Types of water damage to hair.

Did you know that different types of water can impact the health of your hair and lead to damage? Chlorinated, salt, hard, and soft water are all different and when they come in contact with hair it causes varying responses regardless of hair type. 
Here will discuss how each water type impacts the hair and how to possibly keep it from damage. 

 

1. Hard Water: When hard water interacts with hair it causes hair to become dry and frizzy resulting in dry scalp and dandruff. This is so because hard water contains a high amount of magnesium and calcium. When these properties interact with your hair products it forms salt on the hair shaft and scalp. When this salt is formed it tends to cause a residue that acts as a coating. This coating blocks your scalp and hair from absorbing the moisturizing nutrients from your conditioner which quickly leads to your hair becoming dry, brittle, knotted and ultimately breakage occurs. When hair breakage is not quickly addressed and treated it further leads to thinning especially when you continue to use hard water on your hair.

In essence with the continuous use of hard water you will experience continuous calcium buildup that blocks moisture, causes mineral crystallization on the scalp, shampoos, and conditioners becoming ineffective as a result of the minerals present within hard water, blocked scalp pores, frizzy hair, limited hair volume, and possible bacterial growth because of mineral buildup.

Hard water is often present in homes and would need the help of a filter that produces soft water. Shower filters help to significantly remove minerals within the water that causes it to be hard and bring fort damage to your hair. You can also use a chelating shampoo designed specifically to remove build-up from hard water on hair. 

 

2. Chlorinated Water: Most people have more knowledge of chlorine causing hair damage than hard water. It is true when chlorinated water interacts with hair it is exposed to chemicals that strip the hair of its natural oils causing it to be dry and brittle. The color of your hair is also likely to change after continuous exposure to chlorinated water. The chlorine weakens the strands of the hair resulting in split ends and overall hair damage. 

There are many steps you can take to help limit the effects of chlorine water damage to your hair. These include:

 

• Wearing a swim cap. This helps to prevent your hair from interacting with chlorine water. A great way to ensure the cap remains tight throughout swimming is to wet your hair before putting on the swim cap.
• Wetting your hair before entering the pool. This will prevent some absorption of chlorine/salts from penetrating the hair strands.
• Apply a leave-in conditioner before entering the pool. This will help to lessen the absorption of chlorine into your hair strands while providing it with added moisture as you swim.
• Oil. The application of oil like coconut oil before you swim will prevent chlorine from penetrating your hair strands to cause damage. Oil is great at repelling water.
• Rinse hair swimming. Instead of waiting until you reach home, you should rinse your hair immediately instead of allowing the chlorine to sit on your hair.

 

3. Salt Water: Enjoying the water at the beach can be extremely however the high salt content in the water causes the moisture in your hair strands to become depleted. After interacting with saltwater, hair becomes tangled, coarse, and dry. Exposing your hair to saltwater can also cause it to develop split ends and breakage. 

You can limit the amount of damage your hair experiences by applying a leave-in conditioner treatment which helps to keep your hair moisturized and soft. This works by protecting your hair from the damaging effects of saltwater. 

 

After your swim, you can wash your hair with a moisturizing shampoo and apply a deep moisturizing hair mask treatment to immediately replenish the hair with adequate moisture thus preventing it from split ends.  

 

4. Soft Water: Soft water is way more beneficial for hair than hard water, but it can still expose your hair to undesirable results. The use of too much soft water can cause hair to be greasier thus prone to being limp and without life. This is because soft water has de-ionized sodium thus when applied to hair it gives it a more slippery feel. Though hair tends to become or feel over moisturized you can negate these effects by using a shampoo that improves volume, using less shampoo, and also a less heavy conditioner that won’t cause hair to become greasier. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Each type of water has its impacts on the health of hair, but some are more damaging than others. Though soft water is by far the less damaging amongst the ones discussed there are still steps that need to be taken to ensure it doesn’t cause hair to become too limp or lifeless. 

Chlorinated, hard, and saltwater all provide some degree of damage to hair that leads to breakage but preventive steps of cleansing, pre-treating, and conditioning hair with the right products before and after is the key step to keeping hair healthy and less prone to breakage.