Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) has been used for health purposes since about 400 B.C. It’s one of those natural home remedies that entire books are dedicated to. However, today I am focusing only on hair health.
I’ve been seeing the curly girl community posting about ACV rinses and their results. We always have apple cider vinegar around the house. I’ve just been waiting for a morning with a little extra time to try it out.
Apple cider vinegar can be used as a natural conditioning rinse. The acidity found in ACV balances the pH levels on your scalp and hair. This helps with dandruff, itchy scalp, hair loss and more.
How to make acv rinse
Supplies:
- Organic apple cider vinegar
- Filtered water
- Spray bottle or cup
- Shower Cap
To make my curly girl ACV rinse, I combined 2/3 cup filtered cold water with 1/3 cup organic apple cider vinegar. At this point, you can add essential oils if you have them. I have read lemon essential oil and rosemary are wonderful additions.
I then hopped in the shower to dampen my hair. The ACV mixture was poured over my hair while I massaged it into my scalp. I let it sit in my hair while covered with a shower cap for 5 minutes.
curly girl wash day routine
After rinsing, I followed my curly hair wash day as follows:
(Full Disclosure: Some of the product links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission. This helps keep my blog running!)
- Washed with Surface BASSU Hydrating Shampoo Sulfate Free.
- Conditioned with As I Am Coconut Cowash Cleansing Conditioner.
- Applied heat to my conditioned hair with my heat cap for 20 minutes.
- Rinsed out conditioner and scrunched in the following styling products:
- Plopped my curls with 100% cotton t-shirt for 15 minutes.
- Diffused hair with warm heat until 50% dry. Scrunched DevaCurl Ultra Defining Hair Gel into curls.
- Diffused curls until 90% dry.
- Scrunched out the crunch (SOTC) with Righteous Roots RX Oil.
initial thoughts and results
Lately, I have noticed a lack of curl pattern near my roots. Even with clipping, my roots lay flat and look weighed down. My end goal was to see more lift and height around the crown of my head.
The ACV rinse left my curls soft and smooth thanks to the fact that apple cider vinegar removes residue and product buildup on your curls. For those with low porosity curls, removing build up is key to happy, healthy locks. I did notice a small improvement around my roots. Unfortunately, not as much as I had hoped for.
This was also my first time scrunching all products from beginning to end into my curls. This gave me large clumps of curls. I’m not sure if I prefer the look of them as I lost the volume I like so much.
While I read that the smell of vinegar left your hair after washing, I still smelt a lingering scent in my hair. However, by day two it was gone.
Here are a couple photos of my 2c 3a low porosity curls after my ACV rinse and curly girl wash day routine.
What do you think? Have you tried the ACV rinse on your curls yet? If so, I’d love to hear your tips!
