How water damages your hair may end up putting you off shampooing your hair quite so often. I am not talking about the water in your swimming pool or the sea but about your good old tap water.
Not all water is the same when it comes to a shower. I am sure that whenever you have traveled to different countries or even to a different area in your own country.
You have found that your hair can feel and act completely different after washing it.
We all wash our hair at least a couple of times a week. But if like me you live in a warm humid climate then I am sure that your hair will be under the water a lot more often than that.
How your hair reacts after your shower depends. On whether you happen to have washed your hair in water that is categorized as either hard or soft.
Why Hard Water Damages Your Hair.
What Is Classified As Hard Water?
The term “hard water” was originally used to refer to water that was difficult to work with. As hard water requires a lot more soap or shampoo than soft water.
Hard water is formed when it travels through soil and rock where it picks up high deposits of dissolved calcium and magnesium. Water damage causes a few issues.
But it is the excess minerals of calcium and magnesium and in some cases also iron, copper and lead that lead to your hair damage.
When washing your hair in hard water you may find that your shampoo doesn’t lather quite as much.
Although now a day a lot of times synthetic cleanses such as sodium lauryl sulphate are added to shampoos to make them lather well even in hard water.
You Have Hard Water If.
You know you live or are visiting a hard water area if you find a chalky white stuff building up on the shower head. Or that the inside of your kettle tends to look a little furry.
How Hard Water Damages Your Hair.
As mentioned earlier you may find your shampoo does not lather as well.
The minerals that are in the water will have various damaging effects on your hair.
The dissolved calcium in the water damages your hair as it will tend to seep into your hair strands. Even more so if you happen to have porous hair.
The seepage of calcium into your hair strands will tend to make your hair less elastic. Meaning that you will find that you will find that you have more difficulty styling your hair as it will be less pliable.
Because your hair is less pliable you also find that it will be more prone to breakage
Now if you have color treated hair you will find that water damages your hair as the overall color will fade faster. Or seems dis colored quite quickly. This is because of the dissolved minerals that do attach themselves to the surface of your hair strands.
Most minerals have color. As an example, Copper is orange and Lead a light grey color. So once attached to your hairs surface they will also reflect in light. Because of this your chemical colored hair can seem dis colored a few weeks after it application.
What You Can Do If Hard Water Damages Your Hair.
If you own your own home, you may want to install a filtration system. Or if you don’t want to go the whole hog at least a shower head that filters out all the harmful minerals.
If the above is not on the cards. Work a Clarifying shampoo into your hair regime every couple of weeks.
As this will help to strip away any build up that may occur.
Whilst some people use a cider vinegar or lemon juice rinse.
Because the acidic nature of the rinse will remove a hard water build up.
The Lemon Juice Rinse.
Mix together one tablespoon of lemon juice with around 3 cups of water. Apply to your scalp and hair.
Leave the lemon rinse on for a few minutes and then rinse off.
I do not advise that this acidic rinse to be used to often. Because it can end up drying out your hair.
Another option is to use a shampoo or conditioner especially made for hard water.
Such as the Ion hard water shampoo or the hard water wellness kit from Malibu.
Why Soft Water Damages Your Hair.
What Is Classified As Soft Water?
Soft water will have no minerals in the water naturally. Or in a lot of cases hard water will have been softened at source to remove the dissolved calcium and magnesium.
You Have Soft Water If.
If you live or are visiting a soft water area you will find no chalky build up on your shower head. Glasses that you wash will have a sparkle.
How Soft Water Damages Your Hair.
As soft water has no minerals you will find that your shampoo can do a great job in cleaning your hair.
But due to your hair having a slimy feel you may think that you have not rinsed your hair enough.
Although soft water will help tame and smooth en course or damaged hair.
If you happen to have fine hair you may feel that it is greasier and looks weighed down.
Overall soft water does tend to make most hair appear flat and limp. Maybe because the shampoo did such a great job at cleaning your hair that all the good natural oils have been taken from the hair.
Using a volumizing or texturizing product on your hair can help overcome any limpness that you encounter.
All water damages your hair to a certain degree. But neither type of water is better or worse for your hair.
Some people prefer washing their hair in soft water others say their hair is better washed in hard water.
I suppose it probably comes down to what we are used to.
Yet how quickly we notice the difference in our hair and how it reacts when washed in a different type of water than usual.
Thank you for reading my post I hope you found it interesting. If so and you have a minute share it with a friend.
