boiled water, steeped covered, until cooled, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=118.

[Diamondbell]

Here's what I did:

Mixed 2 cups of white vinegar in a glass with a tablespoon full of honey, a cup of tap water, and some balsamic grape vinegar.

Mixed 2 tsp amla powder I got off ebay in a glass of water. The amla smells fantastic, like christmas cookies! Just in case though, I added a half tsp of cinnamon for smell. The amla and cinnamon together smells even better.

-----

Then I carried those two glasses and a box of baking soda up to the bathroom and washed my hair consecutively, in each one. It is hard to coat your scalp with each. They are liquid, not cream. Carefully poor over scalp... I missed some spots. After rinsing the vinegar mix (left it on for a couple minutes and massaged through scalp) I poured on the amla. It felt very grease-cutting, and dirty-powdery-rough at the same time. But it felt good. I gently massaged the amla to try and coat the scalp. Then rinsed but couldn't get it off with the water alone.

Had to use a handful of bulk conditioner from Whole Foods to get the amla out.

Now it feels very silky, no buildup, no itching, and "magically" repaired from the damage of chemical dye. I am air drying it.

We'll see how this works.

I will try to use "quote" to post the info I got from others on this process.

Stay tuned!

I'm a happy camper!! :cheese::cheese:

That's nice that this worked for you tabitie - where did you get this recipe from ? From LHC ? (because I have never seen this recipe before)! :)

[tabitie]

Thank you for the info ktani! I'll watch that ph next time and use a little more water!

Catnip and fenugreek seem to be getting rave reviews as a conditioner for caucasians, along with amla. Seems like oiling backfires for most caucasians because their cuticles are too rough and absorbant and their hair just looks dull and dirty with oil, rather than shiny like Aisha's.

My recipe was my own invention because I am a newbie. I wanted to start out conservative and vinegar and amla seemed to be the most universally approved of herbals.

I've also had great luck using vinegar to avert ear infections (swimmers' ear) which tends to lead to itching and middle ear infections, especially from getting conditioner in ears, drinking to much alcohol or too much coffee.

So I know how healthy vinegar can be!

[tabitie]

To clarify on the swimmer's ear treatment (and my sister, an M.D., told me to do this).

Dilute vinigar in a 1:1 ratio and drop it in each ear with an eye-dropper (you can get these in pharmacies here in the U.S.). Tilt head to the side. Let vinegar solution fizz for 15 seconds. They do other ear as you tip head to other side, holding tissue under head against ear to catch the vinegar drips.

[tabitie]

Oops-- I should have said Northern European hair, not caucasian hair... was reported to be highly porous and dull looking in response to oiling, not shiny like many black hairs are.

[ktani]

Thank you for the info ktani! I'll watch that ph next time and use a little more water!

Catnip and fenugreek seem to be getting rave reviews as a conditioner for caucasians, along with amla. Seems like oiling backfires for most caucasians because their cuticles are too rough and absorbant and their hair just looks dull and dirty with oil, rather than shiny like Aisha's.

My recipe was my own invention because I am a newbie. I wanted to start out conservative and vinegar and amla seemed to be the most universally approved of herbals.

I've also had great luck using vinegar to avert ear infections (swimmers' ear) which tends to lead to itching and middle ear infections, especially from getting conditioner in ears, drinking to much alcohol or too much coffee.

So I know how healthy vinegar can be!

You are most welcome. Some people have complained that too strong a vinegar rinse can be drying. If yours is not, great, but if it becomes so, just add more water.

Try catnip on its own, before you try mixing it with something else. I find that it works best with nothing added.

[Aisha25]

I am so happpy you have found this for yourself Tabitie. The first thing we must to take care of is our scalp and make sure it is happy!! Thank you so much im glad you like that style I have in my siggy:disco:

[hmmm]

So, would amla without the acidic parts of the recipe be just as good? Is amla good for itchy scalps?

[theshebear]

When I was a child, my grandmother, after washing my hair, would rinse it with a half and half mixture of water and apple cider vinegar. It made my hair shiny and soft.

[Katze]

Good for you! :)

I've also had good results with both vinegar and honey used separately - have battled itchy scalp since I was in my teens (around the time I started obsessively bleaching my hair, hmmmm...!).

I do a vinegar rinse like a WO wash - multiple rinsings with a vinegar solution (a couple tablespoons in a big water bottle), massaging my scalp after each rinse. Sometimes I alternate with warm water, as I would in a WO wash, repeating the process several times.

Honey works really well as a scalp scrub and another WO alternative for me. It really soothes my scalp when it is itchy and irritated. I find honey diluted with conditioner to work better as a moisture treatment, and that SMTs also help my scalp.

I have mild exczema and like honey as a face mask as well as a scalp mask. It really calms things down and makes my skin glow - I have used it regularly like this for over 15 years.