There is something in the water and it is sabotaging your haircare game, hard and soft water negatively affects your hair!
Water is supposed to be a girl’s best friend right? Well not to get into muddy water but if your hair is really frizzy on the ends, is clearly lacking definition, is dull, stiff, rough to the touch, difficult to brush, fragile and breaking meanwhile your roots are greasy slimy disgusting while clumping, causing flakes and feeling really heavy with build-up on top of that your scalp is extremely dry, experiencing eczema or maybe even excessive hair loss all while your hair colour refuses to stay or becomes completely discoloured, your shampoo does not lather, your conditioner does nothing and your at the end of your tether just cannot figure it out? Well, it could be because of water hardness which can be really confusing to understand which is why most people just completely overlook it or are totally unaware of it.
I am going to share some useful insights into hard and soft water which will help you identify the causes of the issues mentioned.
Water quality directly affects your hair and skin health as well as the function of your products so to develop solutions we need to discover and dissect the problem.
Soft Water
Soft water is water with a low mineral content naturally rainwater is considered soft as it falls however as water continues to make its way through the ground and into our waterways for example tap water, river water, seawater, spring water etc along the way it picks up lime, chalk and mostly calcium and magnesium this is what makes the water hard.
There are a lot of different minerals and they all cause different problems. Water with high amounts of calcium and magnesium makes blond or light-coloured hair brassy. Copper can be found in your water supplies especially if your pipes are made from copper.
Hard Water
Hard water is described as ‘hard’ because of its mineral content. During the water cycle journey, rainwater travels through rock such as chalk and limestone and picks up minerals on the way. If those picked-up minerals are calcium and magnesium, they make the water hard.
Limescale is the main problem caused by hard water. Limescale is a deposit that builds up on the insides of your pipes and appliances and can cause many problems including leaving deposits behind that cause irritation for sufferers of dry skin conditions such as eczema.
Hard water also leaves deposits on your hair which makes it harder to wash your hair totally clean meaning you have to use more hair products to achieve an effective wash.
To put this into perspective all these things mentioned are happening to your hair and scalp in addition to these minerals creating build-up on your hair skin and everywhere else they are also preventing your hair products from working properly.
How do we really know if we have hard or soft water? Approximately 60% of people in the United Kingdom and 85% of people in the United States are living with hard water so there’s a good chance that you’re living with it if you reside in either of the countries mentioned if not you can easily find out about your local water rating but conducting a google search for your location.
The Science
Regular water has a PH rating of neutral level 7, hard water is 8.5 or higher.
PH balance is important to retain moisture and prevent breakage to give you stronger hair with better elasticity it also promotes a healthy biome so that fungus and bacteria will not grow in your hair.
Minerals change the flow of the water so hard water which is rich in calcium and magnesium is usually more alkaline than soft water.
Soft water tends to be more acidic before you think that sounds better keep in mind that too much of anything is not good, really acidic water that is below the PH level 6 can leach metals like lead and copper from your pipes. A high level of acidity corrodes things over time which can also happen to your hair.
If you have hard water sulphates are something you will want to avoid because they can compound with the minerals in the hard water creating a film over your hair that is very hard to wash off, which often leads to this unwanted coating being left on the skin which can lead to scalp irritation.
Filtered Water Works
I recommend using distilled or filtered water separately on your hair and scalp this way you can wet it without distressing it if you have soft water you may be able to avoid shampooing since the water itself can be cleansing depending on your hair type and your scalp needs you may be able to get away with a conditioner only wash know and (Co-washing) or just using a very gentle moisturizing shampoo or co-wash every other wash this way you can prevent stripping your hair of much need moisture.
Switch Things Up!
Products and routine changes will definitely improve your hair but if you find that is not doing enough for your hair and you are concerned about your water quality another option to consider is installing a water filter in your shower head there are a lot of different shower heads that you can look into that are designed to help filter out minerals like copper, zinc, magnesium and calcium that are found in hard water and thus prevent it from damaging your hair and skin you will only need one if you have a hard water supply.
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