When venturing abroad, your thoughts are rightly occupied by where to have pre-dinner drinks, how swiftly you can do the pool-to-bar lap and what gem-adorned shoes go with the most outfits pre-planned in that diligent head of yours. All great streams of consciousness, but we rarely consider the effect of a locale\u2019s water on our hair and skin. <\/p>\n
We wash our locks, splash our face and carry on our merry holiday way. And things are better on vacation, there\u2019s no doubt there. But when moving abroad, those little shifts we\u2019ve never really noticed (read: willfully ignored in a nebulous negroni haze) start to add up. Having recently taken up residence in California, I know this all too well. One perilous shower in, no difference. So I carried on idly by. But two weeks in? The vacation abruptly halts. I notice my skin drier than days prior, my hair takes longer to dry and I need more body lotion than ever before. Gallons of it.<\/p>\n
A frenetic Google search later and the concept of hard water pours into my lap. Think less freshwater stream, more high mineral content as a result of city infrastructure, climate and other additions to your zip code’s water in the name of drinkable water. The minerals in question? Calcium and magnesium. Great for break-free bones and sleep shortcuts but in high amounts, that lavish shower routine begins to work against you. Not to mention literal dirt and excess chlorine traipsing its way into your steam session uninvited.<\/p>\n
As Dr Mamina Turegano<\/a>, thrice board-certified dermatologist and forever-sharer of aging-well wisdom explains, \u201cHard water is more difficult to rinse off, which can also lead to more build-up on the scalp, leading to itching and dandruff, and sometimes hair loss. When it comes to the skin, the most common issue from hard water is dryness. However, having more dryness can exacerbate conditions like eczema, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, and even conditions like acne and rosacea.\u201d<\/p>\n And though it may manifest itself in conditions such as those, a change in your bath-water can cause a disruption in your skin\u2019s natural oils, making for texture woes or unendingly parched skin. Perhaps your curls won\u2019t hold or your post-shower body lather doesn\u2019t sink in, even a certain dullness – these moments could be a hint at your water\u2019s hardness taking its toll. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not just your imagination, in speaking to the chief cultivator of all things Violet-Grey<\/a> worthy Sarah Brown<\/a>, the quality of the drop makes a difference. \u201cI have fine, wavy hair, and how it looks on any given day has to do with the hardness or softness of the water, humidity levels (or lack thereof) and the time of year. My hair looks its absolute best during early summer in New York, and its worst basically any time in Florida. It never looks great in Paris. But I don\u2019t care: because it\u2019s Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n Celebrity strand-tamer Lauren Mackellar<\/a> and founder of Robe<\/a> hair care concurs, \u201cMy hair and skin suffered greatly living in LA – the change from lovely Aussie water to LA’s hard water made my hair shed excessively, become extremely brittle, and my skin broke out worse than anything I’d experienced in my life. After months of trying different products, I ended up attaching a water filter and a vitamin C filter to my shower head-and it helped immensely\u201d.<\/p>\n Enter a beauty device that stops hard water in its tracks or rather, pipes. A fixture added to your shower-head to filter out excess minerals and soften the water before it touches your skin. Ranging from 8-level filters to laser-focused 2-story options, to the rose-quartz infused or Vitamin-C enriched – who knew hygiene could be so hubris?<\/p>\n Co-founder of Jolie Skin<\/a>, Ryan Babenzien thought first of the shower-head solution after a particularly dry skin moment post rinse. \u201cChlorine strips your skin of its natural oils, as well as your hair and your scalp, your skin\u2019s biome – all of it\u2026 that’s where the idea for Jolie – it actually happened in the shower, I was realizing that water was damaging, and I had an epiphany that we could create a beauty wellness brand that addresses the purity of your water for better skin, hair and wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n The chic shower-head works on a two-level filter to capture the muck and grime running from your water source and bonus your bathroom looks x11 superior in the process. (An arbitrary figure, I\u2019m no Architectural Digest writer.)<\/p>\n While the Violet-code approved (and brilliantly inconspicuous) T3\u2019s Source Showerhead, uses tourmaline to help balance the pH and copper, zinc and calcium sulfide to help reduce free-chlorine and other impurities. Brown adds of her derm-approved shower routine wherein the T3 plays a crucial cleansing role, \u201cBetter water, softer skin, hair with more bounce and shine (minus the build-up from excess minerals and everything else coming out of the faucet), and color that stays truer and lasts longer. The most shower-friendly strategy for healthy skin and hair is to keep showers on the short side, to keep water temperature on the less-than-scalding side, and to use gentle, fragrance-free products.\u201d<\/p>\n Or there\u2019s the serum-sort, silverware infused with Vitamin C from Vitaclean<\/a> who seek to add zest to your skin, hair and a freshly-squeezed aromatherapy moment. Infused shower situations are ever popular in the skin-capitals of South Korea and Japan, so perhaps they\u2019re onto something. <\/p>\n And one thing they don\u2019t compromise on? Water pressure. Where past iterations of Amazon-carts before have dimmed the stream of your beloved me-time as they whittled away the ick, these new iterations focus on the whole shower experience. For need-no-handyman installation to every last drop of fogged-up bliss. <\/p>\n