Hard water advice?

[aloewurly]

I've currently found a combo of products that seems to work lovely for me: a serum, a conditioner bar, an specific shampoo (natura siberica neutral hydrolate shampoo, the coconut sulfate version) and weak acidic rinses. Thing is, my soft city water allows me to enjoy this routine without my scalp freaking out.
When I travel for the holidays (family duty) I'm stuck with horribly hard water. It makes my scalp overproduce sebum, every single product under the sun builds up like crazy, and my hair smells horrible after a day or two, along with all sorts of issues with uncontrollable itching and flaking. Clarifying seems to help a little, but results don't last and my hair turns wiry and unmanageable. It's like I have to choose between my scalp and my hair.
I don't want to suffer with a painful, itchy scalp (excess sebum makes my fungal issues flare) but I dont want dry, wiry hair either. So, any longhair who lives in places with hard water or visits places with hard water for long stretches of time, I beg for your advice! Bonus points if you have fungal issues ;)

[foreveryours]

I've found ION Hard Water shampoo (from Sally's) and a final rinse using 1/2 gallon of distilled water to be enormously helpful to me over the past 6 weeks since I started "investigating" my own water here. I have had in the past yeast issues resulting from "stretching" washes beyond what's prudent. Been there done that. Now I wash Mondays and Fridays always.

[aloewurly]

I've found ION Hard Water shampoo (from Sally's) and a final rinse using 1/2 gallon of distilled water to be enormously helpful to me over the past 6 weeks since I started "investigating" my own water here. I have had in the past yeast issues resulting from "stretching" washes beyond what's prudent. Been there done that. Now I wash Mondays and Fridays always.

I'm not from the USA, so I'll have to skip the shampoo brand, but I think I should be able to get distilled water just fine. I'll see if I can find a good chelating shampoo, because my clarifying ones were clearly not cutting it. Thank you for your reply!

[florenonite]

Yes, definitely try a chelating shampoo! Often they'll be labelled as shampoos for swimmers.

I also found Nightblooming's alluvial (https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/600148378/alluvial-chelating-crystal-rinse-10) to be a lifesaver when I moved into a place with a dodgy water softener in a city with very hard water, but if that's not feasible for you with international shipping then any acid rinse (vinegar, citric acid, etc.) can help, and vinegar especially might be beneficial with your fungal issues.

[Belgrade Beauty]

Uh, I'm following this thread... I recently noticed the change in water, when I boil it for coffee, it has white residue. I'm guessing it's not good for hair.

[Eastbound&Down]

Is it possible for you to use a bucket method, washing and rinsing with filtered water from a jug with your hair flipped forward? It would be a temporary solution for the time you are visiting family and would avoid the hard water on your hair.

[foreveryours]

Uh, I'm following this thread... I recently noticed the change in water, when I boil it for coffee, it has white residue. I'm guessing it's not good for hair.

No those "dissolved solids" from your tap are not good for hair. They will dry it out = breakage. My coffee maker quickly develops that white stuff and even my ends did, until recently! After showering, they are the last to dry as water slowly seeps down the length while evaporating so any salts in the water will be concentrated at the ends. A week of so ago I was looking at my hair with a magnifying glass and spied "white dots" at the tips of many. After washing though, and now rinsing with distilled water, they disappeared so I think they were in fact just salts which accumulated at the tips while the water evaporated.

[foreveryours]

Is it possible for you to use a bucket method, washing and rinsing with filtered water from a jug with your hair flipped forward? It would be a temporary solution for the time you are visiting family and would avoid the hard water on your hair.

I've tried this. With longer hair, I end up with a rat's nest of tangles. So I never flip my hair forward, always back. After washing under the shower head, I use 1 pint dH2O poured over the scalp so it flows down the length twice followed by 1 quart dH2O for dunking the length. It really surprised me how "milky" the dunk water became which showed me my rinse out of hte final conditioner (CWC) was not very thorough and left a lot of residue in my hair.

[Deborah]

I live with very hard water. After every wash I use a final rinse of about a tablespoon of citric acid powder dissolved in about 40 ounces of tap water. I don't rinse this out. This helps.

[aloewurly]

Yes, definitely try a chelating shampoo! Often they'll be labelled as shampoos for swimmers.

I also found Nightblooming's alluvial (https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/600148378/alluvial-chelating-crystal-rinse-10) to be a lifesaver when I moved into a place with a dodgy water softener in a city with very hard water, but if that's not feasible for you with international shipping then any acid rinse (vinegar, citric acid, etc.) can help, and vinegar especially might be beneficial with your fungal issues.
Yes, I've noticed my hair and scalp really like acid rinses! Specially vinegar. I'll probably end up doing them every wash :lol:

Is it possible for you to use a bucket method, washing and rinsing with filtered water from a jug with your hair flipped forward? It would be a temporary solution for the time you are visiting family and would avoid the hard water on your hair.
I think I probably could! As I've mentioned before my hair just. Doesn't really tangle. So for getting my hair wet before shampooing this could be real useful.

I live with very hard water. After every wash I use a final rinse of about a tablespoon of citric acid powder dissolved in about 40 ounces of tap water. I don't rinse this out. This helps.
I had to Google how much an ounce is (again) but yeah, that makes sense. Same logic as an ACV rinse, which I'll probably stick to because it's more accessible to me.

[aloewurly]

I've tried this. With longer hair, I end up with a rat's nest of tangles. So I never flip my hair forward, always back. After washing under the shower head, I use 1 pint dH2O poured over the scalp so it flows down the length twice followed by 1 quart dH2O for dunking the length. It really surprised me how "milky" the dunk water became which showed me my rinse out of hte final conditioner (CWC) was not very thorough and left a lot of residue in my hair.

Funny how different things work for different people. If I don't flip my hair forward when rinsing my hair just weirdly sticks to my scalp! I have to flip forward and let the hair "clump" that way before I dry, otherwise it's a frizzy, undefined mess.

[Finda]

I have super hard water here and in the past I used to wash my hair with soap. Even with vinegar rinses, I couldn't use the tab water because it always lead to lime soap

So I bought distilled water, warmed it up with an electric kettle and then filled it into three 1,5 liter bottles. With that I washed my hair standing upright in the shower.

In the end it was too much effort for me and I reverted back to shampoo. For years I had a "sticky patch" which I think had something to do with limescale. Since I use more shampoo and make sure it latheres well and gets distributed everywhere on my scalp, also the underlayer, I don't have that problem anymore. For a while I washed my underlayer and the canopy separately. That really helped.

[timiddrake]

If I don't flip my hair forward when rinsing my hair just weirdly sticks to my scalp!


Same with me! I usually wash my hair in the kitchen sink, but yesterday I washed it in the shower for quickness/convenience and my hair is so flat and lifeless right now. I'm thinking about washing it again in the sink today because I can't stand it.

[aloewurly]

For years I had a "sticky patch" which I think had something to do with limescale. Since I use more shampoo and make sure it latheres well and gets distributed everywhere on my scalp, also the underlayer, I don't have that problem anymore. For a while I washed my underlayer and the canopy separately. That really helped.
That really makes sense. I always have trouble getting my shampoos to distribute properly (even in soft water) so I'll try that "washing in sections" technique. Thank you!

[Finda]

That really makes sense. I always have trouble getting my shampoos to distribute properly (even in soft water) so I'll try that "washing in sections" technique. Thank you!

Hope it helps :) For the last two years or so I've been mixing up shampoo with a bit of water in an applicator bottle. Just enough water that shaking produces a lot of lather. Then I can squirt it everywhere I want it to go. That's my holy grail of hair washing lol

[aloewurly]

Hope it helps :) For the last two years or so I've been mixing up shampoo with a bit of water in an applicator bottle. Just enough water that shaking produces a lot of lather. Then I can squirt it everywhere I want it to go. That's my holy grail of hair washing lol

Oh that's genius! I was also thinking of getting a syndet bar, because they lather regardless of water hardness and I can rub the bar exactly where I want the suds to be.

[Shorty89]

I live with very hard water. After every wash I use a final rinse of about a tablespoon of citric acid powder dissolved in about 40 ounces of tap water. I don't rinse this out. This helps.

I use this at my parents but I also add a tiny pinch of vitamin c. I find that if I soak my hair in it before washing and do a final rinse with it after, it works fairly well.

[Finda]

Oh that's genius! I was also thinking of getting a syndet bar, because they lather regardless of water hardness and I can rub the bar exactly where I want the suds to be.

Is a syndet bar comparable to a shampoo bar?

[florenonite]

Is a syndet bar comparable to a shampoo bar?

A syndet bar uses synthetic detergents/surfactants like sodium laureth sulfate or sodium cocoate to clean hair. A traditional shampoo bar is an actual soap that uses saponified oils (made with lye), but the term can also be applied to syndet bars.

[Finda]

A syndet bar uses synthetic detergents/surfactants like sodium laureth sulfate or sodium cocoate to clean hair. A traditional shampoo bar is an actual soap that uses saponified oils (made with lye), but the term can also be applied to syndet bars.

Ah, thank you so much for the explanation. I made a translation mistake, because here we use the term 'shampoo bar' exclusively to describe a solid shampoo (with synthetic surfactants). At least as far as I know. A bar with saponified oils is just 'hair soap'. So now I know why I was sometimes confused when coming across the terms here. Thanks!

[aloewurly]

Ah, thank you so much for the explanation. I made a translation mistake, because here we use the term 'shampoo bar' exclusively to describe a solid shampoo (with synthetic surfactants). At least as far as I know. A bar with saponified oils is just 'hair soap'. So now I know why I was sometimes confused when coming across the terms here. Thanks!

Yes, the terms are a bit muddy specially internationally, so I specified syndet! I definitely dont want to use soap with such hard water. I dont even use it on my body there, because I get rashes.

[aloewurly]

I use this at my parents but I also add a tiny pinch of vitamin c. I find that if I soak my hair in it before washing and do a final rinse with it after, it works fairly well.

This is very interesting! I'll definitely need to try this out too.

[Belgrade Beauty]

Funny how different things work for different people. If I don't flip my hair forward when rinsing my hair just weirdly sticks to my scalp! I have to flip forward and let the hair "clump" that way before I dry, otherwise it's a frizzy, undefined mess.

Ha, I found that for me is better to do it both ways if possible. Front part is easier to access if flipped upside down, and back part is easier if standing in the shower.
I never used citric acid. Vinegar, homemade, yes. It works fine, but I found also that I get better results if I keep it on my hair for 20 minutes, rather than just rinse. And I rarely have the time to keep it on my head dripping all over the house on every wash. Maybe I could revise the distilled water rinses...

[lapushka]

I live with very hard water. After every wash I use a final rinse of about a tablespoon of citric acid powder dissolved in about 40 ounces of tap water. I don't rinse this out. This helps.

Hard water too; all my life, and it somehow never bothers me. Granted, *every* single wash is a clarify (sulfate) wash for me, so weekly. I found that lemon juice (no citric acid available) or vinegar did not do much for me. The lemon was a *tad* bit noticeable.

If I use shampoos with EDTA in it, it solves that issue right there!

[Finda]

Yes, the terms are a bit muddy specially internationally, so I specified syndet! I definitely dont want to use soap with such hard water. I dont even use it on my body there, because I get rashes.

It's weird, though. A friend of mine (collarbone to shoulder length hair) started to use hair soap some time ago but despite the hard water here she has no issue whatsoever with limesoap. She doesn't even use a rinse afterwards. I'm a bit envious lol

I'd be interested to know if the syndet bar lead to good results should you try it.

[aloewurly]

I'd be interested to know if the syndet bar lead to good results should you try it.

I'm pretty sure it will! I only stopped using syndets because I couldnt find a bar formulated without SLS or heavy oils and butters, both of which upset my scalp. But on the cleaning aspect they worked okay, I just got real flaky either from the harsher sulfates or the oils :(
I found a syndet that looks very promising (Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate as a surfactant, and only a bit of sweet almond oil) so when I finish my current shampoo I'll test it out.

[ChloeDharma]

If I use shampoos with EDTA in it, it solves that issue right there!

EDTA is a chelating ingredient ingredient isn't it. When i was dealing with some build-up that wouldn't shift even with strong sulphate shampoos that ingredient was the game changer for me.
I live in London and the water is really hard here. I find that using a vinegar rinse every wash keeps mineral build up at bay but once the problem has developed (when I've neglected the vinegar rinses) EDTA fixed it straight away.

[Jane99]

I’ve read that coconut oil chelates iron as well. Mostly on the web people talk about using coconut oil prior to lightening to help with damage control but I wonder if it’s helpful for hard water too. I use a chelating shampoo once a month and a vinegar rinse a couple times between. Too much vinegar and my hair seems to dry out. Good luck.