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OT: Surprisingly effective 'treatment' for damaged hair

velvetychocolate

Veteran

I moved to an area that has very hard water, and it has been ruining my hair. Discoloured, gunky, extremely dry. I've tried just about everything - deep conditioners, de-mineralizing treatments, chelating shampoos etc. Was having to use a lot of products - smoothing milk, shine stuff, you name it.

Pretty much at my wit's end. I have naturally blonde hair that is normally in good health. After almost two years of showering in extremely hard water, my hair is in *bad* shape. In fact, after trying one of the de-mineralizing treatments, I saw brown particles coming out of my hair. Just nuts!

This morning, I tried something totally different. I had gone to the grocery store and bought a couple of gallon-sized jugs of distilled water. Used that to wash my face last night and again this morning. Poured the room-temperature distilled water into an empty, smaller-sized 500 ml water bottle. Showered as usual, but without letting the shower water touch my head. Poured most of a 500 ml bottle of distilled water in my hair. Used a very light gentle shampoo - just a tiny bit. Lathered up. Doused/rinsed it all out with more (yet another 500 ml bottle) distilled water. It was a bit of a hassle...but I was surpried at how soft and gentle the whole process was. Normally, when washing my hair in the shower - my hair feels like straw while shampooing and gets incredibly tangly and dry, no matter how much conditioner I'd use after the shampoo.

I didn't need conditioner. I didn't need hair products. After doing makeup, I removed the towel on my head and dipped a wide-tooth comb into a cup of distilled water to smooth out my bangs and get them in the 'right' place.

Hair is glossy, shiny and smooth. Bouncy and soft. With just a dime-size amount of shampoo and two 500 ml size bottles filled with distilled water. No conditioner or product needed. I waited until my hair was mostly dry, and then briefly styled it with the hair dyer to get it in place.

I think I paid 69 cents for a gallon of distlled water. No water softening system here in this ancient house, we're not going to buy one for a rental ($8,000+). And besides, a lot of softening systems use salt, which is also very damaging to hair.

To sum up - if you're at your wit's end with dry, damaged and gunked up, unhappy hair - try washing it with distilled water only, and just a lightweight, simple shampoo.

Below is a link that shows a Water Hardness map of the US. Red areas are extremely hard water, and white areas are also very hard water as well.

http://water.usgs.gov/owq/hardness-alkalinity.html

Hope this helps anyone who might also be battling hard water damage to their hair.

General

14 replies

Latest reply was from velvetychocolate

rute

Veteran

great tip! Thanks!

Anonymous

I've also read that rinsing washed-and-rinsed hair with a combination of water/cider vinegar works wonders. We don't have particularly hard water, but I tried it. Mixed up equal parts water and vinegar (I think) in a water bottle and brought it in the shower.

Scarlet

Veteran

Yes! I have tried something similar. Sometimes I rinse with diluted vinegar, which helps, but if I do that often I think it can also be drying. I haven't tried exactly your method, but I tried just doing a final rinse with distilled water and that made a big difference too. To actually get shampoo to lather and get distributed over my whole head I mix a squirt of shampoo in a little bottle filled with warm water. I use half of it in the first attempt, rinse briefly, and use the second half to actually work up a lather over my whole head and get my scalp clean. I had such problems before I figured that out (tip from my hair dresser). Hard water makes hair a lot of work!

velvetychocolate

Veteran

Thank you for the additional tips! I tried the vinegar rinse as well, and it does help - but as mentioned, it's not something you want to do all the time, because it can also be drying. Gives a lot of shine though!

I'm going to stick with the distilled water for awhile and see what happens. I'd read somewhere that using distilled water as a 'final rinse' is effective too, because it's when your hair dries that the minerals in hard water bond to your hair. I'm not so sure about that one, because like I said, washing my hair in the water from the shower - it felt like straw, and I was using a ton of conditioner just to get the tangles out and soften it up a bit.

It was surprising how soft the distilled water was and how I didn't need any conditioner or smoothing styling products etc. Yeah, it's going to be a bit of a pain...but I think I'll keep this up.

I think I'll try your method too Scarlet - mix up some shampoo with the distilled water and start it off that way, and then do a second "lathering" shampoo. I will also continue with occasional vinegar rinses to help get the remaining hard water minerals out of my hair.

Julie

Veteran

When my hair was long, I also did the distilled water-vinegar treatment, with a touch of lemon to displace the vinegar smell. It works well for removing the minerals that coat one's hair.

Haven't used it since going short, and I don't feel a need to. As for the minerals causing damage, well I look at it two ways. With it this short you couldn't damage it any more, and the hair never gets to be more than a few weeks old before it's cut off.

velvetychocolate

Veteran

I love your short hair Julie! I am not quite confident enough yet to go with a short haircut, even though I really love the look.

I will try the vinegar/distilled water rinse with a touch of lemon added to tame the vinegar smell (good idea, thank you!), but I think I'm going to wait at least two weeks before I try something like this again because my hair is so mad at me - between the super-hard-water for way too long, and the umpteen things I've tried to get the minerals out.

In the meantime though, you look absolutely amazing with that short haircut - so pretty, and it really brings out your features. You make a good point mentioning that the hard water can't do a whole lot to shorter hair, since it'll be cut before it shows too much. Sounds like any 'damaged hair' is trimmed/cut fairly regularly and you have nice healthy hair as a result.

Sylvie

Veteran

Oh, thank you so much for mentioning this! According to the map, the water is pretty good in my area, but I have been unhappy with my hair texture and this seems like a good thing to try. It's such a simple tip, yet so obvious in retrospect.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I've been on well water for the last 16 years, and boy has it been a hassle at times! At our old house (now being rented out), the water was horrible. Hard, brown, sulfury smelling water. Before we got the water treatment system installed, my fingernails and our white laundry items were actually starting to stain brown, and it was hard on my hair too. If I had blonde hair, I bet that would have been changing color as well! The water treatment system helps a lot, but it's still not perfect. And if the salt gets low in the system, the water starts going funky again.

That's a great tip, I'm definitely making a mental note. My husband buys distilled water for his humidor, so now I know where I can go for a little extra rinse!

velvetychocolate

Veteran

Glad everyone's finding this useful! Like I said, I've tried a lot of different things - some fairly effective, but the clarifying/demineralizing stuff can be kind of drying. One shampoo that worked very well is Sally Beauty ION Purifying Solutions Hard Water Shampoo:

http://www.sallybeauty.com/har.....lt,pd.html

This did brighten up my hair quite a bit, but it can also be somewhat drying.

Ok - normally my hair looks greasy and dry all at the same time in the morning before showering. This morning, it doesn't look all that greasy OR dry. Just the bangs/fringe look a tiny bit oily. I'm guessing the 'greasy' was from all the products and conditioner I was using to combat the hard water. And yet, by continuing to use the hard water ...it was drying out and damaging my hair quite a bit.

Today, I'm going to put my hair up in a loose bun before shower...and when I get out, I think I'm going to pour some of the distilled water into a spray bottle, mist my hair all over and then just lightly shampoo and rinse the bangs/fringe. I'm going to try this as a 'second day' restyling idea. I have always washed my hair every single day, but aside from slightly oily looking bangs the rest of my hair looks clean, soft and is shinier (in a good way, not a greasy way) than it has been in quite a while.

A couple of other observations:

1. Fine, straight hair - but lots of it. Always battling those flyaways - requiring the use of a smoothing milk/serum and/or 'sleekifying' conditioner to keep it looking smooth. Using just the distilled water and a light shampoo yesterday - no flyaways. Not sure if the hard water was roughing my hair up and if this was causing the flyaways, but in any case - I didn't need styling product when washing with just distilled water.

2. Hair did not feel like straw and all tangly during shampoo, as it normally does. I wasn't gunking on conditioner to detangle it, moisturize it. You know that nice smooth feeling you get post conditioner? Where it's easy to comb through? Distilled water and shampoo alone did this.

I think I'll just keep this up until we can move.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Genius! I'll keep that in mind the next time I visit a hard-water area. I'm lucky to live in a part of the world known for its exceptional water quality, and I sure notice whenever I visit family in England or friends in California that my hair's not as nice.

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

Bumping this thread as I hope someone else might find it helpful too.

After reading it I thought it was worth a try, as I've noticed my hair felt much more coarse and dry in the last several weeks The laundry, btw, felt different after the washing, so everything pointed that the water where we now live is very hard.

Long story short, after reading this thread, I bought some distilled water at the supermarket and only used it as the last water to rinse my hair with. I did use all of my regular hair products (shampoo, conditioner, moroccan oil), as I did every time before, but this time the change was really dramatic. Positively dramatic

Well worth a try. I just love, and I really mean LOVE, simple solutions.

velvetychocolate

Veteran

Oh yay! I'm glad this worked for you too It's still working well for me, and I can't believe such a simple change would make a difference, but it really does! I have *very* hard water where I live, and we're renting for now (relocation) so it's not like I'm going to buy an expensive water softening system. I've tried all kinds of fancy clarifying and chelating shampoos and so on, and these were kind of harsh on my hair. Finally, in a fit of desperation, I decided to try washing and rinsing my hair in distilled water. The very first time I used it - the difference was dramatic. I was shocked!

My hair is much softer, fluffier and brighter than it was. I have blonde hair and it had turned a very dull colour from the hard water minerals bonding to my hair. And yet, like I said - the fancy de-mineralizing treatments and shampoos helped, but they were also very drying. With the distilled water, the shine and softness has come back and I don't need quite so many of the styling products or heavy conditioners to combat the damage from hard water.

Anyway...I'm so glad this has helped someone else.

In terms of laundry - don't use liquid fabric softener in the wash. It doesn't rinse out properly in hard water. If you want a fabric softener, use dryer sheets, and only the lightest variation, such as Bounce 'free' dryer sheets:

http://www.bouncefresh.com/dry.....unscented/

If you have the option on your washing machine, be sure to select 'extra rinse' - that will help get rid of the last of the soap on your clothes.

...

Glad the simple solution of distilled water has helped your hair too.

Anonymous

Velvetychocolate,

That's a great idea you've come up with, and one I'm certainly going to take on board. Parisian water is notoriously hard, and when we bought our house here in Neuilly, we did actually invest in a water-softener because the alternative would have been to keep gallons of distilled water on hand, and it still wouldn't have solved ALL the problems with the dish-washer, washing-machine, kettle, iron, you name it!!

But my hairdresser has taught me a very simple trick for adding shine to my hair, and it really works for me. So I offer it up to you, in the hope you might find it useful. Quite simply, it is to rinse my locks for the last thirty seconds or so under a nozzle of icy cold water. It really gets the circulation going, and as well as giving a boost to the shine, it helps prevent falling hair. It IS a bit of a shock to the system at 6.00am on a Winter's morning, though!

velvetychocolate

Veteran

La Francaise,

Thank you for the extra tip to add shine - I'll try it! It makes sense because hot/warm water opens up the cuticle of the hair (or so I read somewhere) and cold water will close it back again, leaving it smooth and shiny. I think that's why heat works well with deep conditioning treatments - the heat allows the moisturizers in the conditioner to penetrate into the hair. A final, cold rinse will seal it in.

But yes, I can see how that might be a bit brisk on a cold winter's morning..:)