Serious questions about water

Laura.. that's exactly what I did for a few years.. went for cuts all the time to keep it short. But now I am going to give it a shot to grow it long again, so have to do extra's to baby it. Sometimes I get discouraged and say bag it but when I feel my hair creeping down my back again and that wonderful feeling of hair on my skin.. I say to myself..press on! What is so wild, is that our water is great for drinking. I think I mentioned it never stained anything but just wanted to dry my hair out to the breakage point. I think with the set up with the filter system, I could probably get by without the distilled water rinse but I feel it's a well worth it to make sure and since my hair seems to be in a nice growing spurt.. it must be working..As always Laura, I appreciate your knowledge of the chemistry side of things.. Cher>> That's definitely from the iron!> Definitely, if the water is as bad for hair> as yours, it's a good strategy (the distilled> water, I mean). However, I suspect if I went through> that, I would end up cutting my hair rather than> going to all that trouble. I have too much else> going on in my life! What I meant when I said> it was probably overkill was that it wasn't the> most efficient way to solve the problem in most> cases. A water softener would probably do better,> although (as your case shows) it doesn't always> do the job!> As for disagreeing nicely, I can't imagine> you doing things any other way!> It sure sounds like you've worked out the> most efficient way to deal with the distilled> water. If I ever end up having water problems,> I will try your strategy before making a drastic> decision to cut my hair.> Laura Jane lswanson@sunflower.bio.indiana.edu>

Hello.. I just have to respond to this one! I am not a chemist like Laura Jane but I have gone through the school of hardknocks with this subject and passed the course. Let me say that I neglected adding a few things to my article that after thinking about all of this.. I remembered a few things I would like to share on this subject. First off, my husband and I have owned 4 homes in the almost 21 years of our marriage. The very first one we bought in 78 had city water and I was cutting on my hair.. no problems there. The second house we had built in 81. It had well water but it was fabulous water and I had no problems at all. WE had the water tested and no harsh minerals were found. We lived there for over 7 years. The next two houses my husband built...one in the mountains of Culpeper Va and the next here in Fredericksburg VA. The one in Culpeper had water that was great for drinking but seemed to dry my hair out and give me split ends galore. I was always trimming. Guess that is why I got into the habit of cutting from bottom of rear length to bra strap length quite a few times. That is also when I first started to use Aussie which helped alot. When we sold that house and was in the process of moving into a temporary house to live in while building this one.. that had city water. We lived there for 18 months and my hair was in great shape and grew like a weed. My hair obviously loves city water. Let me tell you something that happened that identifies with what you said. I could clearly understand what you experienced. When we still had the house in the mountains, while we were waiting for closing etc...we had both places.. the temporary house and that one. We would ride down there to check on the house and spend the weekend etc. I would wash my hair there and also at the temporary house .. I could see vast differences in using well water vs. city water. Like night and day differences..using the same shampoos. I was amazed. This brought the water differences to a head for me. Then when this house was getting finished up and we were about to move in.. I grit my teeth wondering what the water would do. Nothing prepared me for what it did do!! And what is so strange is that it's great for drinking.. no stains in any of the fixtures.. we could wash our clothes with no problems. It had just enough iron to do damage to my hair..also the maganese. Obviously my hair hates minerals. The filters we change off of the water conditioner are orange when we pitch them. The man who checks our system says that is the iron. I have to nicely disagree with Laura about the distilled water being an overkill. I pay only 58 cents a jug for the water at Walmart and only use 3-4 a week. This few bucks to me is well worth it. I pre-heat a jug while filling the tub up. If I were to be a showering person..I would get a scrub bucket and sit the jug in it and fill it with hot water and let sit for 20-30 minutes before showering. Right now I am leaving my jugs on the deck in this summer heat for a nice temp rinse. If it is on the cool side, it only makes my hair shine all the more. I feel the one jug a shot is doing a great job of making sure the last bit of minerals are gone. When you have gone through what I have, nothing is being too over protective if it works. The water conditioner does make your suds go farther.. that includes dishwashing and laundry etc.. so you do save some in the long run. I also neglected in my article to state that last summer we filled our pool up with our hose. The water that comes out of that hose does not go through the water system. All of last summer I swam in our pool with no cap. It never dawned on me.. (have some mercy on me..I had 3 kids that were all teens at once-my brain was in overdrive).. This year, I only swim up to my neck and float on rafts..and wear a scarf always. I go to the YMCA to do my all body swimming. (city water!) I would sell this house but I designed it and my husband built it so it means alot to me. I am just grateful we have found a way to work around the hair problem. I have been through so much the past 5 years with my hair.. and now I seem to have beaten it .. you just need to work out a system that will agree with your hair or move!! ;-) best regards..and sorry this turned out so long!! Cher> Hi - Reading Cher's article last week rang> several bells with me, and after an experience> with water from another location over the weekend,> I think I may definitely have a water issue....>> My problem is breaking and split ends - I've> been doing absolutely everything *right* for over> a year and the ends are still splitting. I've> tried many different conditioners, and some work> better than others, but when my hair dries it> still lacks that smoothness and is slightly rough> to the comb or brush. My hair is slightly wavy> and a couple of inches below my lower back.> What happened over the weekend was I visited> a friend, and when I washed my hair in her water,> the difference was amazing. I used Nature's Gate> Henna conditioner, and my hair was smooth and> silky all day long, even after it dried. The tangles> came out easily and it just generally felt tons> better. She swears she doesn't have a water softener> but they are on a different water system than> I am. I washed my hair this morning in my local> water, conditioned it, rinsed it and could immediately> feel that it wasn't nearly as smooth and soft.> (Same conditioner) - so I rinsed it again with> some distilled water I had. That seemed to make> a difference.> So - my questions are about water - what> should I look for? High mineral content, or low> mineral content? PH acid or alkali? Water softener> or not? Distilled water (what a pain) or not?> I'm going to call the local water districts to> see if I can find out what the difference is but> I wanted to ask the good folks on this list if> they have any suggestions about water quality?>> Thanks! Deb

Hi - Reading Cher's article last week rang several bells with me, and after an experience with water from another location over the weekend, I think I may definitely have a water issue....My problem is breaking and split ends - I've been doing absolutely everything *right* for over a year and the ends are still splitting. I've tried many different conditioners, and some work better than others, but when my hair dries it still lacks that smoothness and is slightly rough to the comb or brush. My hair is slightly wavy and a couple of inches below my lower back.What happened over the weekend was I visited a friend, and when I washed my hair in her water, the difference was amazing. I used Nature's Gate Henna conditioner, and my hair was smooth and silky all day long, even after it dried. The tangles came out easily and it just generally felt tons better. She swears she doesn't have a water softener but they are on a different water system than I am. I washed my hair this morning in my local water, conditioned it, rinsed it and could immediately feel that it wasn't nearly as smooth and soft. (Same conditioner) - so I rinsed it again with some distilled water I had. That seemed to make a difference.So - my questions are about water - what should I look for? High mineral content, or low mineral content? PH acid or alkali? Water softener or not? Distilled water (what a pain) or not? I'm going to call the local water districts to see if I can find out what the difference is but I wanted to ask the good folks on this list if they have any suggestions about water quality?Thanks! Deb