Citric acid (malic acid) hair rinse for scalp and greasiness

**Shigure** · March 1st, 2019, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by MusicalSpoons

A member here posted a before and after photo of moving to England (with hard water) and her ends were *drastically* thinner - she said she cried when she saw the photo. Yet I've used that same water all my life; ours is at the 'very hard' end of the scale for the UK and I think those of us who have grown up with hard water most likely have unknowingly accounted for hard water in our routine anyway, just responding to what our hair is telling us. (Yes there is also the issue of water quality and pH but I'd imagine hard water in Poland is of decent quality!*) And everybody's hair responds differently anyway

(I think I've said this before but it worth repeating - I wonder if those of us with extra-moisturising routines would only need, say, one conditioner and perhaps a leave-in on textured hair if we had soft water

)

*Edit: Shigure I've just seen your post about pinkish-orange water and pH 8 - that would definitely explain it! The higher the pH, the more minerals the hair will take on. Do you know exactly what's in the water? That might help you work out if vinegar or citric / other acid will likely work best. http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.co...your-hair.html

Poland is like any other counry I guess. The more urbanized region the worst water. I live in big city.
I have no idea what is in my water beside calcium. I was used to bad water but it changed to worst

**lapushka** · March 2nd, 2019, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by Shigure

I also have hard water all my life. In my family house I still do but I live elsewhere now and after some city adjustments and changing water source in my neighbourhood my whole bathroom is now covered in pinkish-orange build up. At first we've done regular cleaning but it was to much work to maintain. We don't bother anymore.

Yesterday I've measured pH of my tap water. It was almost 8.

Yikes!

Pink residue, we don't have here. We do have pretty hefty limescale if you don't scrub your taps and toilets weekly.

**Chromis** · March 2nd, 2019, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by lapushka

Yikes!

Pink residue, we don't have here. We do have pretty hefty limescale if you don't scrub your taps and toilets weekly.

Hehe, yours is only moderately hard compared to some of us. Ours was over 8 (the scale is logarithmic, so the jumps are larger than people realize!). Our last province we had the pink too, from very high magnesium in the water.

If you drank the eight glasses of water a day that people like to advise you actually got your daily recommended calcium

Terrible for my hair, but not bad to drink. Mostly very annoying for cleaning things! Even when we finally go a water softener there was still build up.

**lapushka** · March 3rd, 2019, 04:37 AM

Originally Posted by Chromis

Hehe, yours is only moderately hard compared to some of us. Ours was over 8 (the scale is logarithmic, so the jumps are larger than people realize!). Our last province we had the pink too, from very high magnesium in the water.

If you drank the eight glasses of water a day that people like to advise you actually got your daily recommended calcium

Terrible for my hair, but not bad to drink. Mostly very annoying for cleaning things! Even when we finally go a water softener there was still build up.

We have the hardest water in Belgium in our little town of 30.000 odd people here. Maybe our water isn't so bad after all.

I can't imagine!

**Chromis** · March 3rd, 2019, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by lapushka

We have the hardest water in Belgium in our little town of 30.000 odd people here. Maybe our water isn't so bad after all.

I can't imagine!

I won't lie, I am very excited that our new place will have rainwater collection for the house. I won't be able to take very long showers, but my skin is so happy! The hardest pH I have had to deal with was 8.6 and I went through so much lotion because it made my skin really dry and my scalp was always flaky until I found acidic rinses there.

**Shigure** · March 3rd, 2019, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by Chromis

I won't lie, I am very excited that our new place will have rainwater collection for the house. I won't be able to take very long showers, but my skin is so happy! The hardest pH I have had to deal with was 8.6 and I went through so much lotion because it made my skin really dry and my scalp was always flaky until I found acidic rinses there.

Can you describe your old routine using acid rinse for hair and body.

**Chromis** · March 3rd, 2019, 10:23 AM

Sure - I used a two cup measure to which I added one "glug" of ACV (verrrry scientific I know, sorry!) and maybe 1/16 to slightly less than 1/8th of a teaspoon of citric acid. I'd take the measuring cup in the shower and then wash as normal. When finished, I filled the cup the rest of the way in the shower and dipped my ends in for a few seconds. Then I tipped my head back and poured the rest over, starting at my hairline. I'd swish the cup around and pour that over my shoulders, but didn't otherwise do anything for my body. I liked to tip my head back into the shower for a moment - like two seconds because I found that worked better than not rinsing at all.

My hair went from kind of weird and coated to silk smooth. You will know if you used too much because it will instead go from smooth to greasy when dry. It takes a little trial and error, but is easy once you have your water's ratios down!

**Shigure** · March 3rd, 2019, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by Chromis

Sure - I used a two cup measure to which I added one "glug" of ACV (verrrry scientific I know, sorry!) and maybe 1/16 to slightly less than 1/8th of a teaspoon of citric acid. I'd take the measuring cup in the shower and then wash as normal. When finished, I filled the cup the rest of the way in the shower and dipped my ends in for a few seconds. Then I tipped my head back and poured the rest over, starting at my hairline. I'd swish the cup around and pour that over my shoulders, but didn't otherwise do anything for my body. I liked to tip my head back into the shower for a moment - like two seconds because I found that worked better than not rinsing at all.

My hair went from kind of weird and coated to silk smooth. You will know if you used too much because it will instead go from smooth to greasy when dry. It takes a little trial and error, but is easy once you have your water's ratios down!

Great, thanks.

**renia22** · March 4th, 2019, 07:43 PM

Originally Posted by Shigure

I don't think it's all from hard water but mostly. Year ago my BF moved to my place having beautiful thick hair. Now his hair are damaged just like mine.

My routine...
I never in my life used conditioner and until my water changed it never was a problem. I've started some tme ago but I can't figure out if they do anything to me.
I don't use conventional shampoo due to allergy. I use ph balanced soap based product. Wash my hair every other day. I don't have routine sinse I'm trying using coonditioners as normal, as leave-ins, oils etc.

The water where I live is pretty gross despite our filter. It’s well water, and has been looking pretty dingy lately too. Although I can and do use conventional, chelating/ clarifying shampoos, I do like citric rinses in addition to that. I don’t use vinegar because I don’t like the smell, but I do like lemon juice. I only use a little (maybe a tsp in about 8 ounces of water, then rinsed), so I personally don’t find it drying. Also I keep a spray bottle (3 ounce bottle is what I happen to have) with purified water, about 1/2 tsp of pure aloe, and about 10-15 drops lemon essential oil, which I shake up and spray on my scalp as needed. It helps with oiliness and makes my scalp feel very clean/ nice.

**Shigure** · March 5th, 2019, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by renia22

The water where I live is pretty gross despite our filter. It’s well water, and has been looking pretty dingy lately too. Although I can and do use conventional, chelating/ clarifying shampoos, I do like citric rinses in addition to that. I don’t use vinegar because I don’t like the smell, but I do like lemon juice. I only use a little (maybe a tsp in about 8 ounces of water, then rinsed), so I personally don’t find it drying. Also I keep a spray bottle (3 ounce bottle is what I happen to have) with purified water, about 1/2 tsp of pure aloe, and about 10-15 drops lemon essential oil, which I shake up and spray on my scalp as needed. It helps with oiliness and makes my scalp feel very clean/ nice.

Can you say more about this spray? Is aloe important? Do you use it between washes or as treatment?

Btw. I am lerning how to use this rinse. My hair are dry(length) and kind of crunchy but look way better, to the point where my BF ask what I did. When I explained acid rinses to him he told he will do that too (He have APL hair).