Water May Be To Blame For Your Hair Woes

Water that’s too hard can cause serious problems for otherwise healthy hair.

Hard Water can come from well or city water and contains minerals like calcium and magnesium. One sign that you have hard water is if your shampoo doesn’t lather well. Another is if you notice “soap scum” in on the bath tub or shower wall. The mineral deposits can build up on hair, causing it to discolor (taking on a reddish tint) and become brittle, while your scalp can become dry and itchy.

Copper poses trouble for blonde or bleached hair, which can take on a greenish cast. Copper algicides in pools or high levels of copper in water pipes are usually to blame.

Water facts according to the U.S. Geologic Survey:

• 85% of U.S. homes have hard water.
• Hard and very hard waters are found in some of the streams in most of the regions throughout the country. Hardest waters (greater than 1,000 mg/L) are in streams in Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Arizona, and southern California.
• The softest waters occur in parts of the New England, South Atlantic-Gulf, Pacific Northwest, and Hawaii.
• Moderately hard waters are common in many of the rivers of the  Tennessee, Great Lakes, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.

Solving your water problems:

Install a water softener. A water softener uses salt or sodium ions to filter out hard water minerals. They are available in both manual and automatic models.

Use a water filter. After washing your hair, use filtered or purified water to perform a final rinse, which may remove some of the mineral deposits. Brita pitchers are excellent for filtering water - plus, you can take them right in the shower with you. (Brita filters are certified to reduce Chlorine, Zinc, Benzene, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Trichloroethylene and Toluene.)

Invest in a “No More Bad Hair Days Kit”. Hair colorist Robert Craig has created a kit that allows you to test your water - even on the road - and use the appropriate products to protect your hair from mineral deposits.

The kit comes with 12 test strips, three shampoos for different water (soft, moderately hard and extremely hard) and a spray on leave-in conditioner.

Simply dip one of the test strips in a sample of water and compare the results to the corresponding colors of the bottles. You can then choose the right shampoo formulated to work in that type of water. For more info, visit RobertCraig.com.

 Good Minerals vs. Bad Minerals

The minerals present in hard water have large molecules that leave scales and caked buildup on pipes, as well as your hair. Minerals in hair care products have microfine molecules that may be able to penetrate the scalp and nourish the hair follicles. These “good minerals” include Silicon, Iron, Sulphur and Calcium.