Nicola Wheeler’s hair smelt like "old biscuits" after she didn’t wash it for seven weeks during the coronavirus lockdown.
The ‘Emmerdale’ actress – who has played Nicola King on the ITV soap since 2001 – admitted she used the time at home to see if her locks would "self-clean" before realising that wasn’t the case.
She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "As much as I love nature, this didn’t work for me. My husband said it smelt like old biscuits.
"I wanted to see if it would start to self-clean – but I learned it would never do that."
The 46-year-old star used apple cider vinegar every couple of weeks, but she had to accept the reality of the situation and wash her tresses before returning to filming this month, after she was likened to a ‘Game of Thrones’ wildling.
She said: "It was all about getting my scalp back to its natural state and every fortnight I’d use apple cider vinegar on it.
"But I’d then get dandruff for two days, then I’d have one day of it looking nice and then it would go back to being greasy.
"So I had to wash it before I went back to work. My husband said I looked like a wilding out of ‘Game of Thrones.’ "
When it comes to being back on set, Nicola admitted it was a "very strange" experience, although she has "felt really safe" returning to work.
She added: "It’s very strange when you come in and you have your temperature checked. And I get hay fever, so I feel like if I sneeze people might think I’m ill and start spraying me with bleach.
"But I felt really safe going back to work. Emmerdale have been really on it and have put so many measures in place to keep us safe."