How Water Quality Affects Your Skin and Hair

People often blame a new shampoo when the real change was the water. Hard water and chlorine both act on skin and hair, and they act differently.

Hardness leaves a film. Calcium and magnesium react with soap to form a residue that does not rinse cleanly. On skin it feels tight. On hair it weighs the strands down and dulls color, which is why colorists ask about your water.

Chlorine strips. Municipal water carries a disinfectant residual for good reason, but chlorine also strips the natural oils that keep skin and hair conditioned. In a long hot shower, that adds up.

What changes when you treat it. Softened water lathers with a fraction of the soap and rinses clean. Carbon filtration removes the chlorine before it reaches the shower head. Most households notice the shower difference within a day or two, well before they notice anything else.

If you have moved recently and your skin changed, test the water before you replace your whole bathroom cabinet.