Health & Fitness
How Hard Water Affects Your Hair
Problems that occur when trying to color hair that has been exposed to hard water and what needs to be done to resolve it.
As a hair color specialist, one of the most frustrating parts of my work is seeing a client leave the salon with a beautiful highlighting, only to return weeks later and all of the beautiful tones gone, now drab and dull.
Has this ever happened to you? The cause is hard water. In today's blog, I will discuss how water affects your hair.
Whether the water in your home or apartment has a well, or a community well, or even comes from a lake through a treatment plant, you could get minerals in your water. Treatment plants today use lime (calcium compound) to control chlorine levels. In wells, rain water which is acidic, passes through the layers of rock into your well taking with it minerals: calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, silica and lead. All the minerals play havoc when trying to dye hair over them. They make blondes turn orange, making browns and reds appear darker.
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Also, minerals like calcium can build up on the scalp causing the hair follicle to get clogged, which can lead to thinning hair. In the summer, I'm sure everyone has seen someone with green hair after swimming in a pool. At the salon, this is a common summer occurrence. Clients ask to have it removed. What causes the green discoloration is copper, sometimes in the form of copper sulfate added to pools to control algae. Adversely, if the pool water is out of balance, the water can pull the copper from the copper heating element in the pool heater. The only solution to this problem: keep your pool water balanced, and the pool stores carry products to keep the copper from sticking to your hair.
Many people think chlorine is what causes green hair, but chlorine is an oxidizer. It is used in drinking water and pools to kill bacteria. In pools, it can oxidize minerals into your hair so it helps make the mineral problem worse.
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Over 80 percent of homes in the U.S. have hard water, which is fine for drinking but can cause many problems with your hair, scalp and skin. Over the years, I have had many new clients that have chronic hair color problems, can't make their hair the right shade of red or brown, or dry hair or scalp problems. Once their hair is treated and the minerals removed, their hair responds beautifully to hair color.
If you suspect a problem with your water, have it checked by a professional lab.