IS HARD WATER HURTING YOUR SKIN?
Your counter is cluttered with skin detoxes, moisturizers, anti-wrinkle creams, soaps, masks, and sprays. You take skin care seriously, and you know just how important healthy, hydrated skin is! But no matter what you’re putting on top of your skin, a healthy, youthful glow might be coming down to the water you’re starting with.
The Hard Effects of Mineralized Water
Hard water may seem like a misnomer, water is liquid, how could it be hard? Water is “hard” when it contains dissolved minerals, like magnesium, calcium, and iron. These minerals like to bind with soap particles, which makes it difficult to get a proper lather, and even more difficult to rinse fully clean. This leads to overuse of detergents and soaps, as well as a slimy, sticky, itchy residue left on your skin and hair after you’ve washed.
It would be difficult to determine how hard your water is based solely on how sticky or itchy your skin feels, partly because you’ve become accustomed to how you feel in your own skin! A few other indicators of hard water include:
- Dull, lifeless, heavy hair
- Clogged pores
- Soap scum/white residue on tubs, shower doors, and fixtures
- Reduced water pressure in shower head
- Staining on dishes and
laundry
If you’ve noticed a few of these issues in your home, it means that hard water is building up on your appliances, hair, and even your skin. In the same way hard water clogs your shower head, it’s been clogging your pores and leaving your skin dry. As you know, the key to youthful skin is proper hydration. It doesn’t matter how much moisturizer you put on, it can’t make your skin young and dewy when it’s sitting on a layer of soap scum.
According to an article at YouBeauty.com, some of the more common impurities found in both municipal and tap water (iron and magnesium) actually aid in the forming of free radicals. As any beauty blogger, esthetician, or skin aficionado will tell you, free radicals accelerate the aging process.
The damage done by free radicals can result in the premature forming of fine lines and wrinkles, and break down collagen, causing your skin to lose elasticity.
Uncrease your brow, there’s a solution!
Skin Care
Clean water cleans better! Installing a softener in your home’s water system means you’ll be cleaning your home, laundry, and skin in cleaner water. Clean water reacts better with soaps and detergents, and rinses clean! No more residue = No more staining = No more itchiness = Healthier skin, hair, nails, and home!
Don’t be so hard on yourself, your water has been doing that for years! It’s time to make a gentle change to soft water!
Squeaky Doesn’t Mean Clean
Rubadub dub, leave the soap in the tub!
You’ve likely grown
accustomed to the squeaky clean feeling you get straight out of the shower.
After using your favorite soap… Maybe a lot of it… you emerge to the
ubiquitous squeak.
What if I told you that squeak is soap scum, not cleanliness?
You’re now covered in a layer of soap and dead skin, which not only leaves you itchy and your skin prematurely aging, but the dead skin that didn’t wash away could quickly begin to smell.
After your first few
washes in soft water, you may feel uncomfortably not squeaky clean. In fact, you might feel slippery. Velvety. This
is what happens when your natural, healthy body oils aren’t scrubbed away and
when you aren’t covered in a sticky layer of soap!
Those natural oils aren’t responsible for clogging your pores or leaving you
greasy, soap was more likely the culprit then. Natural oils keep your skin
supple, soft, and youthful! While it may take a little getting used to it, it
would be hard to turn back once you’ve felt the difference!
Conditions and Conditioners
If you’ve been suffering a skin condition like eczema, dandruff, or psoriasis, it’s likely that your water isn’t doing you any favors. While soft water can’t cure any chronic or congenital skin issues, it doesn’t worsen the issue like mineralized water can.
Hard water can aggravate skin conditions, while making it more difficult for your skin conditioners to work effectively. Using clean, soft water can reduce exacerbations, giving your skin and body a real chance to heal.
Is a Water Softener Right for You?
If you’re plagued by skin and hair issues, stained laundry, smelly dishes, and clogged fixtures, or if you have concerns about what hard water may be doing to your appliances, it’s time to make the call. Water testing is available to diagnose the level of hardness in your water, and identify any other environmental toxins or additives you may like to address.