How to Add Shine to Your Hair
Vinegar as a hair rinse can add shine and softness
A Student in my class Finding the Right Hairstyle for You! asks:
|
“ |
I have a few questions about home remedies I have heard of or tried. I’ve been told that white vinegar is a good rinse once in a while. Is that because it is a clarifier, or is that just nonsense? (It does occur to me that you’d smell like a salad.) |
,, |
Actually, the vinegar of choice for a hair rinse is apple cider vinegar. Vinegar rinses have been used for years to give hair more shine and softness. It also has been known to help relieve an itchy, flaky scalp and even dandruff for some people.
A mixture of vinegar and water as a rinse is a good viable option especially for those of you who have hard water problems. It does work like a clarifier in that it helps to remove residue buildup from soaps and products. Vinegar is low on the pH scale, acidic, and will neutralize the effects of soaps that have a higher pH balance or, are alkaline by nature. Soap and alkaline salts in water can mix to form a deposit that clings to the hair. The vinegar rinse will remove deposits making the hair softer and shinier.
I’m not sure whether it is as effective as a formulated clarifying shampoo, however, there are enough people who have claimed it’s benefits that merits giving it a try if you wish. Here is a simple recipe. Mix 1/3rd cup apple cider vinegar into 1 quart water Keep a plastic spray bottle in the shower and use as a final rinse If you have long hair you might want to soak your hair in a sink full this mixture or rinse over the bathtub for easier saturation. Experiment with leaving it in and rinsing it out of the hair. Both ways are acceptable.
For itchy, flaky scalp, you can massage it full strength on the scalp, leave on up to 15 minutes and rinse. Although you may, “smell like a salad,” when your hair is wet, when it’s dried, the smell goes away. Why don’t you hear of it as much anymore? Not so long ago, shampoos had a higher pH alkaline balance, which left the hair in rough shape. Most all shampoos are now formulated to have a balanced pH which is altogether better for our hair. If you have hard water, try using a mixture of vinegar and water once or twice a week.
You may need to use it more often up front, then less as you feel the results of softer, shinier hair.
• A good rule of thumb on vinegar use; for personal use inside and outside the body, use apple cider vinegar, for cleaning purposes, use white vinegar.
For you naturalists, this is an interesting site, including how to make your own herbal vinegar rinse Here is a site on the many wonders of vinegar use
Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!
| Related Articles |
Hair Shine How To Katy Perry’s Grammy Hair Style Preventing Fried, Dull Summer Hair Popular Hairstyles Can Make You Look Younger Frizzy Hair Help New Hairstyles from Celebrity Hairdresser Ken Paves Frizzy Hair Fixes
Save this page to: del.icio.us - Digg it - Yahoo MyWeb
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
[…] Another remedy is to use an apple cider vinegar and water mixture as your final rinse. You can fill a spray bottle with it, but this takes a long time to saturate the hair. Better idea might be to mix up a gallon of the concoction and use it in the sink by soaking your hair in it. This way you’ll have it ready for use when needed. Here is an article that explains the mixture and links to a site on how to make your own herbal vinegar rinses. […]
Pingback by » How to Solve Hard Water Hair Issues — September 20, 2007 @ 12:42 pm