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How I Protect My Hair from London’s Hard Water

 

How I Protect My Hair from London's Hard waterrr1

 

I moved to London about 5 years back. When I first sipped its water I absolutely abhorred the taste. Till then I didn’t know or rather didn’t care for different water qualities – hard and soft. Someone suggested that I buy a filter jug to solve the taste issue. And I did. The water tasted so much better.

However, that was not the end of the hard water flurry. After few weeks of my stay in London, my hair was not behaving right. It felt rough and lifeless. Due to my ignorance and inexperience, I couldn’t figure why my hair were out-of-place. I couldn’t link the awful tasting water to my hair. I started investing in various hair products – natural, non-natural, organic. I also tried various hairstyles, haircuts, hair accessories. Nothing seems to help. And the hard London water made every day a bad hair day.

What is hard water? Hard water is water that has a high mineral content – especially calcium and magnesium – in comparison to soft water. Although it’s not considered as harmful for your health, hard water can cause serious problems to your hair and skin. After many washing, minerals dissolved in the hard water create a scaly film on the hair. The result is dry, dull, tangly, and strange coloured hair.

What helped me and what didn’t?

Coconut oil

How I Protect My Hair from London’s Hard Water ?

I was really worried about my hair’s sad state. Just a few years back I had battered my hair with colour and synthetic hair products. I had already lost a lot of hair. And I couldn’t bear to have any more hair problems. Besides, the most annoying thing was not knowing what was causing the hair problem.

One day I accidentally stumbled upon an article on hard water and how it can affect your hair. After two years of showering in hard water and almost killing my hair, I finally discovered the root cause of my hair misery. I then started to read everything about hard water hair. I tried various things. Some worked some didn’t.

The very first thing I tried was Vinegar rinse. I used apple cider vinegar. It did seem to help for first few rinse. When I was about to certify it as my hard water hair saver, it failed to produce the desired results. After a few weeks of using a vinegar rinse, my hair was dry and it looked lifeless and rough as before. After the failure of vinegar rinse I was more keen on improving the water quality. The options available were water softener, shower head filter and jug filter. I have explained how each one of this work in this post:  8 ways to save your hair from hard water.

I ruled out the water softener option as it was too expensive. Also, we lived in a rented apartment, so permanent fixing was out of the question.

I opted for shower head filter. This option also didn’t last too long. It worked fine for about a month, and then the effect gradually started fading off. I was left disappointed again.

I then thought of using water from filter jug for the final rinse. This was quite a success. My hair started returning to its original state – it felt softer and shiner.

This I carried on for about a year and a half until I moved home. When I moved to the new place, I stopped using the filtered water for the final rinse. There was a lot going on, and I didn’t really bother much about my hair.

However, the effect of not using the filtered water showed up. Just in 2 or 3 weeks time my hair felt rough, and I could see a whitish film on my hair. On this occasion, my gut feeling said to revert back to my basic roots – of oiling hair.

I then applied a Lot of coconut oil on my hair and left it over night. Next day, I washed it, and to my surprise my hair felt smooth and soft and even appeared shiner. (buy coconut oil here)

I repeated the pre-wash oil treatment, but this time I kept it only for an hour. And it still worked. Yeah!! Finally!

Plus, oiling your hair is considered to be one the most important ritual for healthy hair. I have been doing this for over 7 months now and am very happy with the way my hair is looking – smooth, bouncy and healthy. No more hassle of using filtered water.

After shampoo, I also use hair rinse to wash away hard water deposits that build-up, as wells to invigorate hair and increase its shine and volume. Plus hair feels fresh and smells great!

After washing my hair, I apply a small amount of jojoba oil, or almond oil, or whipped shea butter to my hair (avoiding the roots). This helps to seal the moisture inside the hair shaft and gives it a lovely glossy shine. And it also keeps my hair manageable and frizz free throughout the day (without using a blow dryer).

How do you protect your hair from hard water??

 

Protect hair from hard water:

Get Shower Filter Buy Now
 

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