ACV Rinses = shorter time spent neutralizing?

[belletropjolie]

So I will be self-relaxing my hair this week (I'm 8 weeks post) and one of my least favourite parts of the process is how long it takes to neutralize. It probably takes me an hour to properly neutralize and get the neutralizing shampoo to be completely white.


I've seen acv mentioned a few times vis a vis proper neutralizing. Can anyone explain how acv works to hasten neutralization? Are there any other benefits? I would like to try it this week but I'm nervous to tweak my relaxing routine and mess it up? TIA!

 

[klsjackson]

So I will be self-relaxing my hair this week (I'm 8 weeks post) and one of my least favourite parts of the process is how long it takes to neutralize. It probably takes me an hour to properly neutralize and get the neutralizing shampoo to be completely white.


I've seen acv mentioned a few times vis a vis proper neutralizing. Can anyone explain how acv works to hasten neutralization? Are there any other benefits? I would like to try it this week but I'm nervous to tweak my relaxing routine and mess it up? TIA!

I'm bumping this thread. Will relax next week and I'm curious about this as well. I've recently added ACV rinses to my reggie. I love the sheen my hair has now and I've also noticed that it dries must faster.

 

[Nonie]

ACV is acidic so it will bring down the alkaline pH of the relaxer. BUT I WOULD NOT USE IT IN LIEU OF NEUTRALIZING SHAMPOO. Why? Because there's a science in making sure that the pH of the neutralizing shampoo is sufficient to neutralize the relaxer. What's more, shampoos are supposed to wash off something...not just change the pH of hair, while that is all that ACV would be doing. Also with ACV, you have no idea what concentration would be sufficient: too dilute and you end up not neutralizing your hair enough; too strong and you could breakdown the keratin of your hair.

I strongly recommend you use the kit as directed. It's when people start trying to be cleverer than the scientists who designed the products and ensured their stability that accidents happen. Perhaps what *I* would do is after using the neutralizing shampoo--and the time it takes is well worth it and NECESSARY otherwise it would not be required so stop looking for shortcuts that might hurt you--and after conditioning, I'd finish the wash with an dilute ACV rinse. This would not only punctuate the neutralization (dot any i's and cross any t's that might've been missed) but also close the hair cuticle after conditioning so as to seal in the goodness of conditioning and leave my hair is left in great condition.

Please do not gamble with your hair and assume you know better than the folks who made the neutralizing shampoo. Things worth waiting for take a long time so just do what you gotta do. Patience is a virtue.

 

[belletropjolie]

ACV is acidic so it will bring down the alkaline pH of the relaxer. BUT I WOULD NOT USE IT IN LIEU OF NEUTRALIZING SHAMPOO. Why? Because there's a science in making sure that the pH of the neutralizing shampoo is sufficient to neutralize the relaxer. What's more, shampoos are supposed to wash off something...not just change the pH of hair, while that is all that ACV would be doing. Also with ACV, you have no idea what concentration would be sufficient: too dilute and you end up not neutralizing your hair enough; too strong and you could breakdown the keratin of your hair.

I strongly recommend you use the kit as directed. It's when people start trying to be cleverer than the scientists who designed the products and ensured their stability that accidents happen. Perhaps what *I* would do is after using the neutralizing shampoo--and the time it takes is well worth it and NECESSARY otherwise it would not be required so stop looking for shortcuts that might hurt you--and after conditioning, I'd finish the wash with an dilute ACV rinse. This would not only punctuate the neutralization (dot any i's and cross any t's that might've been missed) but also close the hair cuticle after conditioning so as to seal in the goodness of conditioning and leave my hair is left in great condition.

Please do not gamble with your hair and assume you know better than the folks who made the neutralizing shampoo. Things worth waiting for take a long time so just do what you gotta do. Patience is a virtue.

Hey Nonie, thanks for your post! I think you may have misunderstood my post a little...I would NEVER use ACV in lieu of neutralizing shampoo. I love my hair and would like to hang on to it

My question was more around if using ACV could cut down the number of washes I currently do. For example I currently use neutralize about 6 times for about 10 minutes each. I was wondering if doing an acv rinse would help the shampoo work quicker and cut down the number of washes I currently do. E.g. neutralize twice--> ACV rinse-->neutralize twice more. I was thinking the acv would result in the white foam quicker. I never stop neutralizing till the foam is white so i just figured acv, would result in white foam quicker.

I don't want to mess up my relaxer routine so please all school a girl

 

[Nonie]

Hey @Nonie, thanks for your post! I think you may have misunderstood my post a little...I would NEVER use ACV in lieu of neutralizing shampoo. I love my hair and would like to hang on to it

My question was more around if using ACV could cut down the number of washes I currently do. For example I currently use neutralize about 6 times for about 10 minutes each. I was wondering if doing an acv rinse would help the shampoo work quicker and cut down the number of washes I currently do. E.g. neutralize twice--> ACV rinse-->neutralize twice more. I was thinking the acv would result in the white foam quicker. I never stop neutralizing till the foam is white so i just figured acv, would result in white foam quicker.

I don't want to mess up my relaxer routine so please all school a girl

Aah... now that's a good question. :scratchch I dunno... I still would follow directions. Why, because I have always believed in not "interfering" with the directions of the pros. I don't even like creamy shampoos but when I use Nexxus Emergencée, I always follow it with Nexxus Therappe. Why? Because I believe they complement each other.

While both ACV and the shampoo will bring down the pH of the relaxer and seal the strands, the shampoo is REMOVING stuff. I'd be afraid ACV would end up closing my strands while leaving stuff that needs to be REMOVED in my hair. So I still say shampoo as much as needed. There's a reason they don't just put in an acidic product but rather a SHAMPOO. There's a reason the shampoo is not diluted by some acidic product but is left in the concentration it is.

So yeah, I still stick to the original sentiments: follow the rules and then add your twist AT THE END. Do not interfere in the middle. Because if your ACV rinses somehow prevent removal of some of the relaxer, then your hair will be damaged...and you'll have no one to blame but yourself for trying to be cleverer than the folks we wrote down the rules.

 

[beloved1bx]

I self-relaxed in sept and I used ACV during the neutralizing process. I think I shampooed 2-3x, used a diluted ACV mix then shampooed some more. I did notice that I didn't have to shampoo as many times as before. The suds turned white pretty quickly after the rinse. I get what nonie is saying about ACV possibly interfering. I didn't think of that when I did it, but I didn't notice any adverse side effects luckily.

 

[belletropjolie]

ACV is acidic so it will bring down the alkaline pH of the relaxer. BUT I WOULD NOT USE IT IN LIEU OF NEUTRALIZING SHAMPOO. Why? Because there's a science in making sure that the pH of the neutralizing shampoo is sufficient to neutralize the relaxer. What's more, shampoos are supposed to wash off something...not just change the pH of hair, while that is all that ACV would be doing. Also with ACV, you have no idea what concentration would be sufficient: too dilute and you end up not neutralizing your hair enough; too strong and you could breakdown the keratin of your hair.

I strongly recommend you use the kit as directed. It's when people start trying to be cleverer than the scientists who designed the products and ensured their stability that accidents happen. Perhaps what *I* would do is after using the neutralizing shampoo--and the time it takes is well worth it and NECESSARY otherwise it would not be required so stop looking for shortcuts that might hurt you--and after conditioning, I'd finish the wash with an dilute ACV rinse. This would not only punctuate the neutralization (dot any i's and cross any t's that might've been missed) but also close the hair cuticle after conditioning so as to seal in the goodness of conditioning and leave my hair is left in great condition.

Please do not gamble with your hair and assume you know better than the folks who made the neutralizing shampoo. Things worth waiting for take a long time so just do what you gotta do. Patience is a virtue.

Thank you Nonie this is very helpful and certainly a perspective I hadn't considered . I've been self relaxing with pretty good results for a year now and I would hate to mess up a good routine. I think if anything I would use acv towards the very end after the suds look white.

 

[secretdiamond]

This is what I do and I will never relax without doing it again.

 

[Guitarhero]

So I will be self-relaxing my hair this week (I'm 8 weeks post) and one of my least favourite parts of the process is how long it takes to neutralize. It probably takes me an hour to properly neutralize and get the neutralizing shampoo to be completely white.


I've seen acv mentioned a few times vis a vis proper neutralizing. Can anyone explain how acv works to hasten neutralization? Are there any other benefits? I would like to try it this week but I'm nervous to tweak my relaxing routine and mess it up? TIA!

Are you rinsing out the relaxer with warm water and massaging the scalp to loosen the product so it can rinse away easier? Why is it taking 1 hour to neutralize? I'd make sure I rinsed for a good 10 minutes first, then try your shampoo.

 

[belletropjolie]

Are you rinsing out the relaxer with warm water and massaging the scalp to loosen the product so it can rinse away easier? Why is it taking 1 hour to neutralize? I'd make sure I rinsed for a good 10 minutes first, then try your shampoo.

I do rise out with warm water but maybe for a few minutes and I also coax out the relaxer I think for fear of roughing up the cuticles. I wonder if rinsing out longer would help with cutting down the neutralizing step time...god tip Guitarhero