ACV + S&D bad?

[GlacierLacie]

I went to a salon a few months ago. My hairdresser told me to stop using acv's and to stop looking for the split ends to snip off, I told her acv is the only thing that my hair really takes to and keep my hair strong but I was ignored :( I can understand that cutting too many split ends can lead to more damage if it's done too often but can these two be damaging as a combination?

my ends are rather damaged, but kind of okay. I am regularly trimming my hair little by little to get fuller ends and to get rid of 'bad' parts, but should I also s&d?

[Shorty89]

I think your hairdresser was out to lunch. There's nothing wrong with ACV, especially if it works for you and S&D is wonderful for getting rid of splits and can prevent you from needing a trim. Maybe she's just worried about losing money if you don't come in as often?

[Kalamazoo]

I think your hairdresser was out to lunch. There's nothing wrong with ACV, especially if it works for you and S&D is wonderful for getting rid of splits and can prevent you from needing a trim. Maybe she's just worried about losing money if you don't come in as often?

I second the motion. I mean, if you stop doing what you know works for your hair, then you'll have to go to the hairdresser more often, right?

P.S. I use ACV & S&D.

[Panthera]

I wouldn't listen to a hairdresser like that.. Did she even explain why acv and s&d cause damage? You can damage your hair with bad scissors but that has nothing to do with s&d. My hairdresser actually taught me a couple of ways to dust my hair and thought it's a good idea to cut the split ends.

[SpottedBackson]

I told her acv is the only thing that my hair really takes to and keep my hair strong but I was ignored :(


If ever you are ignored by your hairdresser... It's time to get a new hairdresser. Ultimately your hair is on your head and you get the final say. You also know what works for your hair and it sounds like ACV is just that. There's lots of evidence to show that ACV is good for your hair and logically, so long as your using a good pair of scissors, S&D will be fine too. If you take care of your hair as well as doing S&D, eventually you will have no split ends left. That's what happened to me. It takes me about 45mins of searching just to find a single one now.

[enting]

Vinegar is the best thing that ever happened to my hair. S&D is great for my hair because I can get rid of midshaft splits and velcro ends without needing to remove length all over.
I third (fourth? what number are we on?) the motion to ignore her right back because she is not speaking truth.

If your hair in particular doesn't do well with either of those things because YOU think they're not good for you hair, that is the only time I would agree that you shouldn't use/do them. That's it.

[CuteCrow]

I'm going to go a bit against most people here but I think ACV can be bad, not that it's bad per se but as anything else too much can be bad. It has beneficial properties but you have to remember that it's different using it on your scalp that using it on your hair, ACV is acidic and using it too much can dry and break your hair out. Also, never use it undiluted or leave it for too long and more than a couple of times a month can be damaging for your hair too.
I think I read somewhere that Apple cider is not better than any other vinegar (but don't take my word for this).
But if it work for you and you follow some precautions I think there's nothing wrong with it.
Now, about S&D, if you are using sharp pair of hair shears and not your kitchen scissors I don't think it's bad for your hair at all. In the long run it can make your ends look wonky and uneven because you are not cutting all the hair at once but that doesn't mean it's unhealthy or bad, rather the opposite as you are only cutting the damaged ends and leaving the healthy ones.

[lapushka]

I'm going to go a bit against most people here but I think ACV can be bad, not that it's bad per se but as anything else too much can be bad. It has beneficial properties but you have to remember that it's different using it on your scalp that using it on your hair, ACV is acidic and using it too much can dry and break your hair out. Also, never use it undiluted or leave it for too long and more than a couple of times a month can be damaging for your hair too.
I think I read somewhere that Apple cider is not better than any other vinegar (but don't take my word for this).
But if it work for you and you follow some precautions I think there's nothing wrong with it.
Now, about S&D, if you are using sharp pair of hair shears and not your kitchen scissors I don't think it's bad for your hair at all. In the long run it can make your ends look wonky and uneven because you are not cutting all the hair at once but that doesn't mean it's unhealthy or bad, rather the opposite as you are only cutting the damaged ends and leaving the healthy ones.

Seconding this! ^^

It's all in *how* you use particular things. Same with a hair dryer, that tool can be abused so fast!

A good dilution, maybe once a week in your routine, should be fine. And a good clarifying wash at least once a month. Should be OK.

[jane_marie]

So, I used to work as a hair dresser relatively recently. Being in that industry has given me some insight to how a lot of those people work.

Here are some trends I noticed:

It's normal for stylists to get excited about ladies going short because they know that means the client will need it cut more regularly. When I cut hair I especially noticed this when a co-worker had a client who decided to get an undercut which has to be kept really short to look right. Often people would give an undercut knowing it wouldn't look flattering saying "Hey, it'll grow back" but meaning "Hey, when it grows back I'll be here".

In a similar vein it's not terribly unusual for people to work harder at learning short cuts while in school. If someone gets a good short cut from a stylist they are likely to be back the next month... with long hair... not so much if the person doesn't get a trim but once a year they might lose the card or just not care who cuts it.

People also tend to get excited about things like heavy bleaching because again, it's a sign that the customer will be back.

Generally being a hair stylist is not the best employment for making money. Stylists have to develop their own client bases, rent chairs and make extra money from product sales. It's grueling. So, it's easy to see why some people succumb to things that aren't 100% ethical.

I'm not saying all stylists are like that. That would be an unfair generalization but it's something to be considered.

Most likely with the ACV it's a matter of ignorance. Applying vinegar to hair sounds like a bad idea and most of the time cosmetology school does not teach students about more natural routes like vinegar rinses and henna. Just check out the Brad Mondo video on henna if you'd like proof. haha

I will say that for me I have found that kombucha works better than ACV because the PH is slightly higher. So, if you are doing it a lot it might be worth looking into using kombucha instead. All heads are different though so you are the best judge of which is better for you.

As for S&D... I don't know why she/he would tell you to stop doing it. My guess is that it does have to do with cash flow (the more you remove yourself the more time it will take between trims).

I don't know, these are just thoughts based on what I observed while cutting hair.

[MusicalSpoons]

Maybe she thought you were putting straight ACV on your hair? That wouldn't be a great idea. With an appropriate dilution it should be fine - different people's hair can handle different things, so for some people a lower pH is tolerated better than other people's hair. I'm not sure how you can know for sure whether it's okay or causing damage other than observing how your hair seems over time :shrug:

Edit: actually she probably didn't know that even a dilution is okay. As for S&D, no idea why she would be against that other than as a loss of money for her.

[Ylva]

It's normal for stylists to get excited about ladies going short because they know that means the client will need it cut more regularly. When I cut hair I especially noticed this when a co-worker had a client who decided to get an undercut which has to be kept really short to look right. Often people would give an undercut knowing it wouldn't look flattering saying "Hey, it'll grow back" but meaning "Hey, when it grows back I'll be here".

In a similar vein it's not terribly unusual for people to work harder at learning short cuts while in school. If someone gets a good short cut from a stylist they are likely to be back the next month... with long hair... not so much if the person doesn't get a trim but once a year they might lose the card or just not care who cuts it.

People also tend to get excited about things like heavy bleaching because again, it's a sign that the customer will be back.

This is something I've also observed. I still think my hairdresser is great, I trust her, she's always appreciated my wishes and she's never done anything I wasn't comfortable with, but actually ensured she cut off less than I requested, but I will say this.

I think her attitude towards me changed gradually as I stopped getting my roots done every 6 weeks. It could just be a coincidence because of the different subjects that came up while I went there, but for example, when I mentioned to her that I'm going to grow out my natural colour and said that I actually like the "road grey that everyone here has", she was just sort of like "mhm...yeah...okay...". Maybe it's her genuine opinion, maybe it's something she's been conditioned to believe, maybe it was deliberate to try and make me feel insecure about my natural colour. I'm most inclined to believe the middle option. Most of all, it made me sad that people think we should hate our dominant natural colour just because it isn't something you commonly see on models and whatnot. But perhaps that's a prime reason to like it more - because it's very difficult to recreate with dye and not that common in other parts of the world.

[jane_marie]

This is something I've also observed. I still think my hairdresser is great, I trust her, she's always appreciated my wishes and she's never done anything I wasn't comfortable with, but actually ensured she cut off less than I requested, but I will say this.

I think her attitude towards me changed gradually as I stopped getting my roots done every 6 weeks. It could just be a coincidence because of the different subjects that came up while I went there, but for example, when I mentioned to her that I'm going to grow out my natural colour and said that I actually like the "road grey that everyone here has", she was just sort of like "mhm...yeah...okay...". Maybe it's her genuine opinion, maybe it's something she's been conditioned to believe, maybe it was deliberate to try and make me feel insecure about my natural colour. I'm most inclined to believe the middle option. Most of all, it made me sad that people think we should hate our dominant natural colour just because it isn't something you commonly see on models and whatnot. But perhaps that's a prime reason to like it more - because it's very difficult to recreate with dye and not that common in other parts of the world.

I've certainly been privy to situations where stylists would become despondent after seeing a customer that expressed a longing to stop bleaching left the shop. Even in closed door no one ever said anything bad about them. There had been times where they would mention that they are sad or stressed because this person doesn't want to do x anymore because it changes how they'll have to budget.

I would guess that just like any profession the culture changes a lot from country to country though. :shrug:

[GlacierLacie]

So, I used to work as a hair dresser relatively recently. Being in that industry has given me some insight to how a lot of those people work.

Here are some trends I noticed:

It's normal for stylists to get excited about ladies going short because they know that means the client will need it cut more regularly. When I cut hair I especially noticed this when a co-worker had a client who decided to get an undercut which has to be kept really short to look right. Often people would give an undercut knowing it wouldn't look flattering saying "Hey, it'll grow back" but meaning "Hey, when it grows back I'll be here".

In a similar vein it's not terribly unusual for people to work harder at learning short cuts while in school. If someone gets a good short cut from a stylist they are likely to be back the next month... with long hair... not so much if the person doesn't get a trim but once a year they might lose the card or just not care who cuts it.

People also tend to get excited about things like heavy bleaching because again, it's a sign that the customer will be back.

Generally being a hair stylist is not the best employment for making money. Stylists have to develop their own client bases, rent chairs and make extra money from product sales. It's grueling. So, it's easy to see why some people succumb to things that aren't 100% ethical.

I'm not saying all stylists are like that. That would be an unfair generalization but it's something to be considered.

Most likely with the ACV it's a matter of ignorance. Applying vinegar to hair sounds like a bad idea and most of the time cosmetology school does not teach students about more natural routes like vinegar rinses and henna. Just check out the Brad Mondo video on henna if you'd like proof. haha

I will say that for me I have found that kombucha works better than ACV because the PH is slightly higher. So, if you are doing it a lot it might be worth looking into using kombucha instead. All heads are different though so you are the best judge of which is better for you.

As for S&D... I don't know why she/he would tell you to stop doing it. My guess is that it does have to do with cash flow (the more you remove yourself the more time it will take between trims).

I don't know, these are just thoughts based on what I observed while cutting hair.

I just learned about the pH levels of hair actually! I just use city water, it's not hard but it definitely isn't the cleanest water? My hair gets dirty pretty fast so im trying out a clarifying shampoo to help with it so i dont have to wash my hair so much. Are there certain hair types that need higher ph levels? I have 1a hair so would this be beneficial for me or does hair type not necessarily matter?

[spidermom]

It sounds like your stylist had some opinions, but that's all they were.

Just be sure you're diluting your ACV in plenty of water. I use maybe a teaspoon of white vinegar in a cup and a half (12 oz) of water.

When I lived in a soft water area, vinegar made my hair very frizzy and fly-away; I hated it. Now that I live in a hard water area, vinegar keeps my hair from getting limp and dull looking. Minerals build up on my porous hair fast, but the vinegar seems to strip them away. I have to clarify-wash more often, too.

For me, S&D was a bad habit to get into. I would always find so many splits; it seemed there was no end to them. It was hard to stop once I started a session, and it caused eye strain. After having my hair too short to see the ends for a couple of years, I got out of the habit, which is a good thing for me.