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A toner is a very important part of your skin care regimen. Toners help your skin retain moisture, maintain and/or restore pH balance and can remove any dirt or makeup left behind after cleansing. Apple cider vinegar is actually an incredible ingredient that can be used as a toner! You won’t believe the amazing benefits so today let me teach you how to make the perfect apple cider vinegar toner!

In my opinion, a toner should be an important part of your daily skin care routine. Toners are super easy to make and can really give your skin a boost! Whether you are dealing with dark spots, acne scars, the appearance of wrinkles or just simply want younger-looking skin, a homemade toner with apple cider vinegar and a couple other simple ingredients can do wonders for your individual needs.

Your Skin’s Acid Mantle:

First off, let’s discuss the acid mantle. The acid mantle acts as a protective layer on top of your skin. It keeps moisture in and let’s bacteria out. If it is damaged, all sorts of undesirable issues can pop up in your skin.

How does the acid mantle of your skin get damaged you might ask? Well, often times if the skin’s pH is unbalanced, meaning it is too low or too high, this can damage the acid mantle.

If the acid mantle is not intact inflammation and enzymatic activity can occur which can speed up the aging process. Skin that is too alkaline (higher pH than 5) is also more susceptible to sun damage because its protective barrier has been damaged.

Keeping your acid mantle intact is very important and this is where toners come in.

What is Face Toner?

Facial toners can seem to be one of those skin care products that could be nixed if you tend to be on the more frugal side of your beauty routine-which I am. However, toners actually have a very important job when it comes to the health of your skin…

A facial toner’s main job is to further remove dirt, excess sebum, makeup and bacteria from the skin. But that’s not all! Because most toners have an acidic pH of around 3-4, toners help restore the skin’s ph levels. If a soap based cleanser is used, the pH of the skin can become unbalanced. Having pH balanced skin helps the skin to not over produce oil or up it’s oil production depending on what the skin is needing. Balanced skin also helps serums and moisturizers penetrate more thoroughly.

Skin with a balanced pH appears healthier, is slightly moist, looks plumper, and has a healthy glow.

Why You Should Use a Toner:

Not only do facial toners help cleanse the skin and balance the skin’s pH, they also can contain ingredients to hydrate and nourish the skin. Depending on the ingredients in a toner, they can also remove dead skin cells which can help diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and encourage more cell turnover. Also, skin toners can reduce the appearance of pores and smooth skin surface.

Benefits of Face Toners

• Restore pH balance after cleansing
• Further cleanse the skin
• Deliver hydration
• Set foundation if used after applying makeup
• Refresh the skin
• Reduce pore size

Where Does a Toner Fit in Your Beauty Routine?

Cleanser: A cleanser is always first in your skincare routine. Cleansing the skin, whether you prefer oil cleansing or use a soap based cleanser should remove the majority of makeup and other impurities from the skin.

Toner: A toner always comes right after cleansing so that it can further cleanse as well as restore pH after cleansing.

Serum: A serum is used after toning but before your moisturizer and is meant to address a specific skin issue like the reduction of wrinkles.

Moisturizer: A moisturizer is used after a toner or serum or both. Well moisturized skin is a must and should not be skipped. Check out my favorite moisturizer, my DIY face oil with coQ10.

Eye Cream: Eye cream is the icing on the cake if you will. An eye cream is totally optional but can help tighten and smooth the skin around the eyes.

Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar on the Skin:

Raw apple cider vinegar is a result of fermenting apples. ACV is full of vitamins, minerals and beneficial acids. Plus, this natural ingredient has antiseptic and antibacterial properties which is an added bonus when dealing with skin infections such as acne.

ACV also has anti-inflammatory properties which makes it helpful for anyone dealing with sensitivity or skin issues such as eczema and psoriasis.

An acv toner is a good idea because it is a natural astringent and it balances the natural pH of the skin. Because of the acids in acv, it breaks up the bonds between dead skin cells revealing new fresh skin. In the natural DIY skincare world, it is kind of like a gentle, daily glycolic of alpha hydroxy acid peel.

ACV also can diminish sun and age spots and the appearance of scars. 

What Skin Types Should Use ACV as a Toner?

This DIY toner recipe is for all skin types but is especially helpful for oily skin and acne-prone skin. 

Apple cider vinegar returns acidity to your skin and the malic acid in apple cider vinegar makes it antibacterial which is imperative when fighting acne. It also has antiseptic properties as well.

Mature/dry skin can also benefit from apple cider vinegar! A study published in British Journal of Dermatology by Greg Hillebrand, PhD, of P&G Beauty Science, showed that women with an alkaline stratum corneum (the skin’s outermost layer) developed more fine lines and crow’s-feet than those with acidic skin over an eight-year period. 

This is probably because an alkaline epidermis tends to be drier than an acidic one and we all know that oily skin ages way slower than dry skin.

**Sensitive skin types should use caution when using apple cider vinegar. Because of the acetic acid, acv can cause a burning sensation which is something we never want. If you are concerned, I recommend performing a patch test on your inner arm.

Apple Cider Vinegar Toner Ingredients:

• Rosemary Essential Oil helps stimulate cell renewal and improves capillaries, spider veins and blemishes.
• Peppermint Essential Oil helps brighten dull skin. It reduces irritations and itchiness and controls excess oil. It can help to lessen red, blotchy skin and increases blood flow.
• Peppermint Hydrosol adds to the brightening effect as well as the increased blood flow that peppermint essential oil provides. You could choose any hydrosol to use or even use distilled water. 

Alternative Ingredients:

Instead of using peppermint hydrosol, you could use any other scent of hydrosol-there are so many!

You could also replace hydrosol with aloe vera gel or witch hazel.

I chose peppermint and rosemary essential oils because I wanted to create a tingly, cooling toner to brighten my skin but you could use any essential oil you have on hand. Tea tree oil is always a good idea for acne-prone skin types and lavender essential oil is my go to for all skin types. Both have powerful antibacterial properties and are healing and calming.

What You’ll Need to an Make Apple Cider Vinegar Toner

• 2 ounce glass bottle (find it HERE)
• Funnel (find it HERE)
• 1/4 cup Peppermint Hydrosol (find it HERE)
• 1 TBSP Raw (unfiltered) Apple Cider Vinegar (find it HERE)
• 10 drops Rosemary Essential Oil (find it HERE)
• 8 drops Peppermint Essential Oil (find it HERE)

Be sure to shake your apple cider vinegar before combining-you want “the mother” in your toner! 

This is a power packed toner is gentle enough for daily use. 

Continue to Content

Apple Cider Vinegar Toner

Yield: 2 ounces

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Toners are super easy to make and can really give your skin a boost! A toner is a very important part of your skin care regimen. Toners help your skin retain moisture, maintain and/or restore pH balance and can remove any dirt left behind after cleansing. Apple cider vinegar is actually an incredible ingredient that can be used as a toner! All skin types can benefit so today let me teach you how to make the perfect apple cider vinegar toner.

Print

Materials

• 1/4 cup Peppermint Hydrosol 
• 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 10 drops Rosemary Essential Oil
• 8 drops Peppermint Essential Oil 

Tools

• 2 ounce Glass Spray Bottle
• Funnel

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients in glass spray bottle and shake!

Notes

How to Use:

1. Cleanse skin.
2. Using a cotton pad, apply the toner all over the skin.
3. Follow up with a serum and/or moisturizer

Did you make this product?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Facebook

Apple Cider Vinegar Proportions According to Skin Type:

The above recipe is meant for dry skin. However, if you are oily or normal you might want to up the ACV/Peppermint Hydrosol ratio. Most sensitive skin types can handle this proportion but if it’s too much reduce the ACV to 1/2 tbsp. or even 1 teaspoon.

As a rule of thumb I would use a 2:1 ratio for normal skin. Meaning, keep with the 1/4 cup of hydrosol but up the ACV to 2 tbsp. For oily skin you can use a 1:1 ratio which would mean 1/4 cup of hydrosol to 4 tbsp of ACV.

If you are experiencing breakouts and they are painful, start out low. I would recommend only 1 tbsp. per 1/4 ounce.

Shelf Life of Apple Cider Vinegar Toners:

The shelf life of this apple cider vinegar face toner is about 2 months. ACV is very acidic and therefore is not a favorable environment for bacteria to grow. The hydrosol has it’s own preservative. The essential oils are antibacterial so my 2 mos. estimate is a guess but as you can see, you’re pretty safe. However, I like to make small batches of all my DIYs because fresh is best!

Apple cider vinegar can be used for a number of other reasons besides skincare and many benefits can be reaped by incorporating this versatile liquid. One big reason to grab a bottle of ACV is for your hair! ACV can give your hair loads of shine and smoothness when making a shiny hair rinse!

Also, apple cider vinegar can improve your health greatly when ingested. Drinking ACV daily is easy with my recipe for a mood & energy boosting (and surprisingly yummy) ACV drink!

Oh and by the way-I promise you won’t smell like vinegar after using this toner!! 

xx, Jenni

P.S. Download the label below if you’d like to make your own! I upload mine to Avery.

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