Want to have natural-looking highlights to go with your tan skin this summer? A lot of us want highlights, but don’t have the time or money to go get it done professionally. As it turns out, you don’t need to drop a ton of cash for your hair to look great. This DIY vinegar technique to lighten your hair is actually a great at-home experiment to give yourself highlights this summer.
Raw apple cider vinegar has a similar pH level to your scalp, which helps keeps your hair healthy. It also has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties that help fight off dandruff and hair loss and will keep your hair super shiny for days. It’s recommended that you rinse your hair with the raw apple cider vinegar before you shampoo in the shower, and then add the DIY highlights mix to your damp hair.
How it works is that the apple cider vinegar grabs the metals and minerals that build up and dull your hair color. It’s not permanent, and for best results, you should be rinsing with the apple cider vinegar for a couple of weeks to keep that shine in your hair. Also, you can do it even if you already have highlights in your hair. It won’t affect your highlights if you wish to add more or just lighten up.
Photo by Erica Elmslie
My friend kindly offered up her lovely hair for this experiment. Though she already had highlights in her hair, she wanted a few more. The vinegar didn’t fully lighten her hair right away, but in the final photo you can see it’s a little shinier. For best results, you should continue to rinse with the apple cider vinegar to see more of a change in your hair color. However, it was fun and would have definitely worked more if we had taken the time to do the rinse as well as the DIY highlight mixture.
DIY Vinegar Highlights
Photo by Erica Elmslie
What you’ll need:
- 1/2 cup raw apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 lemon juice
- 1/2 cup distilled water
- Spray Bottle
- Cotton Balls
Step 1:
Photo by Erica Elmslie
First, spray hair with regular water to dampen the strands you want to highlight.
Step 2:
Photo by Erica Elmslie
Mix the raw apple cider vinegar with the distilled water and lemon juice.
Step 3:
Photo by Erica Elmslie
Dip the cotton ball into the vinegar mixture.
Step 4:
Photo by Erica Elmslie
Dab the mixture on the strands you want to lighten. If you want to lighten your hair everywhere, put the mixture into the spray bottle and spray all of your hair.
Step 5:
Let the mixture sit for 15-20 minutes. You should see reddish/blonde highlights when using raw apple cider vinegar.