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View Full Version : Water hardness and humidity make a huge difference!



ravenreed
July 10th, 2014, 06:37 PM
I went on a 10 day road trip from New Mexico to Southern California. I went from very low humidity and hard water to 85% humidity and much softer water. My hair behaved completely differently. First of all, it felt much less coarse than it normally does, which surprised me. It was also incredibly frizzy, almost curly looking. I forgot how my hair reacts when there is actual moisture in the air! It took only a day or two of being back home for my hair to feel 'normal.' I was able to keep using my normal CO routine, but my hair was feeling strangely by the end of the trip. I can see where both water hardness and humidity are a huge factor in sorting out one's hair care routine. However, I wonder how we could take it more into account when sorting out our hair type? My hair definitely felt/acted like a different hair type on the trip.

Ambystoma
July 10th, 2014, 07:33 PM
I hear you on the water - after I moved over to Australia from NZ ugh, my hair got so dry and nasty from the hard water over here! I use a chelating shampoo every 2 weeks and it's back to normal now but before I knew what the problem was I nearly trimmed a bunch out of despair at my nasty velcro ends.

parallellines
July 13th, 2014, 02:07 AM
ravenreed, thank you for asking the question. While I don't know how to address the issue, I have experienced my hair being wavier in softer water than what I'm dealing with now. Of course, my hair is grey now, so that could be relevant as well.

Nesoi
July 13th, 2014, 02:28 AM
I find this too! I live in an area where solid rock comes out of the shower, pretty much, and when I visit my family in Softville my hair doesn't know what to do with itself. Amazing how it makes such a difference!

pixldust
July 13th, 2014, 03:12 AM
Very good question Ravenreed. I live in a very hard water area and I know it ain't great for your hair. You only have to look at what it does to the inside of a kettle to know that! Unfortunately I haven't visited a soft area for quite a while so I haven't been able to compare how my hair behaves. Would rinsing hair purely with bottled water have the same effect? I'm curious now!

butterfly_dream
July 13th, 2014, 06:43 AM
I find the same as well!
I Italy I live in an area with moderately hard water and I am using CO routine. This way my hair is perfect.
When I visit my family in Russia (soft water), I have to do SC because with CO my hair becomes limp and greasy immediately.

lapushka
July 13th, 2014, 06:50 AM
We've always had hard water, and I never moved to an area with soft water. I use WCC as my method. I need lots of conditioning, mostly due to the hardness of my shampoo (needed because of SD). Maybe the hard water dries out the hair more? ?? Who knows!

renia22
July 13th, 2014, 09:44 AM
When I lived in the Desert SW my hair looked much straighter. Where I live now, it gets hot and humid in the summer, plus my well water is "soft", and my hair is much "bigger". Co washing makes it feel gross in any climate, and I do better with clarifying - type shampoos. In the fall & winter the texture is different as well.

ravenreed
July 13th, 2014, 09:57 AM
I pretty much never forget to do an ACV rinse when I wash and I think that helps combat the hard water a bit. I think the biggest annoyance is how much everything builds up on the hair with hard water. I clarify as often as needed and my hair always feels better after! I have thought of getting a water softener shower head but they are a little pricey. OTOH, my hair and skin felt so much softer that it was shocking.


Very good question Ravenreed. I live in a very hard water area and I know it ain't great for your hair. You only have to look at what it does to the inside of a kettle to know that! Unfortunately I haven't visited a soft area for quite a while so I haven't been able to compare how my hair behaves. Would rinsing hair purely with bottled water have the same effect? I'm curious now!

When I lived closer to the ocean I always had big hair without any effort. I thought it was purely because it was shorter. It took going back there to realize how much humidity factored into it.



When I lived in the Desert SW my hair looked much straighter. Where I live now, it gets hot and humid in the summer, plus my well water is "soft", and my hair is much "bigger". Co washing makes it feel gross in any climate, and I do better with clarifying - type shampoos. In the fall & winter the texture is different as well.

Anyway, thanks for all the replies. I think this may be part of the reason why sorting out wash methods is so hard. It really isn't just your hair type that matters!

renia22
July 13th, 2014, 11:06 AM
This year I'm kinda of actually enjoying the "big" hair too. :)

Nice avatar, by the way, ravenreed. Your hair is very pretty & that's a cool hair stick barrette!

meteor
July 13th, 2014, 12:11 PM
That is so true! I HAD to switch all my hair products every time I moved to a new climate, because old products simply didn't work the same at all, as if it was somebody else's hair growing on my head.


I find the same as well!
I Italy I live in an area with moderately hard water and I am using CO routine. This way my hair is perfect.
When I visit my family in Russia (soft water), I have to do SC because with CO my hair becomes limp and greasy immediately.
Ditto on water in Russia. I only used a mild shampoo and called it a day. Had problem-free, silky, shiny hair without any conditioner or oils over there.
And as much as I love the UK, my worst hair days were in London: my hair was always coated, dull and straw-like, I'm pretty sure it was the mineral deposits in water.

Johannah
July 13th, 2014, 12:34 PM
This is why I don't want to wash my hair in the city where I go to university. The water is very harsh and it makes my hair... weird. I can't really explain what happens, but it's just different.