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Sunday, July 5, 2009

The healing power of vinegar

Vinegar is a very versatile stuff. For some reason I seemed to have forgotten exactly how useful it can be until a few weeks ago. I guess I fell into the advertising media hype as I grew up. Instead of sticking with the tried and true I started buying ready made things the advertising media tells us we "must have".



Don't get me wrong, I keep vinegar in the house all the time. It's one of my favorite cleaning supplies. What I had forgotten was what a useful item it is for the body as well. What do I mean?
It's like this. A few weeks ago in my wandering around the net I came across some bloggers who were going poo-less. They were switching from shampoo and rinse to using baking soda for shampoo and vinegar as a rinse. DUH! How could I have forgotten this simple thing? We used these back when I was young. Actually we used baking soda, egg, and homemade soap for shampoo. We mixed one egg, a half teaspoon baking soda, and a bit of soap together right before washing our hair. But the rinse...... it was plain vinegar. No water was added and it wasn't rinsed out either. The smell goes away when your hair dries.

Anyone in this area knows the knot of hair on top of my head. When I unwind the knot, my hair goes all the way to the floor. It's thin from age which is why I can get it all in one small knot. I have extremely dry skin and that includes my scalp.

So a few weeks ago I decided to go poo-less too. I followed the simple idea I found on so many blogs. Here is only one place to read about it.... going no poo. You can do an internet search and find this idea in hundreds of places. For about 12 weeks now I've been poo-less. My hair feels great and has some of the youthful shine again.

Why did I decide to go this route? Well it was not about saving money but simply because I remembered I didnt have a dry scalp when I was young. I thought.... why not give it a try again to see what happens. Can't hurt. In the process I realized that my back no longer felt dry and itchy either. Because my hair would hang down my back as it dried. Getting the vinegar on my back as it soaked through my shirts.

Next I tried straight vinegar on my painfully dry elbows. I used a cotton ball soaked in straight vinegar. At first the skin formed a film, sort of like you have when you get sunburned, right before you skin peels. I kept using the vinegar for about a week. When the film peeled off by itself..... nice smooth soft skin was underneath. No more painful elbows!! I had tried just about everything to heal my elbows. Lotions, creams, soaps, vaseline, diaper cream, etc. You name it I had used it.

Now days I use the straight vinegar in a spray bottle after I finish my shower. I spray my whole body (except my face), stand there a few seconds to let it soak into my skin, then dry off as usual. Ta da! No more itchy skin. I also used vinegar to heal my dry cracked feet. Dry skin is troublesome for a diabetic. Especially on the feet. I use a cotton ball to apply vinegar to my face. The smell takes my breath away for a few seconds. Fanning my face helps it dry faster.

So why does this work? I'm not exactly sure. Something about the PH of skin I think. Vinegar may not help everyone with their dry skin. It's certainly worth a try; but, on a small place first.... like your elbows. If you don't get any adverse reactions to the small area then expand to other areas too.

Please note that the recommendation is to rinse out the vinegar from your hair. I don't. I also use regular vinegar but others say to use apple cider vinegar. Do a little research before actully giving this a try... ok? Start with the link I gave you above.

3 comments:

Patricia said...

Hi Anita!

I've been trying the no poo thing and I haven't quite gotten it right yet. After a while my hair gets way too oily. I have found that I really only need to poo it once every couple of weeks. Other times I just rinse it and put vinegar on it. I've been watering my vinegar down - I'm gonna try it straight and see what happens!

I searched and searched for the reasoning behind apple cider vinegar instead of regular vinegar for your hair and all I could find was one reference about it smelling better. Really? It all smells vinegar-ish to me, so I use the plain kind.

And here's my vinegar and skin story: My dad used to have 'ugly' feet. Cracked, rough skin, thick, yellow toenails - really yucky feet. Some doctor told him to put vinegar on them and after a couple of weeks he had brand new feet. It was amazing. I had a friend who was paying a pile of money for some pill to take to kill her foot fungus. I suggested vinegar and she looked at me like I was crazy. Well, I might be, but what does it hurt to spend a couple of dollars on a bottle of vinegar to rub on your feet for a few weeks? Some people just like to spend money, I think!

Loving your blogs! Thanks for the tips!

Patricia

Joyful said...

Ok, now you've talked about a problem that has really been plaguing me for some time. Dry skin, esp. my elbows and feet and so itchy too. I'm gonna try this vinegar and see if it works for me.

Anita Estes said...

Joyful, give it a try. It worked for me after trying dozens of lotions and spending lots of wasted dollars.