Sometimes, common things you keep in your pantry can have superpowers. While apple cider vinegar sounds yummy, it can also be a substitute for some (expensive) beauty treatments, dietary aids, household cleaners, and even health tonics.
Of course, apple cider vinegar is delicious on salads and can be a tangy ingredient in some drinks (if you’re looking for new beverages to try with this wonder-vinegar, EveryDayRoots.com has a great recipe). Let’s look at eight of the do-it-yourself uses of apple cider vinegar…
1. Make Household Cleaner
If you’re looking to scrub those tiles and kill nasty bacteria without that “chemical burn” smell from bleach or ammonia (don’t mix those two things), then apple cider vinegar might be the affordable cleaning assistant you’ve been looking for.
SFGate explains how to use this kind of vinegar to tackle your home’s hygiene. The site notes that apple cider vinegar might not be quite as powerful as bleach, but it lifts dirt and kills bacteria that can make you sick. SFGate suggests using a diluted mixture of 1-cup of ACV (which is how we’re going to refer to apple cider vinegar from here on) to 1-gallon of water to clean without a high risk to any surface damage from acidity.
2. Eliminate Household Pests
If you’re looking for a non-toxic way to get rid of pesky fruit flies in your home, apple cider vinegar is up to the job. OrganicLesson.com has a host of commercial solutions to rid your abode of annoying little flying things, but it also has a more natural way to pulverize pests (as you’d expect from a website with this name).
The site says to collect some apple cider vinegar, sugar, dish soap and water. Mix 2-tablespoons of the vinegar, 1-tablespoon of sugar, “a few drops” of the soap, and 1-liter (about a quarter of a U.S. gallon) of water. Mix it up and leave it near the infestation for them party in. The sweet smell will lure them, and the soap will do the dirty work, so to speak.
3. Soothe a Sore Throat
You’ve probably tried salt water and baking soda in water to put the fire out in your throat, but it may not have worked. HomeRemediesForLife.com has, well, some home remedies, and one is a DIY treatment for a sore throat in a way that utilizes this wonderful vinegar to tackle a burning esophagus.
ACV will help kill the bacteria that are the source of the pain, while the PH balance of the vinegar will help prevent the bacteria from returning. Also, this from the source: “Raw ACV contains prebiotic inulin which increases the white blood cells and T cells count and strengthens your immune system.” So there’s that.
4. Create a Zit Remedy
If you’re targeting pimples on your face and losing the war, perhaps it’s time to call in the cavalry that is ACV. SheKnows.com said instead of popping pimples before prom (ew), try ACV to kill off the bacteria and reduce inflammation associated with acne.
The site does warn that ACV carries a pretty distinct smell, so it might be best to apply it at night before bedtime. This may help the application from being diluted by sweat or washed away in daily hygiene routines. Start with a small amount first to watch for any skin reactions.
5. Speed Up Exercise Recovery
Hitting the gym or the trails causes lactic acid to build up in your muscles, which gives you a tired feeling. Apparently the amino acids present in ACV counteract the effects from lactic acids (or more accurately, the negatively-charged ion called lactate) produced during prolonged activity.
While it turns out that lactic acid versus lactate is being heavily discussed around the interweb, we’ll stick to the benefits of ACV instead of writing a health paper on acids produced from exercise. Livestrong.com notes a tablespoon of raw ACV even before exercise can help prevent cramps and produce more energy.
6. Mix a Cleansing Conditioner
You’re probably dumping a lot of product into your hair during showers, from shampoos to conditioners to other strange products you bought on a whim from a random health store near the cottage. SheKnows.com says actress Jessica Alba swears by ACV as a way to remove all these unknown chemicals from her hair, and we know Jessica knows best.
Dr. Oz, the television medical personality, backs up Jessica Alba’s claim. His website even has an ACV hair rinse recipe, which consists of 1-cup of water and 2-tablespoons of the vinegar (or as much as needed). You then pour the mixture over your hair and rinse it out. Done!
7. Battle Yeast Infections
The very sound of these two words together will send many women into a panic, but apparently ACV can help with this too. There are several ways to use ACV for this purpose: one way, as detailed by MyHealthTips.in, is to create a cleansing product that treats the source with 3-tablespoons of ACV in distilled water.
Less direct ways to use ACV for this purpose is to drink a glass of warm water with 1 or 2-tablespoons of vinegar added, repeating up to 3-times per day. You can also add 2-cups of ACV to your (warm) bath water (the aforementioned website link will give you more details about this method).
8. Calm an Upset Stomach
If you have heartburn or indigestion, it’s ACV to the rescue again. The antibiotic and pectin will help soothe your upset tummy, as well as aid in digestion. A website called Rubies and Radishes also has ACV as an ingredient in a “digestion mocktail” recipe.
The concoction calls for 2-tablespoons of ACV with a tablespoon of ginger water and lemon juice mixed with sparkling water. Apparently it’s so good that the author of the blog cured her husband’s hangover and had him craving ice cream by day’s end.
