ACV doesn't work for my hair?

[FineMiracle]

Hello everyone,

I just doused my hair with equal parts ACV and water (maybe a bit more water actually), but now my hair is all crunchy and horrendous looking. :( I have 1a-1b baby fine thin hair. I've tried ACV rinses before, I don't remember the part equivalences but they haven't ever worked for me. Why might this be, and what can I do to solve this atm? Can I just let it be and for how long, or should I rinse it out right away? Initially I did this because my hair is dry, frizzy and not very soft. Plus I have itchy winter/hard water scalp. :(

[pili]

I use one tablespoon ACV per on cup of water. Equal parts is probably way to strong! I have coarse hair. Maybe try 1/2 TBS to 1C water. Of course, your hair just may not like it. I know some people prefer Citric acid or white vinegar instead.

[Anje]

Yeah, sounds WAY too strong. Mine are something like 5-10% vinegar (I tend to use white vinegar because I'm cheap), and that's pretty strong as these things go. They don't make huge differences for me these days, but I do them to help keep my color strong. They were hugely helpful when I was using shampoo bars to wash with.

[Chromis]

I will third the suggestion that is much too strong, and like Ange I like a pretty strong ratio myself!

[mizukitty]

Extremely strong concentration. The pH was likely very, very low. Always test with pH strips until you're positive you have a ratio that will come out the same every time (4 is good). Fine hair is also delicate and fragile, much more so than medium and coarser types (who can generally tolerate a little bit more abuse before damage appears)

You can permanently alter the state of your hair using things with too high or low of a pH (3 and lower, 10 and higher.)

[Obsidian]

I only use 1/2 tsp per 2 cups water, its plenty strong for a rinse.

[moon_witch]

I use one tablespoon ACV per on cup of water. Equal parts is probably way to strong! I have coarse hair. Maybe try 1/2 TBS to 1C water. Of course, your hair just may not like it. I know some people prefer Citric acid or white vinegar instead.

Same for me! I use one tablespoon acv per cup of water and that's quite strong so I don't use it every time I wash my hair. If you want to get rid of the dry feeling from the acv maybe try co washing.

[Llama]

Yeah, make sure to research things like that before doing them. Did you read somewhere to use that strong of a mix? I've never heard of anyone using that much ACV in their rinse. I bet washing your hair again with regular shampoo and conditioner would help fix it though.

[FineMiracle]

Wow thanks so much guys! I just shamp and cond my hair and so far so good I think...but it's still just drying...should I put some argan oil on it? D:

[FairHairedDane]

I have same type of hair as you and I live in a hard water area. Over the past few years i have experimented a lot with the ratio between the two.

I have found that the best ratio for me is between 10-20 mL ACV per half liter water, I have not found it to be drying on my hair:)

[lapushka]

Wow thanks so much guys! I just shamp and cond my hair and so far so good I think...but it's still just drying...should I put some argan oil on it? D:

If you do put an oil on after washing, on damp hair, use a few "drops" of it, spread through palms and scrunch in or smooth over the very lengths/ends. Don't use a lot!

[LadyCelestina]

Get yourself some ph strips for future use, and try to get the ph to around 5 as that is ph of skin. Or just taste it and if it's too sour to drink normally, dilute it more.

[Anje]

Wow thanks so much guys! I just shamp and cond my hair and so far so good I think...but it's still just drying...should I put some argan oil on it? D:

Maybe if oil usually helps that for you, but don't go overboard. What works better for me is leaving conditioner in for longer, like covering it with a plastic cap/bag and a towel or hat, and letting my hair marinate for something like a half hour. Then rinse it out and go on as usual.


Get yourself some ph strips for future use, and try to get the ph to around 5 as that is ph of skin. Or just taste it and if it's too sour to drink normally, dilute it more.

Tasting it has always been my route. I want it to taste mildly sour, but not intensely sour. That allows you to adapt to your water chemistry too, because some water will neutralize a bit of acid and other water won't.

[FineMiracle]

Thanks again guys...yeah this really damaged my hair massively. :( Hmmm anything else I can do to help it at all? Could it use an egg rinse after something like this?

BTW I got the equal part ratio from this link >___>

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1924171

"Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse
1 part apple cider vinegar
1 part water

Directions:

To revive your hair to its days of smoothness, mix the apple cider vinegar and water together. After shampooing, pour the mixture into your hair. If you have a spray bottle, that works even better. That way you can spritz your hair with the mixture and massage it into your scalp. Let the apple cider vinegar concoction sit for a few minutes before rinsing fully with water. No need to use conditioner! The apple cider vinegar will leave hair feeling smooth and soft."

Gets out of shower, expects hair to be smooth and soft.
Gets crunchy hair instead.
Close enough! Lmao, but yeah Huffpoo post you betrayed once again! NOOOoooooooo

[sumidha]

If it's any consolation I highly doubt you've permanently damaged your hair from doing an acidic rinse that strong once. Shampoo, condition, don't put eggs in your hair.

ETA: I'm sorry OP, I'm a little grumpy today and I think my post could come across unintentionally snappy, now that I'm reading it again. I'm sure your hair will be ok with some babying. Personally I would soak it in conditioner for a while before I'd use eggs, but if you've used them before with good results then go for it, they do not personally work for me. :flower:

[Anje]

Thanks again guys...yeah this really damaged my hair massively. :( Hmmm anything else I can do to help it at all? Could it use an egg rinse after something like this?


Some people wash with eggs, but the usual consensus is that they're a pain. Rinsing with anything but super-cold water tends to leave bits of egg in your hair.

Just use conditioner.

[lapushka]

Yep, I'm no fan of the eggs either. If you don't use cool enough water, the egg is going to cook on your head and you'll be left with chunks to pick out from your hair. :o

I'd also just use plain shampoo/conditioner. See how that goes.

It's very appealing to start experimenting once you get here, but I'd stick to a regular routine. I experimented a lot at first, regretted it big time afterwards. With everything too, dye, DIYs, the lot. Wish I had a record of it in my blog (regrets!) but sadly that was all before I started blogging.

[spidermom]

I used 1 tbsp of white vinegar to a pitcher of warm water when I lived in a hard water area. That was enough to control the feeling that stuff was stuck to my hair.

[KittyBird]

Has anyone here actually ended up with 'cooked' egg in their hair? Because I did egg treatments regularly before I joined LHC, and I always washed my hair with quite hot water afterwards. I never got cooked egg bits stuck in my hair. :confused:

[spidermom]

Vinegar doesn't damage hair. My doctor recommended full strength vinegar rinse when I was combing lice nits out of children's hair because it dissolves the glue that sticks the lice eggs to the hair. All it took was another shampoo and conditioning to bring the hair back to normal.

[sumidha]

Has anyone here actually ended up with 'cooked' egg in their hair? Because I did egg treatments regularly before I joined LHC, and I always washed my hair with quite hot water afterwards. I never got cooked egg bits stuck in my hair. :confused:

I don't think I ever got literally cooked egg, but I did end up with weird tiny egg particles left in my hair no matter how well I mixed it or how I rinsed. If you look closely at a raw egg there's like, the clear white, the yolk, a sac around the yolk and often some stringy white bits hanging out in the white, and somewhere amidst all those different consistencies of egg something just would not mix, and left tiny bits in my hair. And when it comes to raw egg bits left in my hair I have a zero tolerance policy...

Maybe if I had a really powerful blender, and blended the crap out of it, or put it through a fine mesh strainer after it was blended I could have gotten rid of whatever part of the egg was causing the problem, but that's more high maintenance than I wanted to deal with. I'd rather just eat the egg. :shrug: