new thread
Hey guys,
First off my hair is about 14 inches or so in length and is straight and fine. Now my issue arrives in that I recently returned home from college where every day my hair looked gorgeous. The showers let out soft water that allowed me to shampoo and condition my hair the same exact way every day and every day it came out great. My typical routine goes as such: pea-size drop of shampoo on the scalp and along the part-line (which is centered)for a few seconds, use a small amount of conditioner on the ends, then work my way up and using only small amounts on my scalp for extra volume (I use a volumeizing conditioner) in which by the time I get to the scalp I basically put it on, 4 seconds go by and I rinse thoroughly. It is also worthy to note that anytime my hair goes under the water, the water is very cold. I allow my hair to air dry, which takes about an hour, and then give it a shake and its great.
Now that that lengthy introduction is through with, my problem lies in that here at my home(which is in the middle of the woods and we get our water from a private well) the water coming from the shower is hard water, all mineral-ly you know. I've been home for a week and after finding out that my usual routine at school does not work I am still not able to find what does. I have tried only conditioning my ends and only shampooing my scalp and part but that leaves my hair with a frizzy feel and look. I have tried everywhere from the regular pea-sized drop to barely anything of conditioner and it seems as though no matter what I do my hair becomes a greasy and un-managable mess. My strands look thin and greasy, my scalp hair lays down flat and looks greasy, and it is torture going from having great-looking hair every day to this mess. I've been wearing my hair in a pony-tail every day now after every failed attempt but I wish I could wear it down as I generally prefer that.
Does anybody have any suggestions at all? Is there anyway I could turn the hard water coming from my shower head into soft water at an affordable cost? Is there something in my routine I have not tried that might work? I'm aching for an answer because its quite the annoyance.
Thanks a lot for any suggestions or help!
Rinsing with ACV might help. Take a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar iand put it in two cups of water and rinse with it.
I was just about to suggest the very same thing. I have well water too, and even though we have a water softener (a single brine-well Sears deal) it's still somewhat hard. I rinse with apple cider vinegar and it solves all the problems you described, Mount_Happy.
Joshua
The vinegar rinse is a great idea. You might also try keeping a (dish soap type) bottle of water with baking soda in it to use just prior to shampooing.
Wet your hair as usual with your well water. Then apply about 8 oz or so of the baking soda water. Then shampoo with the baking soda still in. Rinse with well water. Apply conditioner and rinse again with well water. Then apply the vinegar rinse and leave it in (the vinegar smell will dissipate).
I think this'll do the trick for you.
DavidH
Unfortunately the only solution that really works as far as I know is install a water softener. But now, back to reality. I have the same problem when I travel. I have a water softener at home and it's great. On the road, I usually stay at motels and guest houses where they just give you whatever the local water is, and if you aren't near the Great Lakes, that usually means hard water. It sucks if you are used to soft water. I'm surprised your college delivers mass soft water--that must be pretty expensive for them. I sometimes wonder if motels assume everyone has a crew cut and washes their hair with a bar of soap. Anyway, I've also thought about it before and been unable to come up with an easy way to duplicate the standard water softening process with portable apparatus.
My method which isn't great, but in my case I usually only have to deal with hard water for at most a week or 10 days, is to shampoo more often with a clarifying shampoo such as Suave Daily Clarifier, every other day, or every 3 days, condition every day and use a leave in conditioner such as Pantene detangler spray (It may be called Damage Defender but it's the same thing and comes in a pump spray bottle).
This is based on the theory that all the minerals etc. in hard water leave more junk residue in my hair so it needs to be stripped out more often.
Another thing that's important, especially with hair that tangles easily, is that you get out all your shed (loose) hairs while you shampoo before you rinse so they can't stay in and form the hated knots when you rinse out the shampoo.
While lathering the shampoo, don't pile you hair up on top and massage it. Instead, bend over and let it fall downwards. Work your fingers down through it lathering but moving loose hairs down through your hair and out using the slight lubrication the shampoo provides. the more loose hairs that are moved out at this point, the fewer there are remaining to knot up instead of getting rinsed out. Then condition etc. as usual.
This isn't going to give you hair that looks as good as it did with soft water, but I hope it will be a bit more tolerable. keep trying things and experimenting. if you find some method that at least lets you keep your sanity, come back and tell us what it is.
I have soft water and it's wonderful. As you had better luck at school my only thought is go to Summer school.
Kevin
Thanks a lot for all the input everyone gave me. I searched out an affordable GE brand shower head filter that reduces sediments amongst other nasties that get through to well water and the thing works great. I took a shower this morning and washed my hair with my usual routine and it has yielded the results I expected. The thing only cost about $21 and the filter lasts 6 months until it needs a replacement, which only cost about $10. Id totally recommend this to anyone who might have the same troubles as I did, worked out like a charm.
Thanks again for all the advice. Im off to happy hair growing again!
I have a hard water problem, too. Thanks for suggesting the shower filter solution. I just ordered one along with a replacement filter. So I'm set for year!
Thanks and thank,
Stan