The hard problem of hard water

Do you know if you have hard water? Most of us have some version of hard water we deal with, but did you know that your hard water can have devastating effects on your hair? It can make your hair feel brittle and dry. It can make your scalp itchy and flakey. And it can even make your hair color turn awful shades of pink/orange and green.

I had an example recently of a hard hair situation (pun intended). My gorgeous friend Teascha came to me with an idea for her birthday. She wanted to have some icy cool toned highlights in her naturally dark brown hair. Now I know Teascha’s hair history, and thought she sounded like a perfect candidate for this color. So we set up at time, and I highlighted her hair to a nice bright blonde, then toned it to a cool violet hue. It was perfection!

Not 48hrs later, I get a text message with a photo. Teascha hadn’t even washed her hair yet, and the color had changed drastically! It’s like it had continued to oxidize on her hair after the service had ended. It looked like a rosey pinky orange color now. My first reaction was to assume the color we used had an issue (it was a gentle organic brand that can fade off faster than others). Although this was an extreme version of “fading off”, I assumed step one was to use a different toner.

So she came back and we did some hair magic to use a new different brand of toner. This time, I opted for more of a blue based toner to really punch out any unwanted orange tones from coming back.

Literally one wash later, the orange and pink were back!

Ok… I had to sit back and do some thinking. What the heck was going on. So we got to talking about her water. And sure enough, they have super hard water at her house. Aha! We’ve found the culprit! But now what?

Well, with hard water, you can get a serious build up of minerals and metals on your hair. They are treacherous little buggers that don’t want to leave. They inhibit hair color from saturating properly, and they change the way the chemical reactions work in color as well. So I had to first get rid of a build up of hard water deposits on her hair.

Using products from Malibu-C, I was able to cleanse off the build up and start with a fresh palate. The new toner took beautifully… but will it stay? Changing her water supply or buying a whole house water filter was not an option for T, so we had to get creative. We didn’t want to land back in the same spot again! I sent T home with a product intended for use before every shampoo to prevent mineral buildup. The product is called Dream Filter by ColorWOW, and it’s like magic. It looks like water, and acts like a magnet for all those little buildup buggers. So far, this technique has made her color last SO much longer. We’re all happy for it! And I know for future coloring sessions that I’ll need to treat her hair for hard water buildup FIRST.

If you think you have hard water, please talk to your stylist about it before your coloring service. If they are prepared, you will have a much greater chance of having the outcome you want from your hair!

I’m working on getting a clickable link to buy the products mentioned above as well. Thanks for reading!