Here's What Happens When You Dye Your Hair With Honey And Vinegar
A trip to the salon is enjoyable and a great way to carve out some time to pamper yourself, but it's also expensive and requires pre-planning. This is especially true for those who have to work around children's and other loved ones' schedules just to get a haircut.
When it comes to less pressing matters like giving your hair some much-needed lift with dyeing, you might wish you have homemade concoctions to turn to. While you might want to leave drastic or pronounced color transformations for the professionals (via Good Housekeeping), bringing a little color to your mane needn't leave a dent in your purse, nor should it require excessive amounts of planning. Throwing together a few ingredients you find at home can do the trick (and they might be safer than the chemical-rich procedures at the salon), per Ipsy.
Much has been said about the benefits of honey. While you may know that putting honey on your face promotes skin health, its uses don't end with your face. Combine this ingredient with vinegar (something else you can find easily in your pantry) and you're left with a hair dye. What exactly happens when you dye your hair with honey and vinegar?
Honey and vinegar lighten your hair color
Age and environmental factors can contribute to your hair changing color over time (via My Hair Print), and hair lightening is one such consequence. Perhaps you want to reminisce about a time when your locks were of a brighter shade or maybe you just want to try your hand at homemade mixtures to dye your hair a lighter tint. This blend of honey and vinegar works well for both purposes.
The glucose oxidase and glucose found in honey work together to create the bleaching agent hydrogen peroxide (via Gisou), while apple cider vinegar acts as the distributing agent, per My Hair Print. To make your DIY dyeing mask, you'll need honey (one cup), apple cider vinegar (two cups), extra-virgin olive oil (1 tablespoon), and cinnamon powder (1 tablespoon), according to Medicine Net. Mix them all together and using your fingers, work the dye in through wet hair strands, making sure you coat all of your hair. Wait 10 minutes and wash it off.
If you want to keep the application on overnight you can, as long as you wear a shower cap and sleep on an old pillowcase you can discard or lay a towel over your regular pillow, reports My Hair Print. Home-made mixtures usually take time and repeated applications to show results so you might want to keep trying until you do, per Mane Addicts.
Honey and vinegar have other benefits for hair
Healthy hair usually means locks that are well moisturized and honey can help in this regard too, per Gisou. It hydrates your scalp and your hair follicles. Honey also boosts epithelial skin cell growth, crucial for hair growth, and the keratin found in this sweet-tasting home ingredient prevents hair fall. Impressed with the list of benefits? That's not all — honey is also known to ward off dandruff with its anti-inflammatory qualities and boost overall scalp health.
There is more than one reason to have vinegar in your home too, especially if you're dealing with an itchy scalp. Apple cider vinegar, used in moderation, can act as an antimicrobial agent against bacteria buildup and its alpha-hydroxy acid content works toward a healthy scalp, according to Healthline.
There is a sense of comfort in knowing that the ingredients we can easily find in our homes can help us achieve the hair look we're going for. Knowing that they're going to promote hair growth and give us a healthy boost is a definite bonus.