Is Hard Water Leading to Hair Loss? 5 Ways to save your hair from hard water

Hair texture is a reason of concern for almost everyone. Busy schedules, hectic lifestyle leave you with little or no time to follow a proper hair care routine. By the time you start following a healthy hair care routine, the damage is already done. However, an important factor that many people ignore is the water quality. Hard water, which is quite common in most of the places in India, is one of the main reasons for excessive hair fall. Hard water makes your hair frizzy, coarse and also dries up your scalp, which results in dandruff. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of the ill-effects of hard water. So, in this blog, we discuss the effects of hard water on your hair and how to save your hair from hard water.

Does Hard Water Cause Hair Fall?

Hard water contains an excess amount of calcium and magnesium which mix with your hair products to form a salt. The salt that is formed leaves a residue on your scalp and hair, which blocks your scalp from absorbing the moisturizer from the conditioner. As a result, your hair gets dry, tangled and leads to breakage. When hair breakage goes unchecked, it can lead to hair thinning. Some of the ways how hard water affects your hair are:

• Calcium build-up doesn′t let scalp absorb moisturizer
• Minerals crystallize on your scalp and make hair brittle
• Minerals in hard water make soap and shampoos ineffective
• Excess minerals block the pores on your scalp
• Makes hair frizzy
• Hair lacks volume, looks flat and frizzy all the time
• Mineral build-up encourages bacterial growth, infections, and yeast
• Makes scalp dry leading to dandruff

Considering the negative effects of hard water on your hair, you need to take the right steps to avoid damage to your hair. The following tips below will help you save your hair from the effects of hard water. Read on.

Ways to Save your Hair from Hard Water

Use a Water Softener : Though there are a lot of home remedies to deal with hard water, none of them are effective removing hardness in water. This is the reason why it is essential to use a water softener. You can use a bathroom water softener, which can be easily attached to the source of water supply so that you get soft water whenever you need. The water softener uses a 2-step regeneration process, which can be easily executed by users without any professional help. The water softener exchanges ions of calcium and magnesium with sodium to make hard water soft.

Install Shower Filter Shower filters are easy to find and relatively easy to install. Shower filters help in reducing minerals and chlorine present in water, which also helps in reducing damage caused by hard water. The shower filters give you value for money; however, these are not as effective as water softeners.

Use Purified Bottled Water To save your hair from damage, you can also use purified bottled water. Many people get bottled water especially for rinsing their hair and saving it from damage. However, using bottled water is not only expensive but also harmful to the environment. Instead of getting bottled water, which is expensive, using a water softener is a better and feasible option.

Use Moisturizing Masks and Leave-in Conditioners As your hair is unable to absorb the moisture as a result of using your hard water, it is necessary to use hair care products that provide proper moisture to your hair. Get a moisturizing mask from a renowned brand or leave-in conditioner that contains jojoba oil, argan oil or almond oil. A leave-in conditioner will seal the moisture and give a smooth finish. However, as long as you don′t get a solution for hard water, using these products will be a temporary solution.

Lemon Rinse The acidic nature of lemon helps in removing build-up from your hair. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice with 3 cups of water. Pour this rinse on your hair after shampooing. Massage your scalp and leave it for a couple of minutes. Lemon rinse increases the shine of your hair and the antiseptic property also reduce dandruff caused by hard water.

Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse Apple cider vinegar rinse also helps in reducing mineral build-up. Apple cider vinegar wash also helps in balancing the hair sebum secretion, thereby making your hair fresh, soft and shiny. Make sure that you rinse off the solution using lukewarm water instead of cold water.