Rinsing your hair with apple cider vinegar is a cheap, easy, and effective hair treatment for shinier, cleaner and healthier hair!

Let’s face it, hair care products are both expensive, and can be filled with toxins. You can’t expect to spend anything less than an arm and a leg on good, quality hair care and still have it be natural and free of toxins. Or can you? Enter apple cider vinegar hair wash. My favorite, cheap, easy, organic, and incredibly effective hair care routine for cleansing my hair.

My Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse Before and After Pictures

Even after just one wash, my hair is shinier, much less dull and more lively looking.

What are the benefits of washing your hair with an apple cider vinegar rinse?

It removes product build-up.

First and foremost, I got turned onto washing my hair with ACV because it cleanses and cleans your hair like no other. It basically removes build upon other products in your hair, making it extra shiny, silky, and smooth. No matter how well you wash your hair, you will have product build-up. Whether it be

It restores the pH balance of your hair making it easier to manage, and extra shiny.

pH stands for the “power of hydrogen” and represents the relative acidity or alkalinity of a substance. Our skin, hair, and bodies are meant to have a certain pH to remain balanced, but things like toxins, stress, and poor quality food and products harm the natural pH of our hair and skin which makes our hair harder to maintain and manage.

It’s full of vitamins and free of toxins.

With having an autoimmune disease (Hashimoto’s), MTHFR, and just being a generally health-conscious person, I work hard to cut down the toxic burden of my body while nourishing with good, whole foods. Toxins found in makeup, hair care products, and poor quality foods overwork our immune system and harm our bodies in the long run.

Apple cider vinegar is rich in Vitamin C which is nourishing to the hair and skin and free of toxins. It’s made from real, whole food prepared in a traditional manner and is far healthier for our bodies and the environment than toxin-laden hair care products.

It’s cheap and easy!

A bottle of apple cider vinegar will run you less than $7 and has multiple other uses. In my beauty maven days, I couldn’t get away with spending less than $30 minimum on hair products. So for less than $7, and a DIY that only includes two ingredients? Sign me up.

It makes your hair last longer between washes.

Because it removes product build-up from your hair, expect to have your hair last longer between washes.

It makes your hair look and feels amazing!

Not only can I feel the difference after using apple cider vinegar in my hair, but I can see the difference. It’s shinier, smoother, less frizzy, and much easier to manage. Whenever I’m having a couple of bad hair days, I always use an apple cider vinegar hair rinse as my secret weapon.

How To Use Apple Cider Vinegar for Hair

Ingredients

16 oz of purified water

2 Tbsp of Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

Instructions

1. First, start with good quality Apple Cider Vinegar. I always use Bragg’s! You can get it at your local health food store, or online.
2. Next, fill a glass with warm, purified water. Pay attention to temperature here… remember this is going on your head! Then, add two tablespoons of ACV. Stir to combine.
3. Take the glass into the shower and set it to the side. Go along with your normal shampoo routine and rinse your hair. Then slowly pour the ACV hair wash onto your head in an attempt to evenly distribute it.
4. Leave it in your hair for about 2-3 minutes to soak in.
5. Finally, thoroughly rinse to remove from your hair and you’re done!

How often should you use an apple cider vinegar hair rinse?

Typically, I use this wash once every two weeks and sometimes weekly.

I don’t necessarily recommend it for multiple times a week. First, that’s a lot of ACV to use, and second, if you have dry hair it could potentially dry it out if you use it too often.

I very much enjoy the benefits of my apple cider vinegar hair wash when used in moderation.

 

ACV Hair Rinse Tips and Tricks

For colored hair…

I simply wouldn’t recommend this for regular use for colored hair as it may harm the color. You can try, but no promises here.

For drier hair…

If your hair is naturally dry, try using 1 tbsp of ACV rather than 2 tbsp. You may have to play a bit to find your perfect ratio.

To remove any smell…

You don’t have to use conditioner as the ACV will condition your hair. However, I find that adding a dab of conditioner will really help remove any ACV smell that may linger.

So, that’s all there is to it! Just a few minutes of prep every week to two weeks and you’ve got silky smooth, and healthier hair. Enjoy!

 

This post was originally published on March 14, 2016 and updated in March of 2019.