Friday, March 22nd, 2019
Does showering in hard water cause dry skin?
Do you have concerns about your skin and how your showers might be influencing the condition of it? You’re not the only one. Skin care is essential to maintaining the integrity and youthfulness of your skin. If you or your child is one of the 35 million Americans that suffer from Eczema, you know skin care is a must when treating atopic dermatitis. While habitual regiments, expensive lotions, clinical treatments, and avoidance of the sun can curb symptoms of dry skin, your household water could be having a major impact on your condition. Dry skin can be uncomfortable and as a parent with a child that has eczema, you want to make sure you’re doing everything you can to minimize the problem.
What are dry skin and eczema symptoms?
Individuals with dry skin often experience at least one of the following:
Sufferers of eczema can often experience the same symptoms in addition to severe itching, rough, leathery or scaling patches of skin, swelling and inflammation, and crusting.
What causes dry skin and eczema?
It is unknown what causes chronic dry skin and eczema but according to the National Eczema Association: “researchers do know that people who develop eczema do so because of a combination of genes and environmental triggers.” Some of these environmental triggers for dry skin and eczema can be weather, heat, hard soaps and detergents, and other skin conditions such as psoriasis. One environmental catalyst to dry skin and eczema that tends to get overlooked is the water we shower in.
4 things to know about your water
Whether you or your child are suffering from eczema or you’re looking to maintain your skin’s elasticity, softness, and hydration, it’s important to consider the quality of the water you’re bathing and showering in. Here are the top things to consider:
Soft water is soft on skin.
You can continue to spend hundreds of dollars on lotions and clinical creams but there is a solution to treating the culprit right in your home that’s making your skin condition worse. Softening your household water removes the hard minerals that can be abrasive to your skin. By removing these hard water contaminants, you’re likely to use less soaps too, because it cleans better. The soap you do use does not stick to the skin as it does with hard water, leaving you cleaner and free from any soap scum that otherwise would dry out your skin. Soft water is less damaging to the skin allowing it to protect itself and retain moisture throughout the day.
How do I treat the water I shower in for better skin health?
If you want to do everything you can to maintain skin health, you should certainly consider treating the water you shower and bathe in. The Journal of Investigative Dermatology explains that ion exchange water softeners can help reduce the risk of developing skin conditions by reducing the nuisance metals exposed to the skin when washing.
If you think you might be showering in chlorinated or hard water that’s causing your skin to dry out, you can invest in a CareSoft Elite RC®. The RC system is a unit that treats your chlorine water and softens it at the same time. It’s ideal for those on municipal water that believe their hard city water is drying out their skin and hair. The CareSoft Elite Softener is ideal for those who want to treat their homes for hard water that does not have chlorine additives.
How do I take the next step?
A professional can test your water for hardness and set you up with a treatment that fits your home’s individual needs. Call us for your consultation and start treating your skin, you deserve it.