Do or DIY: ACV Toner

While I do love beauty DIYs it isn't often I come across one that really knocks my socks off and I'd truly rather use than a similar shop bought product, but this really is one of those DIYs. I've in the past generally found toners pretty miss or miss- they either dry my skin out, don't do anything or in the case of exfoliating toners are too harsh for my skin and make it angry and sore.

When I tell you the ingredients you're going to be thoroughly underwhelmed and think it's not worth trying, as I thought at first as well, but as it's cheap as chips (literally) it's worth giving it a go because it might just become your new favourite toner. Since using this once or twice a day my skin has become much more balanced; not as oily in the Tzone and definitely not as dry and flaky around blemishes which I wasn't expecting. Because it's acidic it restores the natural ph balance of the skin and is lightly exfoliating without causing any sensitivity. I've been using it for at least 2 months so far and I've also found that my skin is more even and less red, blemishes and scars are lighter in colour.

Making ACV Toner

Ingredients:
Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
Water

Didn't I tell you you'd be underwhelmed? The easiness and cheapness of the recipe shouldn't put you off! The proper ingredient is organic vinegar but I couldn't find any and I think as long as the bottle contains The Mother, sometimes called Mother Of Vinegar, it should be fine. 
The Mother (what a weird alien-like thing to call it) is a collection of cobweb-like strands in the bottles of raw ACV and is made up from enzyme proteins, minerals and bacteria/yeast that give nutrition to the vinegar and are able to live because the vinegar is unpasteurized. You can see a photo of the Mother below, it doesn't look very inviting but it settles to the bottom of the bottle so you don't have to use it in your toner. 

I bought a bottle of vinegar with Mother for 84p for 350ml from Asda, for water I use Evian because its what I drink but any bottled or boiled water would be fine.
There are no set in stone ratio measurements for this recipe, which I think is good because you can personalise it to your skin- start off with a weak solution and make it stronger as time goes on if you need to. Research has told me that the usual starting point is between 1/4 and 1/3 ACV to water, moving up to 1/2 if needed and stopping at 2/3. You can use anything to measure the quantities into your bottle (holiday travel bottles are great if you don't have an empty one spare), I use fingers because it's quick with a clear bottle (as in 3 finger widths of ACV, move up by 3 finger widths and add water then move up again).

There you have your amazing ACV toner, sweep on with a cotton pad once or twice a day directly after cleansing and you should start to see some results within a week. The smell does take some getting used to but it doesn't linger for long on the skin, and because the vinegar is diluted it should be well tolerated as long as you avoid any broken skin (like spots you've popped, naughty!).


If you try out this recipe I'd love to know to know how you get on!