The Health Benefits of A Water Softener

If there’s a layer of limescale around your faucet heads and drains and your glassware seems foggy no matter what dish soap you use, you may have what is known as hard water.

Hard water is water that contains high levels of magnesium and calcium. These minerals can reduce the effectiveness of soaps and detergents and cause limescale buildup in your pipes and drains.

Many homes are afflicted with hard water, but this problem can be counteracted by a water softener installation.

Soft water doesn’t just improve your water pressure and prevent cloudy glassware, however – it can also benefit your health. Here are some of the health benefits of a water softener.

1: Reduces Damage to Kitchen Implements

Silverware, glassware, pots, pans, and kettles can all be greatly affected by hard water.

Not only will hard water leave these kitchen implements looking dirty even after you clean them, the residue left behind can be a hazard to your health.

Over time, hard water can leave a soap film or scaly white spots. These films and spots can trap small pieces of food, leading to bacteria growing on your supposedly clean utensils, pots, and pans.

Not to mention that hard water buildup can also lend a chemical or mineral taste to food cooked in the affected cookware, which can discourage you from cooking healthy meals rather than ordering in.

2: Improves Skin Health

If you bathe or shower using hard water, the hard water will counteract the soap and shampoo. This means developing a thin soap scum on your body that isn’t able to be easily rinsed away.

This film will remain on your body throughout the day, clogging your pores and causing rashes, irritation, acne, and dry, itchy skin.

Hard water can also cause the development of or increase the irritation of eczema, so much so that one of the recommendations, if you have eczema, is to rinse the affected area with bottled or distilled water.

Getting a water softener is better for your skin than simply living with hard water.

3: Improve Washing Machine Effectiveness

If your home has hard water that you use to wash your clothing, there are a number of problems that can result.

The first is that familiar soap film, which can affect your washing machine and reduce its effectiveness, meaning that your clothes will not be completely clean when they come out of the wash.

You may also need to use more aggressive settings to get your clothes fully clean, which means that your clothing will wear out faster. Soft water will clean your clothes more efficiently and prevent these problems from developing.

4: Healthier Hair

Just like with your body wash, hard water makes it more difficult to wash your hair. Depending on how hard your water is, a thin soap film may remain on your hair strands even after washing the visible shampoo out.

This will cause your hair to dull and lose volume, leading to less healthy-looking skin. The minerals present in hard water can also irritate your scalp, leading to dandruff and even hair loss.

Before reaching for expensive specialty shampoos and serums, you should consider getting a water softener to counteract these hair-related issues.

5: Better Sodium Intake

Sodium is one of the few minerals that we absolutely need to live. While most people do have enough sodium in their diet, the minerals present in hard water can counteract the way that your body intakes sodium.

In fact, most people with a sodium deficiency are actually fighting against hard water rather than not eating enough sodium.

Having a water softener will allow you to better monitor your actual sodium intake, whether you’re looking to increase that intake or simply maintain it.

Having a more accurate measure of your intake of this vital mineral is always a good thing no matter what your health goals.