Hard or Soft Water
One of life’s greatest simple luxuries is a long, hot shower. Feeling the tension and tiredness melt away from your muscles, letting the waves of warmth wash over you and fill your head with gentle, dizzying relaxation – it’s the kind of feeling you wish could last forever.
However, the feeling immediately after a hot shower leaves much to be desired. Your hands buzz, the air is freezing cold, the warm relaxation converges and congeals in your head, turning your thoughts fuzzy – and your skin feels sticky. Most of these sensations are natural reactions to the sudden shift in temperature, but the stickiness is something else entirely.
The difference between hard and soft water lies in their mineral content. Hard water, which has a higher mineral content, often leaves a sticky residue on your skin, making it feel like someone had sprayed a rubber film along the inside of your shirt. As your internal temperature normalises and your skin’s hypersensitivity goes away, your awareness of this sticky sensation may fade, but you’ll still have to put up with your clothes catching and dragging on your body.
Water Quality
Sticky or itchy skin immediately after a hot shower is likely caused by one of two things: chlorine or hard water. Hard water can lead to dry skin, affecting the pH balance and causing irritations. Depending on the quality and contents of tap water in your area, the effects may even be from a combination of the two.
Chlorine
Chlorine is a chemical disinfectant added to municipal water supplies to protect people on the water grid from dangerous waterborne pathogens and bacteria. Treatment chemicals are a vital part of keeping our water safe, but rubbing chlorinated water into our skin does have certain drawbacks.
Bleaching chemicals like chlorine are great for dealing with bacteria, but they can also cause irritations in your skin, eyes, and lungs. Redness and itches that persist beyond the few minutes of heat rash after a hot shower can often be attributed to a chlorine reaction. Hot showers with steam that carries chlorine into your eyes and lungs can lead to further discomfort.
Chlorinated water can also exacerbate skin conditions, causing painful flare-ups for people living with eczema or psoriasis. Other people may have specific chlorine sensitivities or allergies, experiencing unpleasant and distracting irritations from even low levels of exposure.
Hard Water
“Hard water” is water that has high levels of dissolved minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and other essential minerals. These particles don’t typically cause itches or irritations themselves – apart from leaving limescale all over your shower screens and through your appliances, which can be very irritating to scrub away. Instead, hard water is indirectly responsible for irritations and stickiness caused by other chemicals.
In addition to leaving limescale deposits and mineral stains around your home, hard water reacts with fatty acids in soap, shampoo, and various skin/hair care products to reduce lathering. This means that you have to use larger amounts of each of these products when you’re washing your hair or body, rubbing more chemicals into your skin.
Reducing their ability to lather also impacts how well these products rinse off after you’ve finished using them, making it more likely that a film of soap residue or conditioner foam will be left on your skin when you get out of the shower. These chemicals can leave your skin with that signature slimy, itchy feeling, and leaving them there over the course of the day can cause irritations, just like prolonged chlorine exposure. The drying chemicals pull natural oils out of your skin and hair, leaving them dehydrated and more vulnerable to damage.
Fortunately, whether the sliminess is caused by chlorine or hard water, there is a simple solution that solves both problems at once: Complete Home Filtration! Our multi-stage filtration system has dedicated water filters for both hard water and chlorine, filtering out anything that might diminish that glorious hot shower feeling. When you have filtered, softened water flowing through your home, you’ll enjoy enhanced benefits both during and after your shower.
Hard and Soft Water
If you are accustomed to hard water, your first experience with soft water while showering may make you feel slippery or slimy. After your water is filtered and free of calcium and magnesium, the positively charged sodium ions often replace these minerals. This process reduces the concentrations of minerals in the water, making it soft and eliminating the heavy abrasiveness from the minerals when the water touches your skin.
So, if you’ve recently switched to soft water and noticed your skin feels slimy after a shower, you’re not alone. This sensation is a common comment from first-time users adjusting to the absence of the familiar friction that hard water creates. Understanding why soft water feels this way can help you appreciate its benefits.
Soft Water Quality
Soft water is treated through water softening to remove high concentrations of minerals like calcium and magnesium, which are prevalent in hard water. These minerals cause soap to form a scummy residue that doesn’t rinse away easily, creating a rough, frictional feeling on the skin. When these minerals are removed, soap lathers better and rinses off more completely, leaving no residue.
The “Slimy” Sensation
For many first-time users, the smooth, almost slippery feel of their skin after showering with soft water can be surprising. This sensation is often described as “slimy” because it contrasts sharply with the rougher feel of skin washed in hard water. In reality, what you’re experiencing is your skin’s natural state without the interference of mineral deposits and soap scum, thanks to the use of a water softener.
Why It Feels Different
Natural Oils: Soft water keeps your skin’s natural oils intact. Hard water often strips these oils away, leaving your skin feeling dry and tight. The absence of these oils being stripped away can make your skin feel smoother and more moisturized, which might be interpreted as slimy at first. Additionally, when it comes to drinking water, soft water can be beneficial for your health by reducing the risk of kidney stones and lowering urinary calcium concentration.
Absence of Soap Residue: In hard water, soap reacts with minerals to form a film that remains on your skin. Soft water allows soap to rinse off completely, leaving your skin free of this residue. The slick feeling is simply your clean skin without the gritty film left by hard water.
Adjustment Period: If you’ve been using hard water for a long time, you might be accustomed to the sensation of having soap residue on your skin. It can take some time for your perception to adjust to the feel of truly clean skin.
Benefits of Soft Water
While the sensation of soft water might feel strange at first, it brings numerous benefits from using a water-softening system:
- Healthier Skin: Without the harsh effects of mineral deposits, your skin can retain more natural moisture.
- Better Lather: Soap and shampoo lather more effectively in soft water, allowing you to use less product.
- Cleaner Rinse: Your skin and hair rinse cleaner, reducing the likelihood of buildup and irritation.
Embracing the All-Home Water Softener System
The key to adapting to soft water is understanding that the “slimy” feeling is actually a sign of better hygiene and health. Your skin is experiencing a purer, more natural cleaning process without chemicals. The water supply, which may contain minerals like calcium and magnesium, affects whether the water is considered hard or soft.
Give yourself time to adjust, and you’ll likely find that you prefer soft water’s benefits over hard water’s harshness in just two to three shower experiences. By understanding the reasons behind the sensation and its benefits, you can fully appreciate the positive change and enjoy the enhanced cleanliness and comfort of soft water.
To find out more, fill out our quick contact form or give us a call on 1300 693 458.
