Can I Use Vinegar To Make Dit Da Jow?

A question often asked is ‘can I use vinegar to make Dit Da Jow?’ the quick answer is yes but their is more important things you should be aware of. Since this is for external applications the type of vinegar used might not be of major importance. White distilled vinegars are generally 4%-7% acetic acid. Cider and wine vinegars are 5%-6% acetic acid. If I would choose between the two I would choose the apple cider vinegar as it has more nutritional properties that might be of more benefit even though we are using it as an external herbal liniment.

What Exactly Is Vinegar?

Vinegar is a traditional food product with a high reputation throughout the world, used not only as a condiment, but also as preserving agent for a wide range of foods.It is produced from raw materials containing mainly carbohydrates in two-stage fermentation processes, where the first one involves ethanol formation by yeasts (usually Saccharomyces species) through the conversion of fermentable sugars (alcoholic fermentation) and subsequently the oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid (acetification).

Why Use Vinegar?

There area few reasons I can think of to use vinegar to make Dit Da Jow, the first is ones religious beliefs, some parts of the world alcohol is forbidden both internally and externally. The second is you just prefer to avoid alcohol at any and all costs, there are plenty of personal reasons for this. Some people develop dry skin which then develops into dermatitis since alcohol can dry the skin with repeated application, and we have a couple of pages that discuss this here on this website. The last reason is cost, vinegar costs less per ounce than vodka. A gallon of apple cider vinegar is around $18.00 and vodka around $21.00 for a similar amount.

Which is Better to Use Vinegar or Vodka?

Hands down vodka or gin would be better as alcohol will extract the herbs better in a shorter period of time. Resinous herbs like Mo Yao or Ru Xiang take a long time to extract so if your Dit Da Jow contains those herbs it could take months for extraction.Generally it takes 2.5 times longer to extract herbs that are not of the resinous nature.

Which is Safer To Use?

If the Dit Da Jow is to be used almost daily I would recommend Vodka as the Acetic Acid in vinegar could cause skin burns. I would never recommend using Dit Da Jow made with vinegar as a compress. One case study I read said a 59-year-old woman twisted her ankle while mountain climbing. She covered her ankle with a homemade poultice made of gauze soaked in a 50-50 mixture of flour vinegar and rice vinegar, containing 4%-5% acetic acid. She kept the gauze on for 2 hours. When she removed it, the area was dark red and partially brown-black, and swollen. She required hospitalization and received a skin graft about a month later.

While alcohol can dry your skin I never heard what was described in the case study happening when using vodka. If a Dit Da Jow made with vinegar is used only periodically and not used as a compress it should be fine. So if I had to choose I would use alcohol as Acetic Acid could  cause problems for some individuals. You can apply straight vinegar on your skin for 5-7 straight days and see if there is any reaction to the skin, while this does not guarantee you will not have some reaction later it is a good test for acute reactions.

Final Thoughts

While vinegar can be used to make Dit Da Jow it obviously is not my first choice, it will work well for bruising and trauma. I would not recommend this for liniments like Iron Palm where it could be used on a daily basis for conditioning as daily use could cause skin burns or irritation. Some of the old school Iron Palm practitioners felt that using vinegar made their bones softer with extended use.

This has been proven in the scientific community and mentioned in various case studies, what happens is when taken internally the various properties in vinegar can leach potassium and other minerals out of the body which then causes the body to pull these minerals out of the bones to compensate for the shortage. This has not been proven when used externally as far as I know but it has not been tested by individuals who use it daily externally.

So if you must use vinegar, try not to use on a daily basis or for long periods of time and do not use as a compress. I would not recommend you use vinegar based Dit Da Jow on children unless you can monitor the area applied frequently making sure the skin does not become irritated.