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Adorkable One
July 3rd, 2016, 08:02 AM
I decided to wash my hair with distilled water! I'm so excited about it, I thought I'd write a thread about it!

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about how my water has been effecting my hair. In my research, I found myself being intrigued by distilled water. So, in this impulsive morning, I decided to have an experiment! I washed my hair totally with distilled water. It wasn't easy, as I didn't really plan this out well, and it's not exactly practical to begin with. I did it in a medium sized tub on my small bathroom counter. And I didn't use a cup to pour water on my head. Instead I struggled trying to control a heavy gallon of water while I had my head in a bucket and soap in my eyes. But, I somehow managed. As I'm writing this, my hair is still wrapped up in a t-shirt turban, waiting for it to try so I can see the results. While I wait, here are my initial impressions.

1.) I used a clarifying shampoo to wash my hair: Under normal circumstances, my hair takes clarifying shampoo pretty well. I do it about once a month sometimes longer, and it actually makes my hair feel good. Today, it didn't quite feel so great. I don't know if this is because of the distilled water, or if my hair simply didn't need to be clarified. I'm not really sure what I expected, but I kinda felt worried at this point.

2.) I followed up with a conditioner with silicones. Herbal Essences. It felt amazing in my hair. Definitly worked in effortlessly and felt very slippy, more so than when I do it in my shower. This could be a result of the water temperature, as this jug was room temperature, rather than warm like in a shower.

3.) Rinsing. I had a hard time rinsing my hair due to my set up. But even still, I had a hard time telling if my hair was completely rinsed or not. I couldn't tell if I still had conditioner in my hair, or, if my hair simply just felt really smooth from the washing. Since I used most of my water on rinsing, and almost finished off the jug, I'm more or less confident it's rinsed as well as it could be.

So now I wait. Basically, my goal today was to clarify my hair, and use distilled water in an attempt to wash off any mineral build up that could have been on my hair. A ton of dye came out of my hair as expected from the shampoo, but I plan on refreshing my color anyway.

Now that I'm wrapping up this first post, I took my hair out of my t-shirt wrap. It's still pretty wet, but first impressions.....any hair around my scalp feel amazing and silky. The rest of my hair looks pretty unruly, as per usual when wet. So we'll see what happens when it's dried and I can brush it.

lapushka
July 3rd, 2016, 08:29 AM
Have you ever thought about starting a blog? ;) :p

No, but you can corral all your experiments there and look back and see what you've tried and not tried. It's a really handy tool. It's how I keep track of my weekly washes.

EdG
July 3rd, 2016, 08:39 AM
Great experiment! Let us know how your hair turns out.

My area has very hard water. The water leaves mineral deposits on everything.

I already use distilled water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning my LCD monitors. In true LHC fashion, I have been wondering about washing my hair with distilled water. I expect that it would work very well.
Ed

eadwine
July 3rd, 2016, 09:10 AM
Please read this http://www.livestrong.com/article/372479-what-are-the-dangers-of-drinking-distilled-water/ drinking it can have health risks!

EdG
July 3rd, 2016, 09:37 AM
eadwine - I used to get sick periodically from drinking tap water, and so I have been boiling or distilling my drinking water. I eat a very healthy diet. :)
Ed

lapushka
July 3rd, 2016, 10:32 AM
eadwine - I used to get sick periodically from drinking tap water, and so I have been boiling or distilling my drinking water. I eat a very healthy diet. :)
Ed

Why not simply go for bottled water? I'm a bit puzzled by this. Sorry for the question, but I'm curious. :)

vampyyri
July 3rd, 2016, 10:58 AM
Have you ever thought about starting a blog? ;) :p

No, but you can corral all your experiments there and look back and see what you've tried and not tried. It's a really handy tool. It's how I keep track of my weekly washes.

I've been considering doing this for when I do my different SMT concoctions, so I know which ones worked and which ones didn't. I'm definitely going to check out your weekly washes blogs!

lapushka
July 3rd, 2016, 11:35 AM
I've been considering doing this for when I do my different SMT concoctions, so I know which ones worked and which ones didn't. I'm definitely going to check out your weekly washes blogs!

They're kind of boring, I admit, because they're almost the same weekly, but it's how I keep track of my product-use. I should really be adding how things worked, but if I don't mention anything, it's that the products are *fine*! :)

MINAKO
July 3rd, 2016, 12:43 PM
I only use destilled water to dampen my hair once i washed it and did my acidic rinse. Keeps hair nice and soft. I think any breakage i expirienced before was mostly caused by mineral buildup

littlestarface
July 3rd, 2016, 12:48 PM
I only use destilled water to dampen my hair once i washed it and did my acidic rinse. Keeps hair nice and soft. I think any breakage i expirienced before was mostly caused by mineral buildup

That's how I use it too.

My water in this part of cali is so nasty, so yup I feel you EdG.

eadwine
July 3rd, 2016, 01:13 PM
I hear you guys, back when I was in SLC Utah.. bleeeh. We had one of those large dispensers, those guys who it was rented from brought a new "tank" every week if I remember correctly.

cathair
July 3rd, 2016, 01:22 PM
I'm kind of curious how you get hold of distilled water or if you make it? The only place I know you can buy it from car shops to use it car batteries :S Or are we actually taking filtered water?

eadwine
July 3rd, 2016, 01:27 PM
Over here you can get it at the supermarket. It is usually found with the laundry stuff as you can use it in your iron.

littlestarface
July 3rd, 2016, 01:34 PM
I'm kind of curious how you get hold of distilled water or if you make it? The only place I know you can buy it from car shops to use it car batteries :S Or are we actually taking filtered water?

Here in usa it's sold where the bottle water is sold. They have spring, distilled, club soda etc

cathair
July 3rd, 2016, 01:47 PM
Thanks for the replies, that's interesting :) I've never seen it here, but perhaps I've missed it. We having ironing water that has a scent added, but nothing plain that I recall. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

lapushka
July 3rd, 2016, 01:54 PM
Over here you can get it at the supermarket. It is usually found with the laundry stuff as you can use it in your iron.

Since my mom got a dryer that churns out distilled water (from the laundry moisture), she hasn't had to buy it. It's one of those condenser dryers, I believe (yeah, don't ask me). She filters it through a coffee filter (to get the fuzzies out, doesn't want that in her iron filter) and then it is ready for the containers (3 huge empty containers from previous distilled water, kept, always useful).

butterfly_dream
July 3rd, 2016, 02:39 PM
I use distilled water mixed with glycerin(2%) to dampen my hair between washes and do my distilled water rinse after every shower. This routine helps my hair to stay silky and tangle free. We have a really hard water here.

Wildcat Diva
July 3rd, 2016, 02:46 PM
Did you guys ever hear about miracle water on here? I've been too lazy to do it, but I might try again sometime.

Wildcat Diva
July 3rd, 2016, 02:48 PM
This might be of interest.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=128756&highlight=Miracle+water

EdG
July 3rd, 2016, 03:42 PM
Why not simply go for bottled water? I'm a bit puzzled by this. Sorry for the question, but I'm curious. :)I have used bottled drinking water in the past, but I got tired of refilling the heavy bottles.


I'm kind of curious how you get hold of distilled water or if you make it? The only place I know you can buy it from car shops to use it car batteries :S Or are we actually taking filtered water?I use a counter-top water distiller (https://www.amazon.com/Nutriteam-Countertop-Water-Distiller-Collection/dp/B00026F9F8).

They used to be sold in stores before under-the-sink filters became popular. Now, they are available only on the Internet.
Ed

Adorkable One
July 4th, 2016, 05:56 AM
Okay. Update. So, I have to admit....my hair does feel pretty amazing, and I think I can really attribute this to the distilled water. How does it look? Eh, pretty below average. I didn't notice anything special in terms of appearance. I suppose it does have a nice shine under certain light. How my hair feels though is the biggest difference I notice. My hair feels a lot lighter and fluffier and very soft. It's not tangly, crunchy or rough like how it would normally be. The hair around my face is particularly porous, and thus often has a weird, dry texture. Imagine how hair feels when you brush out hardened hair spray. That's how the hair around my face often feels. That's not the case today though. I even had a hard time keeping it up because it kept slipping. My bun kept falling apart and I unfortunately only had one hair stick on hand. If it wasn't for the fact that I have bleach damaged hair, I bet my hair would look amazing. But, I'm a poof ball. Lol.

Here is a picture of how my hair looked by the end of the night in case anyone was curious. This is air-dried, with zero product or oils of any kind, with bun waves. And yes, my colors are very faded. Lol. I avoided product usage because I will be refreshing my color. :P So yeah...appearances are nothing to rave over. This is pretty typical for my hair in the nude after being clarified.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa477/Trancedelic1/13603228_10208496307417944_1781542510592421567_o.j pg

My conclusion? Well, yes, there is a notable difference between using hard water and distilled water. Am I about to wash my hair exclusively with distilled water? No. I mean, that's just impractical and expensive in my opinion. But, I might consider using it as a rinse and seeing how that goes. I bet this would be wonderful for weeks where I cowash and don't use shampoo.

Lastly, now that my hair has been super cleaned basically, after I re-do my color, I plan on seeing how long I can go without having to wash my hair. If my hair has truly been cleared of any mineral build up, I suspect I should be able to go longer without washing my hair. We'll see if there's a difference in that.

Adorkable One
July 4th, 2016, 05:59 AM
Did you guys ever hear about miracle water on here? I've been too lazy to do it, but I might try again sometime.

I haven't heard of miracle water, but I will be reading up on that! :D I want to try that some time as well. I also want to try an ACV rinse too. I have a bottle in my pantry that I bought for doing a rinse...but....I've been lazy too, and I'm worried of it ruining my color. Lol.

lapushka
July 4th, 2016, 08:00 AM
I have used bottled drinking water in the past, but I got tired of refilling the heavy bottles.

Over here they're plastic. Not many brands still have the glass bottles (I don't think it's around anywhere my mom shops, not Aldi, Lidl, Colruyt or the local grocer (I'm in Belgium)).

Wildcat Diva
July 4th, 2016, 09:31 AM
Yes, they are plastic, but five gallons of filtered water itself is heavy. I just came from the water dispenser self serve machine (it's standing alone on the far end of a grocery store parking lot.). You bring your own jugs. This is filtered, not distilled.
, and when you spend $1 you get a gallon free, as single gallons in your own container are .25 here.

I use a two gallon jug and three seperate gallon jugs. This is for drinking and cooking, tastes better than city water. I would use it to rinse my hair too, if I wanted to take the trouble now and again. I DO get mineral build up badly (despite very regular chleating/ clarifying... and the tangles make my hair not enjoyable to own lol.

EdG
July 4th, 2016, 09:37 AM
lapushka - I used to use five-gallon plastic bottles (http://www.homedepot.com/p/ORE-International-5-gal-Water-Bottle-in-Clear-WS50GH-48/206022555). I filled them at a nearby store that sold filtered water.

Now, I use the counter-top distiller.

Adorkable One - maybe I will try water-only with distilled water. :)
Ed

littlestarface
July 4th, 2016, 11:19 AM
Yes, they are plastic, but five gallons of filtered water itself is heavy. I just came from the water dispenser self serve machine (it's standing alone on the far end of a grocery store parking lot.). You bring your own jugs. This is filtered, not distilled.
, and when you spend $1 you get a gallon free, as single gallons in your own container are .25 here.

I use a two gallon jug and three seperate gallon jugs. This is for drinking and cooking, tastes better than city water. I would use it to rinse my hair too, if I wanted to take the trouble now and again. I DO get mineral build up badly (despite very regular chleating/ clarifying... and the tangles make my hair not enjoyable to own lol.

Here in cali it's 1.30 to fill up the 5 gallon jugs, we used to have to do that when we had no money for the alhambra guy, I hated it those jugs are freaking heavy.

red-again
July 4th, 2016, 03:50 PM
Thanks for the replies, that's interesting :) I've never seen it here, but perhaps I've missed it. We having ironing water that has a scent added, but nothing plain that I recall. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.



You can get it in 5l bottles in halfords. Or you can buy water distillers. I've seen it in sipermarkets with bottled water but it is always super expensive