The quest for a hard water shampoo

Frequent showering in hard water can have a similar effect on your hair to regular swimming, including an unpleasant greenish sheen to blonde hair, and a general dry and brittle feel to all hair types and colours. This nasty business is due to mineral build-up on your hair, and this article explores the way to combat the issue with shampoo.

So, what should you look out for when shopping for a shampoo to use in hard water areas?

Look for shampoos with Cocamidopropyl Betaine in. This yellowish transparent liquid foams up easily to help give you clean, soft hair. It has anti-static properties and is praised for being a good anti-hard water surfactant; this is because the minerals that are in hard water don’t stop it being able to foam up and give your hair a good clean.

Swimmers’ shampoos are available, and they are designed to rid your hair of chemicals, so you may find them useful when washing in hard water. What else should you know?

We all know that over-washing our hair is not good for it, but many of us shampoo our hair every single day, and feel unsure about how often we should be doing so. New York stylist Nick Arrojo recommends shampooing hair just three or four times a week, speculating that people who wash every day simply do so for the fragrance. He recommends that if you must wash your hair each day, you should use a lightweight shampoo.

As reported by WebMD, dermatologist and specialist in hair research Paradi Mirmirani MD, said: “Hair is a fibre. Think of a wool fibre: the more you wash it, the worse it’s going to look. There’s no need to wash your hair every day either.”

As a general rule, WebMD advises that the longer, curlier, thicker and more processed your hair, the longer you can leave it between washes.

While lightweight – or ‘everyday’ – shampoos may be a kinder choice for your hair, they may not be much help if you’re dealing with hard water that leaves mineral deposits in your hair. Perhaps another compelling reason install a water softener in your home?

If you have hard water in your home, it could affect the lifetime of your household appliances due to a build-up of limescale over time. Water softeners remove minerals from your water supply and drastically reduce the amount of limescale in your home. Find out more about the effects of hard water.

Hard Water Damage – Limescale build-up from hard water can badly hurt your home – Find Out Why