The only thing I miss in my tiny Upper East Side apartment when I travel is my shower. See, in New York, my hair gets all the compliments. “It’s so soft.” “It’s so shiny. “It’s so healthy.” Washing my hair is a sacred ritual that I enjoy doing.
But whenever I go home to Los Angeles or abroad to Paris or London, I am immediately met with tangled dry strands that look—and feel—not so great. In the end? I regret washing my hair at all. So if you, too, have experienced this whenever you’re away from home, then you might be dealing with hard water.
What is hard water exactly, you ask? And how can you rectify the situation so that your hair doesn’t feel completely dried out? To answer those questions, we turned to the experts. See what they had to say below.
What is hard water?
As Hadley King, MD, New York City-based board-certified dermatologist defines it, hard water is just water that has high mineral count. It is formed when water gradually goes through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum. This then causes the water to contain excess calcium, magnesium, and metals that can cause damage to our hair. Soft water, by comparison, says board-certified trichologist Bridgette Hill, is the opposite and is the absence of these minerals and metals.
What does hard water do to the hair?
According to Hill, long-term exposure to hard water can cause buildup on the scalp and hair and will cause an imbalanced microbiome on the scalp. Then you’ll end up dealing with brittle, dry, frizzy, and discolored hair.
“We all have metal in our hair. Metals accumulate inside the hair fiber from environmental factors, erosion inside our pipes, [and] hard water. This can lead to severe hair dehydration, breakage and weakening of the hair fiber,” she says. “When metals in the hair come into contact with oxidants during color, balayage and lightening services, it can result in breakage and inconsistent hair color results.”
Dr. King adds that the minerals in hard water can irritate the scalp, and that could potentially exacerbate dryness, eczema, and psoriasis. “When water contains high amounts of calcium, it doesn’t properly dissolve soaps, detergents and other cleansing products,” she explains. “Meaning that the soap residue is left on your skin and hair (as well as on your clothes and dishes) [and] can dry and irritate the scalp.”
How to tell if you’re dealing with hard water
Hard water is typically found in specific places and environments. Dr. King says that metro areas in the U.S. such as Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Tampa. According to a map drawn by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), you can expect to find hard water mostly in the south west region.
If you’re not one hundred percent sure, there are a couple of tests you can do to see if the water you’re using is hard or soft. She says that soft water will make it easier to form a sudsy-like lather and make it easier to rinse. Hard water will do the opposite.
How does one treat (and prevent) hard water damage?
The best form of treatment is prevention. Dr. King recommends filtering the minerals out of the water to potentially decrease these effects with a filtered showerhead. Something like the Jolie The Filtered Showerhead, which removes chlorine, heavy metals, and other contaminants, or the Canopy Filtered Showerhead, which uses activated carbon, calcium sulfite, and a copper and zinc mixture to reduce metals and other contaminants.
Hill says you can purchase home tests and research your location or the location you’re traveling to for data on the water in that area. If you suspect your area of interest might have hard water, she says you could incorporate vinegar rinses in your shampoo regiment or use a pre-shampoo hair treatment to create a barrier against possible buildup of minerals.
She also recommends using shampoos that are designed to remove metals and minerals from hair. Her pick is also my personal favorite: L’Oreal Professionel Metal Detox Sulfate-Free Shampoo. It contains a patented technology to penetrate the inside strand of each hair to remove impurities and metal to keep hair feeling soft and hydrated. After one rinse with this shampoo, my hair immediately transformed from looking—and feeling—like a dry tangled mess to a silky smooth do. I now never travel without it.
