Shower filters for nicer/healthier skin & hair - ones that work well & don't require 2nd mortgage!

rita-rabbit

People.  I have seen a few posts & haven't come up with anything very useful or recent on the forum.  Google doesn't seem to be directing me to definitive results - like comparisons of verified items etc.  I live in a hard water area - zone 2 in London.  I would like some softer water for skin & hair - especially hair

Spoonie_Turtle

The only one I know of that actually softens is a US brand called Showerstix, which is pricey and even more so once you've added customs and VAT.  I have no idea if it's even compatible with UK plumbing.

All the other filters do not soften water, even though they claim to.  They do remove chloramine though, which can make a difference.  With our good quality water there usually aren't really any other impurities that need removing by the fancy several-layered filters!  But otherwise the only solution for softened water from the mains is a whole-house system, as softening takes time.

Or you can use a mixture of citric acid and vitamin C (ascorbic acid) - both relatively cheap - to slightly soften a volume of water and use that to wash, but far less convenient than showering!  The original recipe is 1 US gallon water, 1/4tsp citric acid, 1/32 tsp vitamin C.
For our water I've used a 1:4 ratio of citric acid:vit C, and ¼tsp of the mixture for 1l water; that makes it taste mildly lemony and comes out at a pH of 5.  If you were to try it, the ideal pH is between 5 and 6, easy to test with litmus strips (cheap).  You don't really want it lower than 4.5.
The citric acid is a chelating agent and the vitamin C is removes chloramine (or chlorine, if there's anywhere in this country that still has it in the water).

There are a number of ways you could use it on hair, possibly the most effective with minimal usage would be to wet your hair with it initially, wash as usual, then do a final rinse with it.  But you can do your whole wash with it if you make up enough.  It's probably still not as good as naturally soft water but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than a whole house system, or using distilled water to wash.

Robin9

There was a product on Dragon's Den a few weeks back


Update   -  https://shrsl.com/40fvb   Hello Klean  £65