bcs and acv soaks-do they have to be separate?

[Deleted]

@kevin 's question sortof sparked my curiosity on this one, though it is not directly related to his question.
so, this is what I read. that

you shouldn't mix the bicarb and ACV together in the soak because "right! if you mix them you cause a violent chemical reaction (the one used to cause an eruption in sci fair volcanoes) this makes carbonic acid ..not what you want"

hahahahahahaaa
omg! That's exactly what I've been doing!

So, if anyone knows if this is a real scare or not, could you please let me know?
thnx!

[jasonmonty]

Why not mix them before they touch your head? Let the reaction happen and complete then after that use the mix.

[Deleted]

Yep, that is the question jasonmonty . Oh, you mean wait a minute? I think I kinda do, but I definitely poured in the acv after the first time I did it. Was like, close my eyes and hope my hair dint burn off or something. Well, it didnt but I think it is just easier having it all mixed before dunking. Plus the water has been too hot for awhile theae summer days, so I guess I wait anyway.

I never had it foam over or anything tho. Lol actually, I am probably the only person who has never actually done the volcano experiment. I feel there is a bit more to it. No?

[jasonmonty]

You've prompted me to go back to the chemistry I haven't touched for a long time. Which has given me these points:
-acid/base of hair tends be around ph 5 (this is what "ph balanced" shampoos aim for.
-baking soda with water is very basic around ph 9 (that is a long way off what hair likes)
-Apple cider vinegar with water has a ph of between 2.4 to 4 depending on the vinegar itself and how much is mixed.
-Mixing BS and ACV together causes a neutralising reaction bringing the ph close to 7 which is what neutral (what water is). The bubbles is a result of carbon dioxide being real eased as part of this reaction. What's left over after this is water and sodium acetate. Which really is NOT baking soda or apple cider vinegar.

The high ph of BS is what's given credit for damage. Opens up the hairs and increasing tangling. So probably good for dreading as long as the damage isn't too great. Plus would be pretty good at killing bacteria and other nasties.

The ACV being scoring (low ph) is said to smooth out the hair and maybe roughly close up the opening of the hairs by BS. It also has some good cleaning properties.

The sodium acetate is an unknown and I can't find anything about it as too it's effect on hair.

Of course nothing is ever simplistic, but had me thinking the best route might be to use only a very small amount of BS diluted with water, then rinse it then use diluted ACV as combining the 2 together means it's a completely different product.

[helenedorup]

Aug 14, 2016 5:39:47 GMT jasonmonty said:

Of course nothing is ever simplistic, but had me thinking the best route might be to use only a very small amount of BS diluted with water, then rinse it then use diluted ACV as combining the 2 together means it's a completely different product.

That was a pretty cool chemistry breakdown! And I agree with you, I do the same - use diluted BS first, which is what I think of as the actual cleaning of the hair. Then I rinse with water, after which I rinse with ASV, using it as conditioner. And then rinse with water again.

I don't do this very often though as the BS tends to do a lot of damage. I do however use the ASV sometimes after a normal shampooing if I feel like my hair needs to be conditioned (too much salt water this summer!)