From Interlocking to Natural: My Dreadlock Journey

without years of data and expenses I can't say for sure

I'm not a chemist but I have done research and have a friend who is a professional chemist help me out. The main issue is the baking soda.

PH scale runs from 1 to 14. 1 being the most acidic 14 being most basic and 7 being neutral. Hair in its unaltered and slightly damp state has a PH of 4.5-5.5 so it is acidic in nature. Baking soda has a PH of 9. Full strength apple cider vinegar has a PH of 2.8-3.5 depending on quality.

When you put baking soda on hair it opens the cuticles. When the cuticles are open they absorb too much water. Baking soda is also abrasive which can also lead to damage. Apple Cider Vinegar on the other hand closes cuticles.

So as it turns out, I could have washed my hair tomorrow and it would have been just as convient....sadly I didn't know this until it had been washed today....oh well, guess I'll just have to wait until next week....although sadly with my potential time frame I may have to 8 days between this wash and the next....hopefuly that won't actaully be the case, but it is seems to be likely ... so would going 8 days one time be enough to retrain my scalp on to that schedule or will it be more on the side of every 7 days? I did a sea salt spraying on my roots before this wash here is the air dried results 

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So then ACV would look to be the safer ingredient of the two....but that still doesn't seem to answer the point of would every month or every 2 months be too frequently on my dreads. I know SE said he's not really sure, but it's at least good to know that baking soda is the hash one....I just wonder if it's a bad idea to try doing an ACV rinse more often than every 3 or so months....like as in how bad it would really be on my dreads....as I really don't want to o any damage to my hair...well any more than what has been done in the past.

`if weak, it should be fine

if u got to go 8 every now and then that's ok as long as in general its around 7

Ok, I mean this week it was 6 days instead of 7. By weak do you mean the vinegar is diluted with water, or just not very strong as in the level of basic acidity to it?

very diluted with water

Ok, and would a vinegar soak be bad to do 1-2 months I mean I know it should be more limited but if I find it useful is it that bad iff I dilute 1/4 of a cup in about 13 gallons of water or so (I plan to use a bucket about that size for this soak)?

oh yea that's plenty diluted ..if you feel you need it that often but if you do need it that often changing shampoos is probly worthwhile

I did the deep clean that often because they always felt like my hiar was refreshed afterwords, that's kinda why I'm wondering if I could do the vinegar rinses every 1-2 months, cause it would help sort of refresh my hair if you will. So it may be ok to do them on the 1-2 month time frame then? I may not always dilute it with 13 gallons of water, but that may be what I'm doing this first time.