The One Shocking Thing That Might Be Wrecking Your Hair

What it is, how to assess your risk, and what to do about it

Defining The Problem

Since I live in a rather dry climate and have perfected the art of at-home hair color over the past year, I’ve dealt with more than my fair share of dryness and damage. But besides my using box dye every couple of months, I struggled to understand why the condition of my hair had deteriorated so dramatically since my last move. After all, I was still trimming my ends regularly, deep conditioning every night, using only color safe products, and avoiding hot tools entirely. If anything, I was being more careful with my hair than ever.

It wasn’t until I realized that I had a hard water problem on my hands that I was able to fully make sense of my hair’s condition and to put a plan in place to treat it. Simply put, “hard water” is water that’s high in calcium, magnesium, and/or other minerals. While no tap water will ever be completely free of trace minerals, how hard your water is loosely depends on the geographical region in which you live.

Assessing Your Risk

If you’re unsure of the water hardness where you live, there are two ways to tell if you might be at particular risk for hard water damage. Option 1 is to look for mineral deposits in your water supply. To do…