new thread
I just got back from a weekend stay at Borgata.
And it occured to me that, for some reason, every time I wash my hair in a hotel, it always tends to look better.
At first I thought perhaps it's all psychological.
Then I thought it was perhaps the hotel's shampoo/conditioner products.
But after posting about this in a LJ community, they suggested it may be because the hotel uses 'soft water'.
Well, is there any way to find out what kind of water my house uses because I swear, I don't want to wash my hair because it just looks so healthy and awesome! LOL. If it's 'hard water', I shall petition for soft water!
You can either purchase in a home store like Home Depot or Lowe's or order online a kit to test your water. Hard water is usually higher in mineral content such as calcium. This is largely determined by the strata from which your municipality extracts its water. However, an easy test for hard water is whether or not soap lathers up with lots of suds. Hard water impedes soap's function.
If you do want to soften your water, you can get a shower filter relatively inexpensively or even a system that filters all the water coming in the house.
Now, how do I know all this? I was helping a friend change out the elements in his water heater a while back. We found heaps of calcium and mineral flakes that had filled up about a quarter of the water heater. I read up on water quality! Further, hard water does cause hair to be rougher and harder to detangle. I do specifically remember reading that. I can't remember all the regions where hard water is prevalent, but you can easily research that.
The hotel might have indeed had a water filtering/titration system.
Its the soft water. I lived in an apt that had hard water then bought a house and have a water softener, huge difference!!
My hair has been great ever since and as it's oily I wash often.
If you live in an apt neext time you move make sure your new place has a water softener. If you have a house then you'll have to buy one and I recommend doing so if you can afford to.
Kevin
Hard water has many chemicals in it that are removed from water when it is softened. Such as Calcium and rust. There is a huge difference between hard and soft water. Most homes here in the States have softners. If you ever see a shower with a white film on it you will understand that , that is what is also left on your hair and body if hard water is used.
soft water makes a huge difference. like having a new head of hair almost. once you get it you can't go back : )
I live in an older house in Ontario, Canada and it had like many houses of a similar age two separate water systems "hard" and "soft". The soft water was piped into the hot water heater and toilet and came from a rain-water cistern. This was done in part to reduce the dependance on well water and in part because people believed that soft water was better for washing clothes (and presumably hair).
Sadly when I re-plumbed the house 16 years ago when we moved in, my wife insisted that I disconnect the soft water from the main system and we now only use it to water the garden.
There are chemical "water softeners" out there, but I have no idea how they work.