Hair Experiment #1
Sunday I tried one of the suggestions for making “hard water” hair behave. I mixed 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar with 1 cup (8 oz) of distilled water. Since I had an old spray bottle handy I used this to apply the mix to my scalp. Though I did pour some over my hair to douse the ends. I did this after I shampooed and conditioned with the Pantene Always Smooth formulation. Even before I started styling my hair I could tell a significant difference in softness already.
I was a little worried about the vinegar smell that might be left behind so I took a precaution and used some distilled water to rinse the majority of the mix out of my hair after a couple minutes. I used about half the vinegar tonic and 1/2 a cup (4 oz.) of distilled water to rinse. Again, as I mentioned in the previous post I used the It’s A 10 hair treatment and a hair straightening serum on my hair before I dried it. Using my regular hairdryer and the oval shaped Avon brush I proceeded to straighten my otherwise curly hair. Compared to the fuzzy mess I ended up with last Thursday my hair was left silky, shiny and with much less frizz. Granted, it wasn’t as nice as the previous Monday, but it was a whole heck of a lot better.
Still Searching for Solutions
We went to Wal-Mart Sunday evening to pick up a few things for the week and I decided to look for any of the shampoo/conditioner combos on my list (see previous post). I know, I know – Wal-Mart is not the best place to find salon style/quality products, but they do have a wide selection of reasonably priced products that may fit the bill if you take some time to read the labels. What I found was an Olive Oil Cream Shampoo that specifically says that is prevents and reverses effects of calcium, magnesium and iron deposits on hair. BINGO! Just what I’m looking for. I was going to get a clarifying formula from Tresemme, but it did not mention treating “hard water” hair; it only made reference to styling product buildup. I’ll use that Olive Oil Shampoo tomorrow morning and let you know how it left my hair. I’ve only used olive oil as a hair treatment a couple of times after using henna hair coloring. It was a bit greasy at first, but it kept my hair from being overly dried by the henna treatment.
Also, while searching the internet I found that there is a such thing as a shower head filter. I used the search term “shower head water filter” and found a great number of sites catering to the anti-allergen market. The one that seems to fit my needs the best is from a company called Sante. They market shower heads with built in prefilters in different styles and capacities. This would be a good alternative to a whole house water softener if the shower is where you encounter the most problems with hard water after effects. They do have faucet filters for sinks and bathtubs as well. The shower heads range up from $70 USD. If I can’t convince my hubby to install a water softener I may have to resort to a localized solution.
Firstly, I’m a mom and wife. Professionally, IT consulting is my job and blogging is the outlet for my passions. I write about things that affect the everyday life of a stay-at-home parent or any parent for that matter such as parenting, relationships, discipline, the media, product reviews, giveaways, social media, food, cooking, gardening and anything else that might come my way.
