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Lixie
December 26th, 2009, 07:09 PM
From Monday (28th) I will be visiting relatives in London for five days. I wash my hair every second or third day so I will be washing the night before I leave, but at some point I will need to wash my hair there. I'm afraid I'm terribly pampered by soft water where I usually live so every year, without fail, my skin and hair react horribly to the hard water. My solution to dry skin is to slather on a ridiculous amount of moisturiser, but I'm yet to come up with a solution to fix my hair which ends up feeling dry and coated and tangles easily.

It's hardly the worst problem in the world so I usually wear my hair up and forget about it, but this year it occured to me you LHC geniuses may be able to help.

My usual routine is to CWC with 'cone free conditioner (Asda Natural Extracts - Coconut Milk & Tiare Flower s&c, in case that's relevant) and leave to air dry. As far as I'm aware, neither of the relatives I'll be staying with have a shower filter. I have coconut oil at my disposal and am perfectly willing to buy a new product or two if it will help.

Thoughts? TIA :flower:

pepperedmoth
December 26th, 2009, 07:19 PM
I find a vinegar rinse is a huge help with hard water. I figure, it works for my teakettle, so why not for my hair? I get best results with about a 1:4 apple cider vinegar to water ratio, but your mileage may vary.

Tabitha
December 27th, 2009, 07:36 AM
I found citric acid (sold in little packets of powder in old-fashioned chemists for under a quid) in the final rinse was less pongy than vinegar :lol: I use about 1/4 teaspoon in roughly 500mls filtered water.

wendyg
December 27th, 2009, 09:13 AM
If your relatives have a water filter - eg Britta filter - fill a half-gallon milk jug with it, add a little vinegar or lemon juice, and use that as a final rinse. I found that helps a *lot*. Or buy them a shower filter. :) I have this one: http://www.50plushealth.co.uk/shop_product.aspx?Product=Shower-Filter&ProductID=3945 and it works well - makes a huge difference (and is not expensive).

Yes, London water is ghastly. It trashed my hair for years.

wg

ChloeDharma
December 27th, 2009, 01:34 PM
I found citric acid (sold in little packets of powder in old-fashioned chemists for under a quid) in the final rinse was less pongy than vinegar :lol: I use about 1/4 teaspoon in roughly 500mls filtered water.

You can also buy citric acid in most Indian grocers very cheaply. I've not used it myself yet but i do find vinegar rinses very good so was also going to suggest them, but given how well citric acid descaled our kettle i imagine that would also work well.....plus the lack of odour is a big bonus.
I might treat myself to that shower filter Wendyg linked to though.

teela1978
December 27th, 2009, 02:32 PM
For one or two washes... I wouldn't really worry about it. I'd put my hair up and enjoy my visit :)

Lixie
December 27th, 2009, 11:09 PM
Thank you for the replies, everyone. I think a vinegar rinse might be the easiest to achieve, but I'll definitely keep my eyes open for packets of citric acid in the type of shops mentioned. If all else fails, some cheapie leave in conditioner will hopefully help out. Or it might make my hair feel even more coated and ick. It'll be a fun experiment, I'm sure. :lol:

teela1978
December 28th, 2009, 12:08 AM
One more thought... are you using a sulfate shampoo in your cwc? In hard water areas I really have to use a sulfate based (SLS or ALS) shampoo. Rinsing out detergents (and surfectants in conditioners) with hard water is really difficult, and the sulfate ones seem to rinse off easier than non-sulfate in hard water (at least on me). Perhaps switching to an easier-to-rinse-out-in-hard-water shampoo might help for your London washes?

Bellona
December 28th, 2009, 12:26 AM
yep, what everyone else said. use a sulfate shampoo and try to rinse with filtered water if possible. if not, citric acid works wonders.

Masara
December 28th, 2009, 01:16 AM
My parents used to live in Herfordshire and we got the same Thames valley water. It was amazing how quickly my skin and hair would react to it.
I now live in another hard water place and I've found that a tiny (really tiny) amount of citric acid in my final rinse works best for me. I first bought mine at the pharmacy at Tesco's. You will probably need to ask for it.

Othala
December 28th, 2009, 01:34 AM
Borax in the final rinse. I lived in London for 30 + years and borax saved my hair and skin.

Tabitha
December 28th, 2009, 07:16 AM
This is what it looks like in pharmacies (found online, 85p for 50g). As Wendy said, I use filtered water from a Brita jug.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8959/citric.jpg

Anje
December 28th, 2009, 08:00 AM
I tend to just put up with changing water conditions, but another option might simply to be to buy a jug of distilled water in London. Use that as a final rinse, with or without citric acid.

Mutinous
December 28th, 2009, 10:06 AM
I'm originally from Kent, which is next door to London practially, and the water there is very chalky, so I would honestly try and not wash it if you are only here for about a week or so, if you react easily to different water.

Maybe try some dry shampoo? It's not amazing, but it would save you all this hassle.