Hey everyone  :)

I was wondering if I can use vinegar on my hair.  My hair has highlights and lowlights and is an overall blonde shade.  I just don't want the vinegar to make my hair dull.  I have read at different places (maybe it was here, I can't remember) that you can add chamomile or marigold to a vinegar rinse too.  Should I do that to be safe?  Also, are chamomile and marigold oils? (sorry, thats probably a dumb question but I haven't had experience with this stuff)  
~Thanks for any help and thanks to all the people who have given me help in the past. You guys rock :D.

As you know, vinegar rinse is used to clarify, and sometimes to balance pH of the hair (if shampoo is alkalic).

I think you can use ACV safely. Be sure not to use too much- one or two tablespoons diluted to two or three cups of water is quite enough.

My hair is naturally blonde, and I haven't noticed ACV'ing having affecting my color in any way. Some blondes prefer to use white wine vinegar- so if you're hesitant to use ACV, you might try that instead. I've tried both, and can't tell the difference- so nowadays I use ACV which is cheaper of the two.

I think Galadriel's advice about the vinegar is good. As for the chamomile and marigold, I know chamomile is an essential oil but I've never heard of marigold (essential) oil. Mountian Rose Herbs Has a good list of essential oils and can give you a good idea of how much they cost.

ETA: Esoteric Oils has a lot of information on essentail oils, their uses, etc. Click on "products" and you can get info on the different oils by clicking on the link for each oil. (Sorry if that sentence sounded funny. It's 12:25am here and I'm getting punchy)

Vinegar rinses should be fine for your hair.  Since the vinegar will remove any product buildup you might have, it would typically make your hair shiney and soft.

As for the chamomile or marigold; these are usually used as an infusion.  Put the flower tops in boiling water, allow to steep, then strain.  When the water has cooled, use it as a final rinse.  The natural coloring of these flowers will highlight the blondes in your hair.  It is a temporary "coloring" that takes several "applications" to see results, and will fade with time.

There is a recipe using chamomile tea bags in the Hair Care Recipe Cookbook area of this site.

Thanks for all the info and links :D!  I have to go check those out!

I am definetly gonna try the vinegar now :).  Before I was too scared to.

~By the way, since I was too scared to use vinegar last week, I tried mixing water with baking soda (I read somewhere on the internet that it would work as a clarifier).  What a mistake that was!  It made my hair so gross :P!

i read somewhere that mixing lemon juice with your conditioner  works better than a clarifying shampoo, i plan to try it next time i need to clarify, though ACV has been working great for me

Good luck :)

wrote on Aug 21^st, 2005 at 1:22pm:

As for the chamomile or marigold; these are usually used as an infusion.

*smacks hand on forehead* That's probably what Bardot was talking about. I saw "oils" and immediately thought of EOs. Okay, I don't think I should post when I'm tired.

wrote on Aug 21^st, 2005 at 7:31pm:

*smacks hand on forehead* That's probably what Bardot was talking about. I saw "oils" and immediately thought of EOs. Okay, I don't think I should post when I'm tired.

:::  pats juri on the head::::
Now,now.  It's ok - we all have our moments and sometimes a silly answer actually provides the opportunity to provide more information.

Thanks, BB! I feel a bit better now. If nothing else, maybe someone out there will have another place to buy EOs.

Okay, I am sooo bummed :(. I tried the vinegar rinse last night but it didn't work.  After my hair dried it was oily near the scalp and dry at the ends.  I think I diluted it right (I used two tablespoons of vinegar with three cups of water) so I don't know whats up.  Am I the only one this doesn't work for?

So today I bought EO lavender clarifying shampoo and this other one (but I can't remember the name).  Hopefully they will get rid of any gunk on hair and if they work good, at least I can write more product reviews :)!

Oh, and on another brighter note :D, I bought some grapeseed oil which will be fun to experiment with.  And I'm also gonna research this lemon in the conditioner thing.  Did Beesan or anyone here ever end up trying it?

Hmm, that's kind of weird that your roots got oily, but I can understand the length/ends getting dry. When I tried a plain ACV rinse on my bleached and color treated length, it got really dry. I don't know what you should do with using vinegar on your roots, but it might help to add some conditioner to the vinegar before you use it on your ends. When I do an ACV rinse, I do my roots first, add the conditioner, shake the bottle to mix the two, and then dunk the length a few times. That might work for you too.

I'm glad you're getting good results with the grapeseed oil! I'd try it too, but unfortunately I'm one of those people who can't use oil without getting crunchy hair.

Bardot, I find it odd that your roots got oily. As for the ends being "crispy critters", this happened to me the first time I tried an ACV rinse. I found that I had to dilute the mixture even more and it worked well.

I know that some people only apply the rinse to their length by dunking their locks and not getting any in their scalp. Just a thought if you were to try it again; however, I have no experience with ACV making my roots oily.

Please don't be offended if this is a really stupid question:  Did you vinegar rinse after shampoo and conditioner and then rinse out the vinegar, not adding anything else afterwards?

The oily roots just don't make sense *drat* - I had the NR experience with plain vinegar diluted 10-1 also but got great results putting about a tsp to tblsp of honey into the mix *shrug* ...g

wrote on Aug 24^th, 2005 at 1:50am:

And I'm also gonna research this lemon in the conditioner thing.  Did Beesan or anyone here ever end up trying it?

Yes i did try it, and yes it worked :) :)
but first i tested it on my bangs, and they didn't get frizzy or get *poofy* like they usually do  :P

Hey everyone,
In response to your question (not stupid at all :))I used the rinse after my shampoo and before my conditioner.  And now that I think about it, not all of my roots were oily.  There was just this one spot at the top-rear of my head that was awful (in addition to he crunchy ends)! I was thinking about maybe looking up safe ways to exfoliate my scalp (maybe brown sugar?) to see if it would help.

And thanks for the suggestions! I'm gonna try using the vinegar and then the lemon in my conditioner :).

On another note, today I mixed 8 oz. distilled water with 1/4 teaspoon jojoba oil and 1/4 teaspoon grapeseed oil  (in a spritz bottle) and made a really nice leave-in conditioner.  I wonder what else I can throw in there? Lavender oil maybe?  I also read you can combine aloe vera gel with jojoba oil and make a leave-in.  Thats such a good idea, that I never knew before :D!

Ah Whew Bardot - for exfoliation tips you might look at Anais' Medusa's Lair.  Also my journal and Sakina's, Cynde's and Maroula's have info about horncomb scritching/exfoliation, which I admit is my personal favorite.

Good luck with the experiments ...g

This may be ornery, but I use the same stuff I use for the rest of my body exfoliation... St IVes Apricot Scrub.  I just mix a small dallop of it into my shampoo, apply to my scalp, and use the pads of my fingers to give myself a head massage.  Ooooo.. that feels so nice...

I only degunk my scalp maybe once a month... it doesn't need it very often.

Thanks!
hmmmm. . . I already have St. Ives right near the shower.  Never thought of  using it on  my head.  I'll also check out those journals. Thanks again  :).

wrote on Aug 25^th, 2005 at 6:45pm:

This may be ornery, but I use the same stuff I use for the rest of my body exfoliation... St IVes Apricot Scrub.  I just mix a small dallop of it into my shampoo, apply to my scalp, and use the pads of my fingers to give myself a head massage.  Ooooo.. that feels so nice... I only degunk my scalp maybe once a month... it doesn't need it very often.

ROTF - that actually sounds like fun.  Stuff kills my face though (sensitive skin there) so I think I'll give it a pass...g

wrote on Aug 25^th, 2005 at 8:46pm:

ROTF - that actually sounds like fun.  Stuff kills my face though (sensitive skin there) so I think I'll give it a pass...g

I mix the scrub with my facial cleanser too, gabi.  The scrub just by itself is a bit too much...

but oh my goodness!  You want to talk about an awesome exfoliator to make your legs SOOOO smooth when you go to shave them!   ;D  I scrub my legs with the stuff, rinse it off, then shave....

Oh yeah, baby!  8)