Water Softeners....

[Vuvuzela]

are a VERY worthwhile investment. You can find them for around $400-$600, which may seem like a lot of money, but compare that to how much we spend on hair products and it really isn't terrible.

Anyway, I thin they're amazing because within this past week I've moved home to my parents' house (to a town with the worst tap water in the state) from graduating college (in a town with the cleanest tap water in the state). When I took showers at my college apartment, I used the same shampoo and conditioner as I do now, but I also had to fuss a lot with oiling my hair, deep conditioning, etc. and only be lucky enough to have my hair feel soft maybe one day out of the week. Every other day it was dry, frizzy, had breakage, and felt icky.

My parents have a water softener in the house. The first time I took a shower, I noticed a huge difference. My skin was amazingly soft and did not have the "squeaky" feel that comes from using cheap soap with hard water, and now touching my hair feels like petting a kitten, and is virtually frizz free!

[hairspastic]

Thanks for the heads up regarding water softeners! Sounds like a big difference.
I was wondering what someone's options regarding hard water in an apartment building? Anything I might be able to do to neutralize it or something? I'm moving soon and I'm worried I will have hard water. I have had a lot of problems with breakage in the past. Sounds good though! Maybe hard water was part of my past breakage problems.

[Becky Safari]

Thanks for the review, I have been looking into getting a water softener, as I live in an area with EXTREMELY hard water, my skin and hair are always paying for it. Whenever I travel my face is clear and blemish-free and my hair is frizzless

[smileycat]

I, too, prefer showering in softened water. That "squeaky clean" feeling just feels icky sticky to me.

[angelthadiva]

You can find them for much less. I think the one we installed was less than $30 and you only have to change the filter like once a year, but I can't sing the praises loud enough! With this winter, and forced air we are dealing with we can certainly feel a difference in our hair and skin :)

[maus]

We have hard (very hard!) water as well. I usually ACV rinse with collected rainwater (in the winter) or filtered water from our Brita Filter (in the summer - no rain here).

I am wondering if it really does damage the hair, or if it just makes it feel icky? Anybody knows?