DIY Fresh Lemon Hair Rinse

Nothing invigorates the senses like the smell of freshly juiced lemons.  These yellow skinned beauties are amazing in the culinary world, but also do wonders for your hair and skin. 

Your hair gets battered in the summer.  Sun exposure and pool chlorine can lead to dry, brittle, lack luster hair.

Every night I go through the same battle.  "Do I have to shower? Why? I am so tired from swimming!!"  It becomes a struggle to comb through the knots of the day and rinse the chlorine out, just to do it all over again the next day.

I needed to find a good cleanse for my blondies so their hair would stay golden and not green. I being the unfortunate brunette in the group do not have this problem, but this solution works on all hair types/colors!

I found a couple of different recipes, but with several tweaks to make it simple, easy and natural I came up with this totally fresh swimming pool rinse.  3 ingredients is all you will need.  You will want to make this ahead of time and then bring it to the pool!

• 1/4 cup strained lemon juice   
• 2 Tbls baking soda
• 1 Tbls Peppermint Castile Soap

With CAUTION mix all ingredients together. I say this because you are adding baking soda to lemon juice.  My kids thought I was making a mini volcano! It is best to mix in a really large bowl so it does not foam over.  Eventually the solution settles and you have a beautifully colored lemon hair rinse.  Now you can complete by using a mild shampoo in place of the peppermint Castile, but the tingle and smell of the peppermint is unlike any other.

Use a funnel to transfer your hair rinse to a clean bottle and pop it in your pool bag with a wide toothed comb.  You can usually get a decent sized bottle from the beauty travel section at Target.  

Now when your kids or yourself are done swimming comb through as much hair as you can.  Then, pour a generous amount of the solution in your palms and rub it from your roots to your ends. Pay particular attention to scalp to remove build up.

Now that the hair rinse is in your hair it will be much easier to finish combing through.  By combing you will ensure that the hair rinse is evenly distributed.  I made my kiddos keep it on their hair for about a half hour.  We drove home from the pool, had a snack and then we rinsed the solution out.  No need for further shampooing or conditioning as the hair will be very soft and manageable.

O.K. so they totally were not thrilled with hair drying, but for the best "after" results (and maybe some suckers) they were in.  I really have to admit that their hair was super shiny and soft just from this simple rinse.  While it does not eliminate showering it does cut down on time and tears!

Love and Tulips,

Nicole from Alpharetta