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!!

[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/...&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!!

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.