Why Do I Have a Dry, Itchy Scalp and Brittle Hair?

To understand how hard water can cause these problems, you must first understand what it is and how it gets into your shower. So, let’s take a closer look at the origins of hard water.

Hard water is water that contains high amounts of minerals like calcium, magnesium and iron. The water collects these minerals as it flows through the earth. Certain regions of the United States have harder water than others because their soil contains more of these minerals.

For example, we at Angel Water serve the greater Chicago, IL, and West Palm Beach, FL, regions. The ground in both regions contains a lot of calcium and magnesium. Therefore, both areas have some of the hardest water in the country.

You may be wondering how this hard water gets into your shower. After all, doesn’t the water receive treatment from the city before it’s sent to your home? If you have city water, then the answer is yes. However, city water treatment typically only consists of chlorination, which does not remove hardness minerals (or many other contaminants, for that matter). If your home gets water from a private well, then it receives no treatment at all. So, either way, your shower water likely contains a lot of calcium and magnesium ions, making it very hard.

Hard water rarely limits its effects to the scalp. Instead, the wrath of hard water can be felt throughout the home in many annoying, frustrating and embarrassing ways.

Beyond drying out the skin on your scalp, it can also have the same effect all over your body. It does this by making your soap or body wash less effective, leaving behind sticky soap scum that clogs your pores and makes you itch.

Hard water can also leave its mark all around your home by producing:

• Spots on dishes and glassware
• Unsightly brown stains in toilet bowls
• Faded and discolored clothing
• Low water pressure from clogged up pipes
• Wear and tear on dishwashers and water heaters, leading to expensive repairs

These are just a few of the many other issues hard water can create. Fortunately, as we will see in the next section, eliminating these problems is within your power.

There are two ways to address this problem. You can either try short-term remedies or invest in a long-term solution.

The short-term option is to look into hard water shampoos. Many shampoos on the market contain ingredients that help break down and eliminate hard water minerals. These ingredients include things like EDTA, vitamin C, phytic acid and citric acid.

These shampoos often seem appealing because they are less expensive than the long-term option of purchasing a water softener. However, their drawbacks outweigh their benefits.

While shampoos for hard water help mitigate the effects of hardness, most still leave the hair feeling dry. These shampoos are also often more expensive than regular shampoo. So, those extra costs will add up over time. And moreover, you will still have to endure the effects of hard water throughout the rest of your home.

For all these reasons, making a long-term investment in a water softener is a much more beneficial option. It will eliminate the minerals that lead to a dry, itchy scalp, brittle hair and all the other problems we listed above.