Hard water = dull hair?

[Darkhorse1]

Hey all,
Question--in my area, we have a lot of calcium, lime and rust in our water. I'm wonderingg if this is another contributing factor to my drying ends? I was reading an article about apple cider vinegar rinses, and how this helps remove any harsheness from hard water build up.

Can anyone tell me how this would work? Do you do an ACV rinse after you wash hair? Isn't vinegar drying?

Any tips would be awesome!

[Raederle]

This article (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=56) goes into the whys and wherefores of vinegar rinses. Realize though, that the vinegar will only remove minerals from the current wash. To remove deposits that are already on your hair now, you might have to clarify, or even chelate.

I, too, have hard water. Shortly after I joined here, I got a shower filter, and it's helped a lot.

[ktani]

Darkhorse 1

Hi Raederle

Nice to see you posting!

I have really hard water too.

I find that for me, it does not affect the shine of my hair all that much.

I have wavy hair and it is very humid where I live.

The shine of my hair, from my experience, is more weather dependent.

Since I started using catnip, my hair is shiny in all kinds of weather, but it is more shiny when it is less humid.

[thankyousir74]

I have really hard water too.

I find that for me, it does not affect the shine of my hair all that much.

I have wavy hair and it is very humid where I live.



Same here, I have pondered about the notion of a shower filter, but my parents don't want to bother getting one installed -.-

[Chromis]

Same here, I have pondered about the notion of a shower filter, but my parents don't want to bother getting one installed -.-

There's really no fuss to it and no need to have someone install it! For most models you just screw off the old showerhead and screw in the filter! Then you can screw the showerhead back on. Easy peasy. A little plumbers tape will ensure a good seal.

[Darkhorse1]

I tried to install a filter, but it was a pain with this shower head. I found the minerals kept building up and causing water flow problems. I mean, it's really bad in regards to calcium/lime/rust. I can literally scrape it off my bathtub after a shower, and I rinse my tub!

I got some ACV and will try a rinse tonight --would an ACV rinse be useful in protecting hair against the sun? I'm thinking ph balance might help.

After my mayonaise conditioning, my hair has been looking awesome!! Maybe i needed more protien due to sun exposure.

[suicides_eve]

There's really no fuss to it and no need to have someone install it! For most models you just screw off the old showerhead and screw in the filter! Then you can screw the showerhead back on. Easy peasy. A little plumbers tape will ensure a good seal.


i am gonna 3rd this- i got my from home depot and installed it myself in less then 5 mins my hair drastically improved after installing it. At the time i had bleached hair an the iron always made me have strawberry tones:rolleyes: but that soon disapated an i seen just how white my hair was :eye:. my skins is also softer too:D

[suicides_eve]

o i see that you were having probblems after re-reading every thing. Have you tired someting like Lime away? i did the whole cleaning lady gig for a while and man i swear that stuff works, just wear gloves an let it soak a bit. you might have to completly remove everythign and let it soak for best resaults

[thankyousir74]

i am gonna 3rd this- i got my from home depot and installed it myself in less then 5 mins my hair drastically improved after installing it. At the time i had bleached hair an the iron always made me have strawberry tones:rolleyes: but that soon disapated an i seen just how white my hair was :eye:. my skins is also softer too:D

How much is one? When I last saw, they were about 60$. Have they gone down in price?

[LaCitoyenne]

I don't like vinegar that much, so I depend on a final RO rinse to remove a lot of the junk. I try to remember to add a little bit of lemon juice or similar. My shampoo also contains a chelator, EDTA. I think it's supposed to prevent hard water from reacting with shampoo (especially soap) to form scum.

[jivete]

I'm not sure about mineral build up on hair, but hard water will definitely interfere with soap and rinsing soap. A water filter does not address hard water, since they're usually just activated carbon. You can buy a water softener, but I think they're pretty expensive. My basic carbon filter was $20 or $30. The carbon filters will remove chlorines, smells and some minerals. Whatever will "stick" to the carbon.

Here's a link to an article about water softeners:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question99.htm

And of course hard water:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water

You might check the ph of your water. Ours is really alkaline, like between 9 and 9.5. When a utility treats for hard water, the ph is raised really high and they have to bring it back down. My utility keeps it high to help with corrosion in metal pipes.

[Darkhorse1]

jivete--that's why I plan to do a ACV rinse--I think the water here is high in alkaline. Meaning the ph might be disrupted with my routine. Can't hurt, right?

[justgreen]

I just do a final rinse with distilled water. This keeps the minerals from adhering to my hair as the water evaporates. I have HARD well water, lots of minerals, but no chlorine.

[yogachic]

I have really hard water too. I can't believe how little shampoo you need when you shower with soft water. I've been in hotels, years ago, where my hair felt really soapy, when i didn't use that much shampoo, and my hair felt great! I agree hard water can make hair dull! I wish i had soft water.

[rubyann]

We have very hard water here. I've found that a vinegar rinse followed by a cold water rinse helps seal the cuticle down and therefore, my hair shines like crazy.

[walkinglady]

You could try miracle water. I really like this. I also do a final rinse with a glass of bottled water.

Here is the recipe, I can't remember who wrote this thread but it is good....

I make my water in a gallon water jug right before I get in the shower, I use warm water and add 1/32 of a teaspoon of vitamin c L-ascorbic acid and 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid. I think the key to this is less is more, I didn't want a strongly acidic solution like the standard after-shampoo citric acid rinse (1/4 teaspoon to 2 cups of water). I just wanted enough to chelate the minerals and through trial and error found that 1/4 teaspoon was plenty. I was also worried that if it was too acidic, shampoo and conditioner wouldn't work correctly and that it would dry out my hair.

I based my amount of vitamin c on the information given by the Vitashower company but am actually using more than necessary just because it's too hard to measure anything smaller, lol (and the little extra doesn't seem to matter). They say that 1 gram of vitamin c will dechlorinate 100 gallons of water (but they don't say how much chlorine/chloramine that water contains), meaning 10 milligrams would dechlorinate 1 gallon. My bottle of ascorbic acid says that 1/2 teaspoon contains 2.25 grams so 1/32 of a teaspoon is more than enough. I did test my water with strips I got from the pet store to make sure the chlorine/chloramine was gone.

[jivete]

I like the ACV rinses, but I have to use the vinegar very sparingly or it makes my hair stringy. I can barely use 1/2tsp per 12 oz of water. I only use one every couple of weeks or so.

I haven't noticed too much of a problem with the high ph of our water. But I thought I'd mention it anyways. My hair is much better though since I quit using shampoo. Maybe it was the combination.

[LifeisAdventure]

I hope someone continues to read this thread, because I need some serious help!

Two months ago I moved from North Carolina (soft water) to central Illinois (very hard water) for grad school. Before I moved I was positively in love with my hair -- it was soft, manageable, shiny, and smooth. I changed my routine slightly to accommodate for the water quality (wash 2x per week, shampoo only the roots, condish with cones, and rinse with ACV always; I wear my hair in a top-knot at night to minimize damage and I brush bottom-to-top as sparingly as possible; I also wear my hair up pretty much every day) but the condition of my hair has deteriorated quickly, and that is SO disheartening. Thinking about it almost makes me tearful!

I am shedding constantly and noticeably more than I used to at home. I now see breakage across the entire length of my hair, not just the tips. My hair feels thinner (a loss I truly lament) and limp. It's less shiny and tangles more often, and it doesn't feel the same as it used to when I get out of the shower (hard to explain... it doesn't feel as light, clean, and refreshed maybe?). My hair also seems to snag and break more with any kind of handling, from basic brushing to finger combing to putting in hair sticks... I'm not quite sure what to do... help please??

A water softener or filter isn't a good option for me because I am in Uni housing and I think those additions would violate my lease terms. I am interested in walkinglady's method for miracle water... where do you buy ascorbic acid and in what form (liquid, powder)? Should I consider a change to no-cones? (I did no-cones for many years and my hair just wasn't as healthy, but I'll try it again if there's some cone/hard water interaction happening here!) What is a good method for clarifying or chelating in a 'very hard water' area?

Any suggestions or even moral support would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

[Rapunzelwannabe]

We recently bought a water softener and the improvement in my hair was amazing. I know that there is a shampoo and conditioning treatment for well/hard water at my local salon, I wonder if it helps any

[ChloeDharma]

LifeIsAdventure you can buy citric acid from some indian grocers and i think in the bakery section of supermarkets.
Ascorbic acid is vitamin c, i expect might be in health food shops, otherwise online. I was actually wondering about this myself as i read this thread as i have hard water and although it doesn't seem to cause me much problems, i remember at times i had soft water my hair was amazing. I sometimes use a vinegar rince, usually ACV, but i just started on coconut vinegar....still smells vile though, but i'm wondering if adding a vitamin c rich easily obtainable ingredient might help if the powder is too hard to find.

Out of interest (sorry for hijacking) have you tried a yogurt deep treatment? I find that does amazing things to my hair. Hopefully you'll get your hair issues fixed soon.....i'm sure that they are far more noticeable to you than anybody else though. :grouphug:

[Curlsgirl]

I have never had SOFT water but I have always wondered if it would make a difference. ACV really doesn't help me that much and distilled water is okay but not that amazing. Maybe what I don't use won't bother me :D

[Darkhorse1]

I"m finding a cool water rinse after shampooing really helping with my shine! :) So, perhaps that's the secret? :D

[WavyGirl]

If you can't filter it because the buildup is too heavy I doubt the acv rinse will work either. Maybe you could buy cheap bottled water from you local supermarket to wash your hair with?

[LifeisAdventure]

So I finally scrimped together a few extra bucks (oh, isn't graduate school grand? :rolleyes: ) and bought Suave's Daily Clarifying Shampoo.

WOW. What a difference it made for my hair. Although I did shed a LOT after clarifying (even compared to how much more I've been shedding with hard water washes), I did a nice 30-minute deep condition afterwards and my hair was sooo much softer and shinier than it's been since I moved to the Land of Corn and Angry Hard Water Minerals! I'm a clarifying convert!! :cheer:

Now I know it will take time to figure out an exact routine integrating clarifying, but I'm glad there's some sort of light at the end of this hair-hell tunnel. And I still want to try Miracle Water. :) Thanks for the advice and support everyone!