Hard water and long hair

[movie zombie]

i see references at times and i know i'm not the only one living with hard water. has anyone found a particular routine or products that work well? not all hard water has the same mineral components but i'd appreciate any suggestions.

movie zombie

[prosperina]

For me, just about anything but shampoo bars work. Currently I CWC with diluted Avalon Organics Shampoo. I use V05 and Suave for my conditioners. I've found diluted vinegar rinses are nice, but I do them for my scalp, so I don't know what they do for hard water, but everything seems to be doing well. I've heard that citric acid rinses are also good for hard water, but I haven't tried them.

[missy60]

I use citric acid and its great for my hair.

[movie zombie]

i'm curious why the bars don't work......... i'd like to get some samples and try though.

movie zombie

ps we're on a well and we've definitely got a very high iron content.....

[Anje]

The soap in shampoo bars reacts with the minerals in the water, causing soap scum. Soap scum in your hair just isn't fun -- it makes your hair feel like it's coated with wax or spider webs. You can make shampoo bars work, though -- you just need to follow washing with them with an acidic rinse. A 5% to 10% vinegar in water solution is good for many people. Have some handy when you try out the shampoo bars. You'll know if you need it. (And some people don't. When my DH had short hair, he had no problems with the results of shampoo bars even with hard water. I'd be curious to see what would happen now, as he's growing his.)

[sweetkandi]

yup, I think our water is hard, and those shampoo bars do not work for me. They work fine for my fiance though, who has short hair lol.

[Alaskanheart]

You can try using distilled water as a final rinse. It worked at my old home which had hard water.

[movie zombie]

i'll have to get organized and get a bar [or some samples] ordered to try.

i tried SO for almost 5 months and was hoping i'd be happy with it but i wasn't..... and now that i realize the red at the end of my hair is actually iron build up, i want it out!

movie zombie

[prosperina]

You should try the shampoo bars, because they are cheaper, more natural and you don't have to worry about throwing away a bottle afterwards. However, even with vinegar rinses, they just didn't make my hair happy. When I get a chance, I'd like to try the Chagrin Valley ones, because those might be different, but I don't have high hopes for my water.

[MermaidGirl]

What about using Malibu Wellness products to combat the hard water minerals?

A number of years ago, I used to rinse my hair really well after a shower/wash with a sports squeezie bottle filled with spring water. My hair was in great condition then, and I'm thinking of going back to doing that.

I would suggest shower filters but I don't think they work for hard water or rusty pipes. I have TWO water filters on my shower head! One of them fits between the pipe and the shower hose attachment and the other is in the handle of the hand-help shower head. I still get rust residue/build-up in my shower and my water, of course, is still hard. I'd be interested to see if I could get the shower water tested to see if the filters really DO reduce chlorine ...

[willowcandra]

I can't use poo bars or sls free shampoos.

I do a vinegar rinse only about once every three months roughly. Or use lushes big as a clarifying sort of wash (that seems to work well.) Mostly I don't really notice any problems but I have had hard water all my life.

I have used a lush shampoo bar called hard taht's designed for hard water--seems to work ok but doesn't leave me feeling quite clean enough.

[peachy.pudding]

Apple cider vinigar it works miricles to remove mineral build up

[Velvetine]

I have strongly chlorinated hard water and after getting a shower filter installed I thought my problems were gone. After using a shampoo bar and alternating every few washes with a SLS-free shampoo I noticed after a couple of months I suddenly experienced a classic case of protein overload (dry, velcro ends) and had to clean my comb nearly every day because of a buildup of greyish waxy scum on the combs teeth. Throughout this time I was using about 1 tbsp of acv in a cup of water to rinse.

It took me about a month of clarifying with diluted sulfate shampoo and avoiding anything with proteins (inc. coconut oil) for my hair to recover. After that I converted to a CWC technique and have not looked back - and my hair is better than ever. I liked the idea of shampoo bars but with my water type (even after filtering) it just did not work.

[DrkAngel]

I CO and do the ocasional ACV. That's pretty much how I deal with water hardness. When I'm really desperate I use distilled water too.