please help!!

I just recently moved about a month ago and this water is loaded with iron. It's so bad that it's literally clinging to my hair and it has an orange rusty sorta color to it. I'm looking into getting a filter but don't know if this will help much and for how long. We had new toilets put in our house and after about three or four days they were completely orange. That's how bad this is and i can feel it on my skin, hair, fingernails/toenails are turning orange. I literally hate the thought of taking a bath but i don't have a choice. My hair stylist told me that she had something called 'remove all' and that i should try it. she also told me that i can't use it that often as it's harsh on the hair. I'm so depressed and don't know what to do. I'm gonna go cry now.

I agree with panteragirl, you may need to buy water just to wash your hair.  At the very least, for the final rinse.  And you'll want to use a chelating shampoo.

Otherwise, you may also want to consider a whole-house filter, in addition to a shower-head filter, which would be very helpful but you'd need to replace them as often as necessary for them to be effective.

Let us know what you do and how well it works.  Good luck!

My advice is to not bother with special treatments for your hair until AFTER the real problem is solved, getting the excess iron out of your water.  You can wash your hair with all sorts of special preparations but they won't do you any good until the iron problem is solved.  As mentioned, they will likely harm your hair.  The primary way to remove iron stains is with some sort of acid.  The shampoos and treatments you're using likely have the PH nudged toward the acidic side.  That doesn't even sound good...

Stop crying and call a plumber or a water treatment specialist TODAY to get your water tested and sorted out.  Then worry about treating your hair ONCE to get the staining out and correct the color which might be as simple as washing your hair with diluted lemon or orange juice (citric acid) and a good deep conditioning treatment.

We had a problem with iron in our well water when we moved in to our newly constructed home.  The first shower left dark, orange stains on the fiberglass.  The toilets were orange and the tap water smelled.  We thought we would have to spend tons of money to remedy the problem.  All we needed was a water softener and a cheap filter.  We simply use a special salt that helps the softener remove the iron.  Soft water is better for your hair and skin too.  The total cost for everything was about $800.  Depending on the results of the water test, this will likely work for you too. 

-Rocky




Edited by Rocky - January 22 2007 at 6:20pm