On vinegar as hair conditioner
Nov. 3rd, 2019 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI've read in frugality blogs that you can use vinegar as a hair conditioner and so I tried it.
What's the deal?
How does it work? Reading about how things work on your hair and skin is like reading snake oil ads. Sometimes they use science words to make the magic sound more palatable to modern ears. Since shampoos (and soap and baking soda) are alkaline and vinegar is acidic, there may be pH balancing going on. As for the cuticle sealing, exfoliation, and whatnot, I don't know.
How do you make it? I recall reading that you use half vinegar and half water, but since I buy vinegar that's 9% acetic acid and the norm is 5%, I use about a 4:1 water:vinegar ratio. I just pour some vinegar into my bottle, then fill with water. (Now, researching for this article, most of the ratios I'm seeing are much higher: a cup of water for only 1-5 tablespoons of vinegar.)
To be fancy, you can use apple cider vinegar (which is 5-6% acetic acid). Unless you're blonde. Maybe.
The next question is, how do you actually use it? "Apply." Unlike conditioner, it doesn't stay on your head, it just runs down your hair. So who knows? I just pour it all over the top of my head, leaning my head back when I'm pouring it near the front to keep it out of my eyes. Then I trust that it will run down to the bottom of my long hair. And of course it doesn't feel slimy, ahem, slippery like conditioner, which I've learned to associate with minimizing the tangles in my hair, so that's disconcerting.
Then let it sit, like regular conditioner. Then rinse it all out. When the hair dries, it supposedly stops smelling like vinegar, but that may not be entirely true for someone sticking their nose right in your hair.
Does it work?
If you know me, you might be thinking that obviously it doesn't! But my hair always looks like that, or even worse.
In fact, I think it actually does work, at least as well as conditioner does. With conditioner, my hair is much easier to brush than without, and that is also true of this vinegar rinse. In addition, my hair is slightly softer and smoother feeling after using this than after using regular conditioner. So now that's always what I use.
Obligatory disclosure: I have fine, thick, wavy/curly, dry, brown/grey/reddish hair, so your mileage may vary.
Are there side effects?
Cost - This is cheaper than regular conditioner, especially if you buy your vinegar in a gallon jug like I do.
Safety - The bathtub no longer gets slippery like when I used to use conditioner. So we don't need hard-to-clean mats in the shower anymore or those groovy flower stickers from the sixties.
Travel - When traveling I fill a 3-ounce bottle with straight vinegar to get through the airport checkpoint. Then I bring a larger bottle for mixing it with water and applying. If you have flights over several days, you'll have to reconstitute it bit by bit instead of all at one time.
Hipness - Martha Stewart approves. Well, I think she's still hip, but if she's not anymore, then nevermind.
What's the deal?
How does it work? Reading about how things work on your hair and skin is like reading snake oil ads. Sometimes they use science words to make the magic sound more palatable to modern ears. Since shampoos (and soap and baking soda) are alkaline and vinegar is acidic, there may be pH balancing going on. As for the cuticle sealing, exfoliation, and whatnot, I don't know.
How do you make it? I recall reading that you use half vinegar and half water, but since I buy vinegar that's 9% acetic acid and the norm is 5%, I use about a 4:1 water:vinegar ratio. I just pour some vinegar into my bottle, then fill with water. (Now, researching for this article, most of the ratios I'm seeing are much higher: a cup of water for only 1-5 tablespoons of vinegar.)
To be fancy, you can use apple cider vinegar (which is 5-6% acetic acid). Unless you're blonde. Maybe.
The next question is, how do you actually use it? "Apply." Unlike conditioner, it doesn't stay on your head, it just runs down your hair. So who knows? I just pour it all over the top of my head, leaning my head back when I'm pouring it near the front to keep it out of my eyes. Then I trust that it will run down to the bottom of my long hair. And of course it doesn't feel slimy, ahem, slippery like conditioner, which I've learned to associate with minimizing the tangles in my hair, so that's disconcerting.
Then let it sit, like regular conditioner. Then rinse it all out. When the hair dries, it supposedly stops smelling like vinegar, but that may not be entirely true for someone sticking their nose right in your hair.
Does it work?
If you know me, you might be thinking that obviously it doesn't! But my hair always looks like that, or even worse.
In fact, I think it actually does work, at least as well as conditioner does. With conditioner, my hair is much easier to brush than without, and that is also true of this vinegar rinse. In addition, my hair is slightly softer and smoother feeling after using this than after using regular conditioner. So now that's always what I use.
Obligatory disclosure: I have fine, thick, wavy/curly, dry, brown/grey/reddish hair, so your mileage may vary.
Are there side effects?
Cost - This is cheaper than regular conditioner, especially if you buy your vinegar in a gallon jug like I do.
Safety - The bathtub no longer gets slippery like when I used to use conditioner. So we don't need hard-to-clean mats in the shower anymore or those groovy flower stickers from the sixties.
Travel - When traveling I fill a 3-ounce bottle with straight vinegar to get through the airport checkpoint. Then I bring a larger bottle for mixing it with water and applying. If you have flights over several days, you'll have to reconstitute it bit by bit instead of all at one time.
Hipness - Martha Stewart approves. Well, I think she's still hip, but if she's not anymore, then nevermind.
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on 2019-11-04 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
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on 2019-11-05 11:47 am (UTC)