How to do an ACV rinse?

It seems it has become so mainstream here that there are no instructions!

How many parts of each (water + acv).

How often?

I believe I have serious gunk on my hair that I need to remove. Please share your ACV concoctions.
thank you

anybody???

Bumping for responses, would like to know too!

I mix 75ml of ACV to 1 litre of spring water. I wash my hair once a week and use this as my final rinse.

I use about a teaspoon per 8 oz.

I eyeball it. I guess once you try different ratios you figure out what your hair likes best and you can go from there.
Personally I like about 1/6th ACV to water

Does frequency differ if you are relaxed vs. natural?

Bumping for more responses!!

at what phase of the wash stage are yall using it? after shampoo but before conditioner, after conditioner but before DC, or after everything all together?

Also bumping I would like to know when to do it? B4 washing since its clarifying or after washing and conditioning?

For me: shampoo, deep condition (or protein treatment, then deep condition), rinse out the deep conditioner, then follow with ACV rinse. I follow the recipe I found on Motowngirl.com years ago - 1 to 2 tablespoons of ACV with 2 cups of room temperature distilled water. Her recipe says you can add a couple of drops of sage oil, but I don't use it.

You don't rinse the ACV rinse out of your hair. It's diluetd so you will smell a little bit like ACV until your hair dries. But once you add your leave in conditioner/styling products, you won't even smell it. This should be the final rinse.

Phoenix14 said:

at what phase of the wash stage are yall using it? after shampoo but before conditioner, after conditioner but before DC, or after everything all together?

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This is the last thing I do after washing my hair. It brings your hair's pH level back after clarifying. After I do a baking soda clarifying treatment, I will rinse my hair with a mixture of 2T of ACV to 2 cups of water. I do not rinse it out. The smell diminishes as it dries.

I've read that this should not be done more than twice a month.

I use just under 3/4 teaspoon ACV in 2 cups of distilled water. I do this as my final rinse, and I don't rinse it out.

I nearly ruined my hair trying to figure out the proper ratio...many ladies on LHCF use much stronger rinses than I do. A thread on LHC helped me to figure it all out: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=6647. Posts #20 and #23 were very helpful to me in understanding the pH of my ACV rinse.

Cassandra1975 said:

For me: shampoo, deep condition (or protein treatment, then deep condition), rinse out the deep conditioner, then follow with ACV rinse. I follow the recipe I found on Motowngirl.com years ago - 1 to 2 tablespoons of ACV with 2 cups of room temperature distilled water. Her recipe says you can add a couple of drops of sage oil, but I don't use it.

You don't rinse the ACV rinse out of your hair. It's diluetd so you will smell a little bit like ACV until your hair dries. But once you add your leave in conditioner/styling products, you won't even smell it. This should be the final rinse.

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See, I always rinse mine out with distilled water. I wash, dc, rinse, acv rinse, then do a final distilled water rinse.

wow I have been using way too much ACV... I do about 1/4 cup ACV for 4 cups water...I will lower it to 1/8 ups for 4 cups water

Eisani said:

See, I always rinse mine out with distilled water. I wash, dc, rinse, acv rinse, then do a final distilled water rinse.

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I just read something earlier that said distilled water was acidic, so that would still make sense. I've just never rinsed it though - always used the ACV mixture as the final rinse, but I usually only use 1 tbsp with 2 cups of water.

I think I do 1/4 ACV to 16oz of water. I mainly eyeball too though.

Thanks ladies!

1/4 cup to 2 cups of distilled/bottled water

Selah's Tangle Buster Routine

1) Section hair down center w/fingers or comb.
2) Gently and thoroughly saturate each section.
3) Before-hand, you will take a plastic pitcher that holds say 2 q. of water.
Pour in about 1/8 c.-1/4 c. of vinegar or so (cv or white). I just eyeball amt. Then pour in ALOT of conditioner. I use a cheapie or something I won't buy again for this stage. My hair is a few inches past my shoulders so I dump in about 1/2 c. or so.
Add about 3 tbsp. of light oil - Amla, coconut etc. I also put in about 2 tbsp of Elasta Recovery, but that's optional. Fill w/water, stir with hand.
4) Pour SLOWLY over each section, holding palm of other hand under hair to catch liquid against hair. Don't rub or manipulate hair now! Loosely pin up each section for about 3 min.
5) Take down. Gently finger comb as much as you can. Rinse about 3/4 of mixture out. Don't overrinse.
6) Shampoo only ONCE. Massage scalp moving hair as little as possible. Don't rub and manipulate hair length. Gently squeeze length, milking shampoo down it. I do this for about 60 - 90 seconds each side. Your hair will be clean, so don't worry about short time frame. Shampooing too long & multiple times causes tangles. Gently rinse each section.
7) Now apply your good conditioner liberally. Again, pin up hair. Let sit for about 3 min.
8) Take hair down. Gently finger comb. Only at this point should you comb hair. I use a seamless wide tooth comb from Sally's by Cricket ($1.99). Seamless ones are a must. Gently rinse, cool water.
9) Do another vinegar mixture, now just minus the conditioner. Again, use the coolest water you can stand to close those cuticles. Do NOT rinse out.
10) When towel drying, do not run. Gently pat/squeeze dry. That's it!

* Optional - adding essential oils on the front end mixture, or back end vinegar rinse. *

I was just wondering about this the other day. Thanks everyone! I'm going to start off lower and work my way up.

Does anyone do this when in braids?

I do a acv rinse in two ways.. Its always the last step for me.

Method one.
- Fill up the sink with water and add some vinegar.. I use about 1/2 a fingers worth (im not the best with measurements)
- swirl the mix a little
- let my hair "soak" in it and use a jug to distribute to areas missed
- rinse with plain water.

method two
- use a spray bottle in the shower
- spray the mixture through your hair
- rinse out

Okay...this is what confuses me. I always try to rinse my hair with cold water to seal the cuticles, but I was also under the impression that AVC rinses close the hair cuticles (while affecting the pH) as well. One source is saying don't rinse the AVC, another is saying rinse with cold water, and the last source is saying to do both. How do you NOT rinse out the AVC if you're supposed to rinse the hair with cold water? If both act as hair shaft sealants, why would either be necessary together in a single wash, dc, etc? If the AVC/water mixture is meant to be at room temperature, and it really doesn't seal the cuticle, then wouldn't the cuticles still be open?

Edit: The way I normally do AVC rinses is eyeball the vinegar into a mixture of distilled water, and then rinse out in the shower after leaving it on for like 3-5 minutes with regular running cold water from the shower head. This reminds me...I need to get back to these rinses more consistently...

I use AVC to clarify and to keep my dandruff at bay. I use a spray bottle on dry hair and saturate my hair and scalp with it. Then I co-wash (or wash) and DC as usual. I've never left it in and I'm natural.

I think this previous post of mine answers your questions: http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showpost.php?p=3343215&postcount=15

ETA: the basin usually contains about 2 gallons of water; so it's 1/4 cup ACV to about 2 gallons of water. Err on the side of caution coz too much acidity can break down the protein in hair. So better to have the solution too dilute than too concentrated.

One more thing, for those worried about the smell of vinegar, it usually goes away when your hair dries. In fact if you smell my hair, all you smell is the conditioner I used before the ACV rinse. (Erm...it might help to add that I don't use any other products in my hair after the rinse which explains why you only smell conditioner. )

Nonie said:

I think this previous post of mine answers your questions: http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showpost.php?p=3343215&postcount=15

ETA: the basin usually contains about 2 gallons of water; so it's 1/4 cup ACV to about 2 gallons of water. Err on the side of caution coz too much acidity can break down the protein in hair. So better to have the solution too dilute than too concentrated.

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This makes good sense. Maybe I'll spray with it again once I'm done with my DC.

MangaManiac said:

I was just wondering about this the other day. Thanks everyone! I'm going to start off lower and work my way up.

Does anyone do this when in braids?

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I do this all the time regardless of the style I'm wearing, and so yes, I am doing it in the braids I'm wearing now.

OcoLove said:

This makes good sense. Maybe I'll spray with it again once I'm done with my DC.

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The spritz I used to make before I got lazy and just couldn't be bothered used to have ACV in it. It also had glycerin in there. The recipe was:

Essential Oil Vinegar Rinse

2 tablespoons (8 teaspoons/40 ml) apple cider vinegar
20 drops lavender oil
20 drops rosemary oil
10 drops geranium oil (or lemon oil if hair is oily)
Rain or distilled water
1 teaspoon vegetable glycerine
Mix essential oils and vinegar together in a 300ml spray bottle. Fill up with purified or rain water. Shake well before use.

To use: Rinse the hair after shampooing then spray thoroughly with the vinegar rinse.
Don't rinse out.

(Source: http://www.neryspurchon.com/recipes/haircare1.html )

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Nonie said:

I think this previous post of mine answers your questions: http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showpost.php?p=3343215&postcount=15

ETA: the basin usually contains about 2 gallons of water; so it's 1/4 cup ACV to about 2 gallons of water. Err on the side of caution coz too much acidity can break down the protein in hair. So better to have the solution too dilute than too concentrated.

One more thing, for those worried about the smell of vinegar, it usually goes away when your hair dries. In fact if you smell my hair, all you smell is the conditioner I used before the ACV rinse. (Erm...it might help to add that I don't use any other products in my hair after the rinse which explains why you only smell conditioner. )

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I read your post. It was very helpful. Thank you. But, does the temperature of the ACV mixture matter at all? And JUST TO BE ABSOLUTELY SURE, you DON'T rinse it out? I always kind of figured rinsing it out the way I was (with shower water, which was tested before and is actually pretty good) might have been counterproductive regardless.

goodmorningruby said:

I read your post. It was very helpful. Thank you. But, does the temperature of the ACV mixture matter at all? And JUST TO BE ABSOLUTELY SURE, you DON'T rinse it out? I always kind of figured rinsing it out the way I was (with shower water, which was tested before and is actually pretty good) might have been counterproductive regardless.

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Sorry, I'm just seeing your post now. I always use lukewarm water. Never too hot; never cold. I honestly don't think cold water closes hair cuticles like a lot of people believe. I think it is the pH of water that closes hair cuticles. Besides, cold water would give me a headache. In fact, if I do have a headache, it is washing my hair with warm water that can help cure it. Go figure.

So I just make sure the water is comfortably warm. And no, I do not rinse out. I prefer to leave my hair with the acidic pH in it. Rinsing with 100% distilled water would probably not change the pH, but it would be a waste of water IMO, since having the acidic pH in my hair is really what I'm after and the ACV rinse gives me that.