It's been a long, long time.

[Lacus Autumni]

I probably haven't even logged in since last year sometime. o.O Probably because my hair has been on a slow spiral downward in regards to quality, ahaha. The water where I live right now is pretty gnarly, just FULL of minerals and other nasties that make my hair feel crunchy and gross. And while I trim (a LOT, it seems), the feel never completely goes away.

Until I wash my hair in another place, that is. Then it's like there's no damage beyond the normal bun/braid stuff that usually happens!

So I don't know how much damage is actually happening to my hair while I'm here in Naples. I'm not cutting any of it except small, at-home trims every now and then until I go back to Canada in the summer. Until then I am conditioning with Dove brand conditioner, no shampoo, and plenty of ACV rinses and oils because otherwise my hair feels really rough.

Oh but I can't wait to get back to my regular routine when I go home Baking Soda and ACV and essential oils... ♥

I'd post a picture, but i'm afraid I'm fresh out till I get back to my house. I will take a new one tonight, though, and share it.

[Tangles]

Always good to hear from a returning LHCer! I too live in an area where water has a lot of minerals. I'm finding that simple cone-free Suave conditioner seems to do the best at keeping my hair moisturized. That's the best advice I can offer right now, since you're already doing the ACV rinses.

[BrightEyes7]

I have hard water where I live as well... I hate it!

There are special shower heads you can buy that 'soften' the water! Maybe look into it so you don't have to live with straw hair while in Italy!!

[Lacus Autumni]

To Tangles: Ahaha, I actually use Suave as an all-day soak! I love it, my hair always feels fabulous afterward, at least for a while. :D Unfortunately I find that if I use it over a long period of time, my hair tends to get really knotty and awful. :/ But I still love it! ^__^ The coconut smell is almost as perfect as any smell can possibly be.

To Bright Eyes7: I have been looking for a soft water showerhead, to no avail. It's just a bit longer that we're here, so I was just going to either boil lots of water at the start of every week instead (haha...ha... It's not a perfect solution, and rather time-consuming, but it's better than nothing), or tough it out and fix it at home.

I apologize... I'm rusty at forums and can't remember how to quote two people in the same reply. >.<

[zen_oven]

Welcome back! We have hard water where I live too, some parts of the city are worse than others. I just try to condition my length fairly often. I just use V05 Blackberry Sage conditioner (no cones).

[gmdiaz]

I have hard water too. . .we have well water.

My hair really doesn't seem to mind it so much but I do think it helps to use clarifying shampoo, followed up by a acv rinse, then follow that up with a heavy moisturizer.

But that might partially be because of the kinds of minerals we have here. Our house sits on solid, decomposed granite. . .kind of pink in color.

I am really interested to try some of the shampoos and conditioners that are made especially to remove mineral build up. There's one made by Abba (a detox shampoo) that supposedly removes minerals and cholorine if your a swimmer. And another one by Zerran that makes a clarifying condioner that promises to be good too.

You probably wouldn't really have to clarify too much. . .every month or so?

Hope you find a good solution. . .it feels so awful to have gunked up hair.

[christine1989]

A charcol shower head filter can solve your hard water problem. You can get them at Lowes or Home Depot and they are easy to put in.

[JamieLeigh]

Welcome back! :flower: I'm sorry to hear about your water problems...our water is hard and we have a filter on every tap.