Hard Water

[kitana97]

Since I moved to university in the fall I noticed that the water here on campus is extremely hard and drying to my skin and hair. To remedy this, I've been bringing gallons of soft water each month from someone's house. However, as I no longer have access to that water I am having to use the campus water. My hair feels awful. It's very frizzy, rough, tangly, and unmanageable.

I used a cone conditioner today as I thought that maybe it might help (http://www.amazon.com/ShiKai-Henna-Conditioner-Highlighting-12-Ounces/dp/B001E725H4). And it did! My question is: is it okay to continue using the hard water? I'm afraid of having breakage, damage, and buildup of hard minerals. But, if I use the coney conditioner will it protect my hair by giving it more slip, making it less resistance to tangles and roughnes? I want to live on campus next year, but if the hard water is going to damage my hair I may look into other living arrangements...

What issues have any of you had with hard water and how did it affect your hair? What did you do to restore and manage it?

[CurlyCap]

Do you have your own shower or do you have one of those big community showers? If it's a shower for yourself or just two people, you might consider changing the shower head to a filtered shower head. The filter only needs to be changed every 6 months and makes a huge difference.

If you share the shower with too many people, I'd consider starting dilute vinegar rinses.

[LauraLongLocks]

I have hard water here and regularly use conditioner containing EDTA, like almost every wash. I use vinegar in my henna mixture, too, but that's not frequent enough to really make a big difference.

[kitana97]

Do you have your own shower or do you have one of those big community showers? If it's a shower for yourself or just two people, you might consider changing the shower head to a filtered shower head. The filter only needs to be changed every 6 months and makes a huge difference.

If you share the shower with too many people, I'd consider starting dilute vinegar rinses.

I bought a shower filter at the beginning of the year, but had to return it as the faucet was too low and adding the filter would make it so I and other roomates would need to crouch on my knees to take a shower. I'll try the vinegar rinses, thanks :)

[kitana97]

I have hard water here and regularly use conditioner containing EDTA, like almost every wash. I use vinegar in my henna mixture, too, but that's not frequent enough to really make a big difference.

Does the EDTA help? What did you notice about using it vs not using it?

[LauraLongLocks]

Does the EDTA help? What did you notice about using it vs not using it?

I mainly notice that if I am swimming, my hair doesn't feel like straw afterwards if I use EDTA. It breaks down and chelates the minerals so they can be washed away.

[kitana97]

^^ Hm, okay I'll give that a look. Thanks :)

[Ocelan]

I'm also an advocate to the vinegar rinses. They add a nice shine to my hair after washes too and are also beneficial to my scalp (I use organic ACV). I don't know if the water here is really hard, but it is hard enough to leave a chalky residue everywhere so there are some minerals in it for sure. I used to live in a place where the water is really soft so I have noticed that my hair hasn't been acting quite as nice as when I was there. I've also been trying a coney (amodimethicone) conditioner for my ends for the past few months and it may help a bit. We will see if my hair will turn back to more manageable once I move away from here and back to where I'm from.

You might also want to chelate and clarify more often. Just remember to pamper your hair with a nice moisturising treatment afterwards! :)

[Gabriel]

Sally Beauty's Ion line has a hard water shampoo and conditioner set I've been using recently in my usual rotation along with my steady stand by of Pantene Ice Shine. I use them alternating when I full wash. We have terrible water here & the Ion really helps.

[kitana97]

Ocelan, I don't have too much experience with clarifying/chelating. I picked up a sample size bottle and tried it a few times but that was when I was using the soft water, so maybe now it would make an improvement. Also, are chelating/clarifying the same thing, and are there any special ingredients in them that I should look for when I go look around?

[stringy]

I deal with extremely hard water. You need to do a citric acid rinse. (I do one after every wash)

It's the only thing that will directly counteract the hardness. Vinegar does not chelate. Special shampoos and conditioners are a pain.

Do a search for it. It's a powder that you mix into water.

[hennalonghair]

I'm also an aunfortunately I don't know much about it. the vinegar rinses. They add a nice shine to my hair after washes too and are also beneficial to my scalp (I use organic ACV). I don't know if the water here is really hard, but it is hard enough to leave a chalky residue everywhere so there are some minerals in it for sure. I used to live in a place where the water is really soft so I have noticed that my hair hasn't been acting quite as nice as when I was there. I've also been trying a coney (amodimethicone) conditioner for my ends for the past few months and it may help a bit. We will see if my hair will turn back to more manageable once I move away from here and back to where I'm from.

You might also want to chelate and clarify more often. Just remember to pamper your hair with a nice moisturising treatment afterwards! :)

Yes I'll echo the advice of pure organic ACV rinses. This will help with balancing out your pH level while adding shine and smoothness.
Going from softwater to hardwater can be very hard on the hair. Ive been washing with hard water for over 20 years and have found it does leave a mineral build up in your hair. If you have a white chalky residue over your bath and or shower windows, that is mineral build up . Its mainly a calcium deposit and can make your hair dry, poofy and unmanageable. We only just got a water softener this year which adds salts to the water making a huge difference in everything. Before this I use to add either sea salt or epsom salt to my bath water. Id bath and soak my hair in this to help break up the calcium deposits in my hair. Id use about 1 cup per full bathtub of water, then I'd wash my hair, rinse with the shower, condition with a cone free conditioner, rinse, then used a coney conditioner on top of that, rinsed, then ACV rinse.
This should make a huge difference to the look and feel of your hair.

Chelating sounds like smart advice unfortunate I dont know enough about it .

[fluffer]

Minerals cause hair problems, but so do chemicals. My water makes my hair dry and frizzy, too, but the culprit is sodium hydroxide. I had my water tested and we do have slights minerals, but the chemical is more damaging because it is highly caustic.

[kitana97]

I wonder if using an ACV rinse with salt would be beneficial. Unfortuantely, we only have showers here on the on-campus apts, so I can't do the bath. But I suppose I could fill up a bucket of salt water and stick my head into it for 10 min. I have a huge bottle of Bragg's Organic ACV as I use it for salad dressings and cooking, so I'll go ahead and try it on my hair next wash. I looked up the citric acid rinse too. There's an older thread on it so I'll have a look around. Thanks for the advice.

Maybe I'll even ask the campus housing if they can introduce soft water into the water system; it can't hurt right :P

[Ocelan]

Clarifying removes gunk that comes from products and such, but chelating removes mineral deposits such as hard water so chelating is what you need more in this issue. I've actually not done chelating myself, but maybe I should just to get a clean slate after this hard water experience. There are separate products for clarifying and chelating. I know you can clarify with things that aren't actually labeled as claryfying (such as SLS shampoo and baking soda), but I don't know a quick fix to chelating. Here's (http://diaryofahairobsession.com/clarifying-vs-chelating/) more info.

[kitana97]

Thanks. That makes much more sense now. For the longest time I thought clarifying and chelating were pretty much the same. I've seen a couple of chelating shampoos out there, so I'll have to give one a try. Hopefully, between that, the acv, and the coney conditioner my hair will come back to normal.

[FallingDarkness]

So after you clarify or chelate should you condition with your regular conditioner...?

[tanchoulita]

I grew up with soft water and I moved. It's hard water and it created havoc to my hair and skin. I clarify my hair at least once a month and I final rinse my hair with bottled water and I use cleansing water for my face. Sounds expensive but I only wash my hair once or twice a week. It kinda helps. That's the only advice I have. Oh, you can get those Brita pitcher or boil your water before you wash your hair.

[molljo]

Thanks. That makes much more sense now. For the longest time I thought clarifying and chelating were pretty much the same. I've seen a couple of chelating shampoos out there, so I'll have to give one a try. Hopefully, between that, the acv, and the coney conditioner my hair will come back to normal.
There are shampoos that both clarify and chelate. Redken Cleansing Cream does both, which is what I use, and I think Joico makes one as well. I have very hard water and I use lots of products, so it's nice to just reset everything once a month.



So after you clarify or chelate should you condition with your regular conditioner...?
I always deep condition afterwards. Both processes strip your hair, so this is the best time to moisturize. It can be a whole treatment, like a mask or SMT, or you can just add honey to your regular conditioner and leave it on for 10 minutes and rinse out.

[Charybdis]

That's the only advice I have. Oh, you can get those Brita pitcher or boil your water before you wash your hair.

Boiling your water will not remove any minerals; instead, it will make them more concentrated, as boiling will cause some of the water molecules to evaporate while all of the minerals stay put (now in a reduced amount of water). The Brita pitcher will help, though; when I was living in a hard water area, I did sometimes did a final rinse with water filtered using a Brita-type pitcher.

The citric acid rinses are the best suggestion, however, if you can get your hands on citric acid powder. Just be sure to make the rinse very dilute.