Vinegar Thinning My Hair?

[melomane]

I've dealt with dandruff for as long as I can remember, and until recently refused to ever use vinegar (diluted or not) in my hair because of the ph balance. Well, I broke down and tried it. For four consecutive days I rubbed pure vinegar on my scalp and was amazed. Not only was my dandruff almost gone, but the top portion of my hair had become soft and shiny. Unfortunatley hair has become several tones lighter, which I had braced for, but also the length is unbearably frizzy and noticably thinner. For the rest of the week I used diluted vinegar (anywhere between 1:3 and 1:5). Has this been an issue for anyone else? If so is there any way my hair will recoop? Would a hair mask help?


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Sorry about that.

[morrigan*]

Most here use vinegar as last rinse after washing and conditioning, and in much milder form than you use, more like spoon or two in one cup. This also depends on your water quality.
Lighting is possible side effect if you had mineral build up, as vinegar clears that.

[Theobroma]

Vinegar is acid. Hair is protein. Acid breaks down protein -- some people with low stomach acid actually take vinegar with meals to help their digestion. If you've been putting undiluted vinegar on your hair, I'd say damage was inevitable!

For a safe vinegar rinse, try a couple of tablespoons of vinegar IN ONE LITRE of water. That's still plenty acidic enough to restore the pH of hair after washing with hair soap, but dilute enough not to do any damage. Undiluted vinegar is way, way, way too acidic for both hair and skin in the long run.

I'm sorry, I don't know what to advise for repairing the damage aside from growing it out. You might be able to baby it along a bit with coconut oil treatments and perhaps a protein mask, though I've never tried one of those and I have no clue how much it'll help for acid-damaged hair.

[morrigan*]

Also get ph strips if you are unsure, and test mixes you make, before putting it on head. I think ph between 5 and 6 is suitable for hair and skin. In quick google search i found that hair and skin have ph of 5.5.

[melomane]

Thank you, I'll definetly dilute it too be milder and give it a shot.

[-Fern]

Also, for what it's worth, my length feels & appears thinner and lighter after I do a (dilute) Apple Cider Vinegar rinse because all the hair lays together much more nicely. :) Hopefully it is partially that!

And I would try to give your hair a nice moisture treatment, such as SMT. At the very least, it will help with the frizz.

[endlessly]

Several years back, I used to spray pure vinegar all over my hair, making sure to really massage it into my scalp because it always did wonders for removing product build-up back when I used silicones. However, I only did this maybe 1-2 times per month because like you said, vinegar is an acid and it has a high pH, so I didn't want to over-do it and cause damage. Because you've used it 4 days in a row, it is possible that it resulted in some breakage, which is making your hair appear thinner. Are you noticing thinning all over or just towards the ends? If the strands are coming out at the root, you might be rubbing too hard, but one thing I noticed about vinegar is that if you have delicate ends, it will cause them to snap off - especially the strands that are just barely hanging on, the acidity is strong enough to completely sever them.

After reading so many horror stories, I opted to use heavily diluted ACV versus straight white vinegar just to be on the safe side and for me personally, I haven't noticed a difference. Most on here use it as a rinse after washing their hair, but I always used it as a pre-wash treatment, which again, is probably why I haven't noticed any damage from it.

[kitcatsmeow]

I dilute mine as well. It does wonders for my hair but I think unlike most, I always rinse my vinegar out. I squirt it on my scalp and hair with a squeeze bottle and let it sit for about a minute then rinse out. It still does some good but I don't have to worry about damage!