baking Soda and Apple cider vinegar

[cal]

WOW!!!It really works!!
My hair is beautiful soft and shiny today!!!It hasn't been this nice since I was a child!!
Good bye all store bought hair products(believe me I've tried everything)!!and good riddance!!

[Ecstatic]

It's amazing, right?

I started using this too, after finding suggestions on here for it.

I actually make those honey/baking soda balls to use for my hair. And then rinse with ACV. I love it!

[cal]

honey/baking soda balls?!!

[Ecstatic]

Yea, there's a recipe somewhere on here that I saw. Maybe in the sticky?

I basically take some baking soda, some honey, and a little bit of water. I eyeball all the proportions ... until the substance(?) is firm enough, yet sticky enough to form into balls. I store the balls in a jar, and just take one out when I need it. One tip, though - take the ball out before you're in the shower. Reaching in there with a wet hand will upset the delicate ratios.

[dogmom327]

How much of each (BS and ACV) do you use and logistically how does it work? I worry I won't remember to get everything together before I get in the shower.

[cal]

thanks ecstatic(and congratulations on your new babe to be!!)!!I found the recipe and more in the stickie posted at the top of this forum!! I think I'll spend some time looking around here today!!
hi dogmom!!I just took a tablespoon of baking soda in a little container up to the shower with me (left it outside the shower while I wet my hair and then added a bit of water to the container and poured it on my head it surprisingly slips through the hair easier than I thought -then after I washed and rinsed it all out I put the apple cider vinegar in it with a touch of "live clean" conditioner (to make it smell better and distribute evenly!)I just took the whole jug of ac with me then I rinsed that out with cooler water-
My hair turned out really soft and shiny-its a bit frizzy today but its raining really hard and I'm going to try not to wash it for a few days to try and get some natural oils back in it-regular shampoo has really damaged my hair over the years resulting in my need to mask the damage by using product after product and I've had it!I'm detoxing my hair now!!
I've heard about doing this for years but never tried it until yesterday...

[pixiepunk]

it really does rock. depending on your hair (oily vs. dry) it may not be necessary to wash with BS every time. if i do it every time my hair gets too dry. maybe once a week, tops.

i just did a honey/olive oil condition with my hair last night - left it on for about a half hour. WOW. totally awesome. i decided i *had* to try the honey on my hair after it did such wonders for my face in just 3 days flat.

i can't believe how money i've spent on chemical hair care products in the past 20 years when the answer was lurking in my baking cupboard all along

How much of each (BS and ACV) do you use and logistically how does it work? I worry I won't remember to get everything together before I get in the shower.

what i do is use a quart jar for the BS - i put just enough bs to coat the bottom of the jar, then dilute with water and dump that on my head and rub it in. i have thick, long hair, so it's only way to get it spread around well.
for the ACV, i mix that in an old squirt bottle i had for soap - i think it's something like 1/4-1/2 cup vinegar to 4 cups of water. i usually just eyeball it. i always add EO because i don't like the smell of the ACV. i had been using lavendar, but i put peppermint EO in it this time and DH and i are both loving it. it masks the ACV smell better, and i get little wafts of peppermint from my head all day long anyway, i just squirt it on my head till it feels saturated, and rinse off with the coldest water i can stand in the shower, since cool water helps seal the hair shafts.

[cal]

Hi pixiepunk!!
Do you wet your hair in the shower everday?how often do you rinse with AV?I wow I'm hooked!!

[pixiepunk]

in the winter months i don't shower everyday, probably like 3x times a week, unless i'm stinky, of course so just let my hair be in between, unless it feels dry, in which case i might use a teeny bit of coconut oil. but usually i just have it in a bun or other up do at that point.

i do use the ACV rinse whenever i shower, i do wet my hair and just use the water first to rinse out any dirt/build-up and get it well-saturated, then do the ACV rinse at the end after i've washed the rest of me and shaved (and scrubbed the little ones, who are usually in there with me ).

sometimes you have to play around a little bit to see what works best. My DH uses the bs and the acv every time (he showers probably every other day) and his hair looks great - he's got long hair, but much less dry than mine tends to be. and he doesn't like to use the coconut oil, he feels like it makes him greasy, but he doesn't really need it, the acv does enough for him. so it all depends. experiment around a little and see what works best

[leila1213]

I'm not having such great luck with it. My hair is either all dry and tangly, or greasy and heavy feeling. I know I need to get a hair cut, but I feel like it should be more manageable, right? Sometimes my hair even seems to get "coated" with this grimy feeling. I bought a boar's hair brush when I started all this but it got coated with the grime, which actually seems to have teeny tiny white flecks in it (not dandruff). It's gross! What am I doing wrong?

[pixiepunk]

my guess is that white flecks would indicate you're using too much bs, or that you're not rinsing it out sufficiently. maybe try a couple of days with just ACV and see if that helps. also, depending on the ratio of vinegar to water, maybe try a little more vinegar, which should make it feel softer without making it greasy.

[leila1213]

Thanks, I'll try that! I also notice that you are saying to rinse out the ACV. I had read in the sticky thread that you should leave it in. I'll try rinsing it and see if it helps. I do need to rinse the BS out really well. I think maybe I didn't do that the first couple times and it built up on the brush. I don't know how to clean it though! Maybe I'll soak it in ACV...?

[pixiepunk]

fyi - a really good resource for all things hair is the longhaircommunity.com they have loads of information about this and many other ways to cleanse your hair. that's where i got all my info (which may differ from what's in the sticky, i've not read that all the way through).

[msfidget]

Originally Posted by leila1213

Sometimes my hair even seems to get "coated" with this grimy feeling.

This happened to me when i first started BS/ACV haircare. From what I understand, that may be the silicone buildup in your hair. Silicones are glue-like so as the routine is cleaning your hair of all that buildup, you may have a period where your hair feels gross. Like I said, this happened to me and lasted about a week and a half. Now I don't have that yucky feeling anymore.

[leila1213]

I just wanted to say thanks again. I have been doing ACV only and then rinsing really well for the past couple of days. My hair is so much softer and more manageable. Thanks!

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

For those who don't like the smell of the ACV, i make herbal tea and use that to dilute the vinigar rather than plain water. I have dark hair so I use rosemary to make the tea. If i had light hair I might use camimile. you could also use lavender flowers or anything else you like the smell of.

[His Own]

If you don't like vinegar...

You can use 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid powder dissolved into a bottle of cold water for your final rinse. This works as well as the vinegar, but doesn't smell funny. I like it a lot better.

[blairhoney]

I'm on day 3 of the BS/ACV routine. I did BS + conditioner and then an ACV rinse on Sunday and was going to skip washing yesterday, but I'm really picky about greasy hair, and it felt oily at the scalp, so I did a BS/water/tiny bit of honey rinse and an ACV/water rinse yesterday. My hair looked good yesterday (a bit frizzy), and today it's not greasy so far (though it hasn't been quite 24 hours, which is when it tends to get yucky). My scalp is a bit itchy, so I'm thinking of adding more honey to the BS.

But my real question is about keeping my curls intact overnight - I have wavy/curly hair, and they usually fall out a bit and frizz up after I've slept on them. I don't mind the curls turning into waves, but I don't like the rumpled look the day after (and I do prefer to wear my hair down as much as possible). Any suggestions? I've heard a satin pillowcase could help, though I'm not sure how much I'd like sleeping on one.

[julielenore]

Just a warning

I used baking soda and ACV for about 6 months in the usual dilution (1 tbsp bs/1Cup water) and had to stop, mainly because it was lightneing my hair. I loved the way it washed my hair, but the colour was getting significantly lighter. I am a member at the longhaircommmunity and this has happened to others there as well.
I do not want my hair to get lightned, as I am trying to grow it long.

[pixiepunk]

keeping curls intact... how long is your hair? and how does it look if you braid it while wet? i have really curly hair, and when i wash my hair at night i usually braid it (low braid at the base of my neck) and then put a bandana on my head so the part on top that's not braided doesn't get smushed around and pulled out of the braid. otherwise, you can just wet it down a little bit in the morning to revitalize the curl. if it's frizzy you can always use a little bit of coconut or other oil to smooth out the frizz, too.