The water in my hometown in Louisiana is pretty much as soft as it gets. It even feels soft, kind of silky against the skin. The water here, on the other hand…
The water here is so hard when it hits the ground it shatters.
The water here is so hard that Einstein couldn’t figure it out.
The water here is so hard I got a concussion trying to take a shower this morning.
The water here is so hard it doesn’t slosh, it rattles.
The water here is so hard . . .
That’s as far as I can go without getting pornographic.
You may ask, “What the hell is ‘hard’ water?” Hard water is water that is heavy with minerals. Often calcium, magnesium, and/or lime, but others as well. Signs you have it:
o A white coating on your dishes, especially glassware.
o Having to use loads of soap to get any lather at all.
o Clothing that is so rough it practically cracks when you fold it.
o Mineral buildup on faucets and stains on porcelain.
o A whitish film that builds up on shower doors, walls, bathtubs and faucets.
If hard water is doing that to your dishes, appliances, and clothes, imagine what it does to hair and skin! Hard water can make it difficult to thoroughly rinse soap out of your hair while also leaving behind trace minerals. This causes a buildup of residue in your hair. It can leave hair feeling straw-like, dull, or limp, and your scalp feeling dry and itchy. Hard water can even make your hair thinner and prone to breakage.
On skin the most common effect of hard water is dryness. As with hair, hard water makes it difficult to rinse away soap from the skin’s surface. When hard water comes in contact with skin some of those minerals that cause the hard water get left behind. This coating can absorb a lot of the natural moisture and oils from a person’s skin which can leave skin dry and irritated. The irritation can include clogged pores, itching, and over production of oil. God help you if you have sensitive skin (all three of us), eczema (all three of us), or psoriasis.
I don’t know if the water here is harder than any other place I have been or if the move directly from the super soft water of my hometown simply makes the difference seem more dramatic. While hard water, with all its minerals, is arguably healthier to drink soft water is better in every other way. With soft water you get cleaner and shinier flatware, glassware, dishes, mirrors, tiles, cars, plumbing fixtures, and pipes. Any appliance that uses water is easier to take care of, easier to clean, and lasts longer without having to fight scale and mineral build up. Same thing for clothes. With soft water they are both softer and cleaner looking with brighter colors and whiter whites. Soft water even tastes better, which is why it is also called sweet water.
After a couple of weeks here, when the residue started to build up and affect us, I hit the internet with a wth? First I learned that, yes, all of this was indeed most likely being caused by the water. Moving to Houston there was an adjustment period and the water in Seoul is pretty hard. But it still seems harder here. The water, I mean. The clothes, the dishes, the skin irritation, my hair! I don’t remember ever having such multifaceted issues on such scale before. Pun intended. Every shower left behind so much hair I was pulling hair out of my head by the fistful. It was downright scary. So how to turn this hard water soft?
The most ubiquitous piece of advice I found to fight the residue is the use of an acid rinse – vinegar or lemon/lime juice – with apple cider vinegar being the overall favorite. Both must be watered down and should only be used once a week to once a month as they can dry hair and make it brittle. The lime/lemon juice can also lighten hair.
I should note that, despite its popularity, I could find no science to back up the acid rinse for skin and hair. There is no doubt, however, that vinegar removes scale and build up when used as a cleaner. I myself use it in both the bathroom and kitchen. There were many articles on using it to descale your dishwasher and washing machine or for washing clothes, though there is some concern about its effect on hoses.
A second option, also available at the grocery store, is to buy a shampoo designed especially for hard water. These are chelating shampoos which are designed to bind to metals, minerals, and pool water chemicals in order to remove those elements from the hair. Clarifying shampoos that work to open the hair cuticle for a deep cleaning were also suggested. However, further research revealed that though they are good for removing dirt, oil, and the residue left behind by styling products they are not strong enough to get rid of minerals or metals. Both chelating shampoos and acid rinses can affect hair color if you color your hair.
If you are a baller who doesn’t give a shit about the environment bottled water is an option. But I don’t know anyone with the kind of money that would allow them to bathe daily in even the cheapest of bottled water brands. Using it as a final rinse would slow down the buildup but you’re still talking a lot of bottles. Considering that microplastics have been found in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the very air we breathe, bottled water is not a great option. Of course you could use water bottled in glass bottles, in which case, more power to you. Ya baller.
We went with a water filter, one for the shower head. There are whole house filters and while they are expensive to install (and not cheap to maintain) it is something we would look into if we decide to buy here. While renting, such is not an option. There was an immediate difference after the first shower with the filter. We got the Inkerscoop 12-Stage Shower Filter, mainly because it came with three extra replacement filter cartridges. I ordered it from the UK site as Amazon is not in Denmark. Once the UK leaves the EU I guess I will have to switch to the German site. As to the filter, it doesn’t leak and it is light enough that it doesn’t weigh down the shower head. We’ve been using it a week and I’ve noticed a significant change for the better in both my hair and my daughter’s. An adjustment made, an obstacle conquered. Woo hoo! Totally nailing this expat thing.