Hair Rinse Effectiveness Poll

[Nightshade]

I wanted to do a series of polls on some of the most common methods of hair care that have or have not worked for LHC. I think this may be both interesting and a good quick reference. Granted it does not take into account hair type, but that would require a separate poll for each, and that’s a bit more effort both to post and to sift through the information.

We will define “long-term” as a period of 6 months or more of continuously using the method you select to be able to vote for a good result. Please feel free to give the details of your methods, or the ones that worked versus failed in the thread.

This thread is specifically for different rinses used on hair, somewhat consistently. For how to do an herbal rinse, check out the herbal hair coloring article (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=2) :)

:flowers: PLEASE only vote that something worked for you if you've used it for MORE than 6 months and DO NOT VOTE for methods you have not tried. If something has worked for less time, please comment about it in the thread, but do not vote.

ETA: Links!


ACV Rinse (Apple Cider Vinegar) (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=6647)
Tea Rinse (tea plant (Camellia sinensis, or Thea sinensis) So black, green, white, oolong, etc.
Tisane (Herbal Tea) Rinse. Examples: Chamomile, Roobios, Hibiscus, etc.
Other Herbal Rinse (such as Amla)
Miracle Water (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=51184)
Distilled/Bottled Water
Citric Acid (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=419)
HALO Rinse (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=49898)
Other Vegetable/ Fruit Rinse
Other Rinse altogether (Please describe in thread) (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2037)

[Sana]

I voted for both distilled water & ACV rinse. I use distilled water as the final rinse after I shower & ACV once a week....couple of drops mixed with distilled water. I have been using both of them since I joined LHC with excellent results.

[mira-chan]

Voted for Tisane (hibiscus mostly) and ACV. They work well.

[Nightshade]

Tisane (chamomile tea) and distilled water work for me. I've used Miracle water in the past to good effect, but found that after time I was able to use distilled water to stay on top of it. Miracle water is great for those with hard water, though.

ACV never seemed to do much for me personally.

[harley mama]

I rinse with plain tap water at a cool temperature most of the time. It seems to work fine for me so, I don't bother with adding any extra stuff. Every now and then I use ACV. But, I always follow with a plain tap water rinse.

[Juliet's Silk]

I voted for ACV and distilled water because I mix my ACV with distilled water all the time.
I use it since over a year now and it's one of the things that has made the biggest difference in my hair. I have very hard water, so the rinse reduces the mineral deposit I get on my hair.

[Starr]

I've used tisane, citric acid, distilled water and other herbal rinse to good effects.

ACV, no matter the dilution, made my hair feel awful.

[Loviatar]

I've used black tea and coffee mixed with clove EO in bottled mineral water for a while. Not quite six months though.

I prefer the scent and slip I get from coffee/clove rinses, but the shine and volume I get from black tea, nettle tea or sage/rosemary tea is lovely.

[TessieAnn]

I do the same as Harley Mama ... plain tap water. Once in awhile ACV.

[morgwn]

I've used ACV only to rinse out my hair when it feels like there's a build-up of 'yucky stuff' and it does work on that. But it's not something that I think my hair could handle every time I wash.

[Patrycja]

I had trouble choosing.I picked ACV but also I do plain ol tap water.I poo bar up-rinse with water,ACV rinse,then tap water again.

So I guess I'm a mix of the two choices :shrug:

[Riot Crrl]

I voted for ACV but it's a filthy lie; I really use cheapo white vinegar. I think it works the same.

[prosperina]

ACV is good when I'm having scalp issues. I used it for probably close to six months and it made my head feel really nice, and I found it had a conditioning effect; it made my hair less fly away, which was a problem at that point.

I don't use it anymore though, but it got me through a rough patch.

I also voted for chamomile because it brightens my needing to be hennaed roots. Up against red hair, golden blond looks better than dirty blond. Other than that I don't find any difference in condition of my hair, just the color.

[Indigo Girl]

I love ACV rinse...it works wonders on my hair. :bluesmile

[sipnsun]

I've been doing vinegar rinses since I was in high school, my great grandmother told me about them and did them until the day she passed. I've switched to apple cider vinegar since joining LHC, but I haven't seen any difference between the two. I always follow up my rinses with distilled water because my hair is very porous and will hold the vinegar smell so I voted for ACV and distilled water. We've had a filter system added to our house so I could probably give up the distilled water, but old habits die hard.

[Finoriel]

I experimented with many teas and acid sources for my rinse.
In general the teas slightly changed my haircolour and had no effect on my scalp.
The different acids have all been diluted to (roughly) the same pH-level and made my hair smoth, soft and shiny. But not that AVC or other vinegars was any better than lemon juice, citric acid or ascorbic acid. So I just use what has a long shelf live, smells as little as possible and what I have at home anyways. Which is either ascorbic acid or citric acid. Our water is very soft, so I do not need to use distilled water.
My favourite rinse is camomile tea with ascorbic acid. Experimenting is fun but it seems that I´ll always come back to this one.

[ChloeDharma]

I haven't voted, but i started doing rosemary rinses in my mid teens when i was suffering with scalp dodgyness and it cleared it up basically instantly. I tend to not use them much now because i keep forgetting, and oil my scalp before i wash which keeps it happy, but i would say in the times i have used rosemary on my scalp it worked consistantly well.....though the essential oil wasn't as effective.

[pariate]

I voted for both distilled water & ACV rinse. I use distilled water as the final rinse after I shower & ACV once a week....couple of drops mixed with distilled water. I have been using both of them since I joined LHC with excellent results.


Hi Sana

How much distilled water do you use with this amount of ACV?

[Saranne772]

ACV all the way :D:D

ETA: I use a litre icecream tub and cover the base with acv then fill with water 3/4 way up. I dont need to use distilled water, we have the softest in the UK where I live

[D-eath]

Citric and ACV. I never tried something else but nettle tea. But it hadn't any effect to my hair.

[WavyGirl]

ACV for me too. I use 5ml in 100ml as a final rinse and don't wash it out. It doesn't make much difference to my hair but it has been a Godsend for my scalp. This was the first rinse I tried apart from tap water and it's worked so well I've never been tempted to try any of the others.

[Cinnamon.locks]

I have tried rinsing with rose petals in water and it worked quite well for about a year but red roses are very expensive and i cannot grow them so had to stop using it often and now i rinse with red rose petals in water only once every two months. the scent is magnificent and this rinse helps with shine.

[rubyann]

I use a white vinegar and water rinse. I ran out of ACV long ago and just grabbed what I had for cleaning purposes, simple white vinegar. It had the exact same effect on my hair, so I just kept with it. I buy it by the gallon, so I generally have it on hand.

[Stagecoach]

ACV rinses help keep my tangles down and bring out shine in my hair.

[lil_irish_angel]

I'm in an other . jUst cause I tried Acv rinses and they didn't do much for me.

But my tried and true thing is the water we have from our well is so pure and clean and has nothing in it.:)

[arylkin]

For the ACV users- do you think lemon juice would work as well/similarly to an ACV rinse?

[JessieJo]

In the past, I've used regular black tea and got great shine. I didn't do it consistently, however. Thanks to all who posted, I'm on my way to do my first ACV rinse! :silly:

[mitabird]

I do an ACV rinse once a week. My hair is just not the same if I don't. It keeps my hair shiny and bouncy.

[RedFrizz]

ACV rinse does the trick for me. Nowadays I use avc + honey rinse, but just plain acv rinse was the one I started the whole rinsing thing with and fell in love.

[Ryanne]

I do an ACV rinse one a week, it feels different when I don't use it.

[Sarahmoon]

Voted other. I always use regular white vinegar. Never tried ACV.

[pookatrina]

ACV w/Mother ever wash. I use a 32oz bottle to rinse with & I put in about 1/3 cup of ACV & then fill with water. I rinse my hair & then my whole body, it seems to calm my cranky skin too.

[dearladydisdain]

I really like ACV rinses. I did a lot of chamomile rinses when my hair was blondish but it didn't really do anything. HALO rinses didn't do much either.

[Eden Iris]

ACV or white vinegar and filtered water (1:10) after shampoo bars (I use conditioner after liquid shampoo). I add rosemary EO and have been experimenting with also adding sandalwood oil or assorted BPAL oils. Used to rinse after with water, now I don't, no difference between the two.

[morguebabe]

Yeah I rinse with plain tap water....
Shurgs.

[Haith]

I didn't vote, but I want to say that I was doing ACV rinses but they weren't doing any good things for my hair. After a month or so, my hair ended up being incredibly tangly and once I stopped the rinses my hair went almost immediatly back to normal. No more rinses for me!

[Lindsay]

I use a green tea rinse occasionally to make my hair shiny.
It also makes it smell really good! :D

[Autumn]

I use ACV weekly because it keeps my hair nice and shiny and makes my scalp feel clean.

For those who don't like ACV, in my experience, the strength and harshness of a vinegar depends on what brand you buy. If you get the store brand, or Heinz, they are much harsher on your hair and scalp than a nutural/orgnaic brand. Even if you dilute it, the results still depend on what you started out with. I don't use white vinegar because it is also very harsh on the hair. Store-brand or generic-brand vinegars can make my fine hair feel stripped, even when they are highly diluted. I can understand why you wouldn't like the results. Bragg's Raw, Unfiltered Apple Cidar Vinegar (or something similar) is much gentler. You may want to try a natural/organic brand of ACV before you give up on it.

[lailmil]

voted ACV and distilled water because I use both together, and they work so good that I don't need to try other rinses
I've used this method for about 18 month

[Anlbe]

No rinses really improve my hair condition. I used ACV, chamomile and rain water for about a year each, also the George Michael rinse for three years - none of them really did anything for my hair, but I reallly liked the smell of the chamomile so used it ages anyway.

[FrannyG]

I voted ACV rinse. I used to use it as a teen, but fell away from it until LHC. I've been using a mild ACV rinse for 3 years now, and it really makes a difference in shine and in slip. Also, we have hard water, and it seems to wash at least some of it away. On the rare days I that forget to do it, I really notice a negative difference. I'll never stop using the ACV rinse now.

[indigonight]

lavender infusion works amazingly!!

[countryhopper]

I voted for black tea, since it's what I use probably 80% of the time after a baking soda wash. Other times I use lemon tea or dried lavender infusions.

Vinegar makes my hair feel limp and greasy.

[Pacific]

My hair likes the ACV rinse very much.

[Cirafly24]

I did not vote, because I've only been using a rinse for a month. I've been getting excellent results using a rinse of white vinegar in a 1:10 ratio with very cold water. I've noticed a difference in condition, and about 100% increase in shine.

[squiggyflop]

um i use white vinegar mixed with water..

[CaliCurlista]

I love amla rinses as well as rosemary and lavender rinses

[Leoslaire]

I've used ACV rinses for 2 years. I recently started rinsing with acidic mineral water from my home water ionizer, and I love the results! My hair is much softer, shinier, and more manageable.

I will start a thread about it after I've been using acidic mineral water for 6 months

[milagro]

I vote ACV though I use white vinegar. Works the same without giving the tint.

[Lemur_Catta]

In the last years I used both vinegar rinses (while I wasn't hennaing) and hibiscus rinses (while I was). They both worked well for me, but somehow differently.
Vinegar leaves my hair soft, shiny and kind of "squeaky" when it's wet, I don't feel it coats my hair.
Hibiscus, on the other hand, makes my hair feel very soft and kind of "sticky" when it's wet (I don't know any better term, not sticky in a bad way, more like...a different kind of softness, like conditioner) and I feel it coats my hair. Besides, it gives me a reddish\purplish tone on hennaed hair.
Now I'm using a vinegar rinse :)

[leslissocool]

I rinse with cold water and little Ice cubes in it. It makes my hair shine!

[ooo]

ACV works wonders on my hair. It's soft and silky :)
Lemon rinse or camomile rinse would not work.

[varintalonguard]

Rinses... I tend to be a little bit of an alchemist. I go to the kitchen with my bottle and fill it up with...stuff. I love to add tea, Aloe Vera liquid, filtered water, oils but almost always put in peppermint oils to help with my sometimes itchy scalp. Sometimes I add some condition to this as well so I can skip a step since I only was once a week but condition almost daily.

[Shrew]

Herbal rinses with apple cider vinegar are the best for my hair :)
My standard herbal rinse includes nettle, horsetail and burdock, only sometimes I add something more.

Sinse I've used that rinse, my hair is shining, stronger and I don't have problem with hair loss.

[TyRico]

I use to do ACV rinse...but just bought some and will rinse for my next wash

[pepperminttea]

My hair loves ACV rinses. I've been doing them at the end of every wash for over a year (nearly two?). No hard water build-up and nice shine. They have brought out my hair's red tones, which I quite like, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea. :)

[Venefica]

I just rise my hair in as cold water as I can stand. I might be imagining it, but to me my hair feels more smooth and strong when I do so, I am not sure why it works, but it do work for me.

[almond]

I have been using ACV for years, it makes my hair shiny and easier to detangle. I tried herbal rinses too, but not for a long time.

[Ashenputtel]

The only thing I get constant results with is camomille tisane, sometimes with a little honey or glyerine a a little bit of lemon added to it. It gives me volume and shine.

Diluted beer rinse is also fabulous!

[Dark Rapunzel]

So for an ACV rinse do you dilute it with water and rinse on damp hair? I'm such a noob when it comes to rinses... :(

[Amber_Maiden]

ACV and the occasional tea rinse.

[Kelikea]

So for an ACV rinse do you dilute it with water and rinse on damp hair? I'm such a noob when it comes to rinses... :(

Yes! I use about 1 tbs ACV to 16 oz of water in a squirt bottle. A fter washing, just squirt it into the roots and then on top and down the length. It feels sooo good when my head gets itchy!

[CrunchyMama]

I have been using an ACV rinse for about 2 weeks now. Just two days ago my DH commented that my scalp smelled bad. It wasn't dirty, I had just washed the day before and my scalp doesn't really get noticeably dirty until day 3. He has never told me that my scalp smelled before, even on days 4 or 5 without washing (I really stretch my washes sometimes). The only thing I can think of would be the ACV rinses. Has anyone else had this happen before? I don't want to stop doing them, as I have found my hair is softer, shinier, and more voluminous than before I started, but I also don't want to have a stinky scalp--I mean, who doesn't love it when their SO muzzles their nose into their hair and tells you how beautiful you smell?

[misspurdy06]

It closes up the cuticles in your hair. Just like pores they open and close with different temps.

[zombi]

The only rinse that has ever worked consistently for me is plain tap water, run cold-only. I rinse with this after I've rinsed out anything else I put in my hair when washing (shampoo/conditioner).

[animetor7]

I have been doing beer rinses semi regularly for the past few months and they consistently work beautifully for me.

[Natalia]

I voted acv but thats because its the only one ive stuck with long term. Ive done other rinses but they take too much effort and planning to execute :p. avc is shelf stable cheap and easy

[Kwantslonghair]

I voted acv because I haven't tried other things yet. I didn't notice much difference