Hard water can damage your hair and the mineral heavy water can change how your hair products work too. With even regular water causing damage to your hair, here’s how to minimise the effects and the signs you should be looking out for.

WHAT IS HARD WATER?

1.Hard water is water with a high mineral content, usually calcium and magnesium.

2.Soft water is the term we give to water that has a low to normal mineral content.

3.It’s said that drinking hard water can be slightly better for you but it’s not any better for your hair and it can be quite damaging.

AT HOME TEST FOR HARD WATER

Here’s another way you can test if you have hard water at home. Take a little bit of water and put in some shampoo (or just soap) and give it a good stir. You want to see how much foam builds up.

If you have soft water, you’ll get a lot of froth and foam but in hard water it’s very difficult to get soap to lather.

WHAT DOES HARD WATER DO TO YOUR HAIR?

Hard water opens up the cuticle of your hair and can cause your hair to feel rough and get tangled more easily. It also leaves more mineral deposits in your hair which can leave your hair feeling dry and knotty.

HOW TO REPAIR HAIR THAT’S BEEN DAMAGE BY HARD WATER

There are special shampoos called chelating shampoos. These particular clarifying shampoos bind to the minerals and strip them out of your hair.

Chelating shampoos are very strong cleaners and you should only use them once a month, but I do recommend them if you live in a hard water area to remove any mineral deposits from your hair.

I also recommend a regular clarifying or detox shampoo once a week / once a fortnight depending on how often you’re washing your hair.