How To Keep Your Hair Fabulous When You Have Hard Water

If you live in the United States there is a 85% chance you are amongst those who bathe, shower and even cleanse your hair with hard water.

While hard water doesn't pose any threats to your health it does make it challenging in the effort to throughly cleanse your hair.

So what makes water, hard water?

READ: 10 Things Professional Hairstylists Want You To Stop Doing To Your Hair

Hard water contains high levels of calcium and magnesium ions but may also include bicarbonates and sulfates. The degree of hardness becomes greater as the mineral content increases.

When you add soap to your hard water, it combines with the calcium and magnesium ions to create soap scum. This substance not only makes those undesirable rings around your tub, but sticks to your clothes, dishes, skin and hair, too! All the soap you use to cleanse your hair goes toward softening the water.

So what's a girl to do? Well, there's a couple things you can do...

1. Clarify your mane.
"But on YouTube, they said clarifying shampoo is drying on the hair." If you have extremely hard water, like those living in Chicago or LA, it's imperative to use a clarifying shampoo regularly. A favorite among #30DayHairDetox participants is Malibu C.

Roni, says:

"I decided to experiment with Malibu C, hard water treatment and shampoo because I live in Southern California and the water, here, is notoriously hard.

Can I please tell you that right after rinsing the shampoo from my hair, my curls were popping so hard, they nearly put my eye out! I have a little mirror on the wall in my shower. (Oh! When I wiped the mirror with my soapy finger, so I could see, all the annoying residue and hard water marks, disappeared!). I stood in the shower playing with those curls, in the mirror so long (and the No Doo Goo had already changed my life), it scared the man so, he walked in on me because he thought I fell and cracked my head open or something."

2. Purchase a water softening shower head.

What will this do? A water softening shower head will remove chlorine, metals and volatile organic compounds that cause the hair to become dry. Water softening shower heads are generally very easy to install, require very little maintenance and are a major key for having flawless curls.

Don't let hard water keep you from the best curls of your life.

For more great hair tips, click here.

Aishia Strickland is full-time mom to a little Chocolate Prince, lover of multi-textured hair, tastemaker, Editor of Chocolate Curls Beauty and a knower of all THINGS!