knotting slower due to water hardness??

as most of you know i've had a very slow natural journey to knotting. it gets quite frustrating at times. i've alwayschalkedit up to my hair being fine and soft. i got to wondering though (especially after seeing lauren's issues in florida) if the hardness of water could also be a culprit to the slower than normal process. do you think the build of minerals on the hair could cause a stagnancy in knotting? maybe due to added weight? i hear that soft water gives your hair body and bounce meaning it's cleaner maybe?? i may be grasping at straws here but i'm a year into this already and i feel like i'm dreading in slow motion compared to other natural journeys on here. i just want some progress that actually looks like dreads and not just a mess that i hide under a hat everyday:(

updated by @heather: 02/14/15 11:04:58AM

well since u been at it so long its sure worth experimenting

make yourself a makeshift still to distill water and try washing in that

u can get a water softener too

but distilling might be the cheaper option u can even make a home nmade solar water distillery

all u need to do is get the water to evaporate then collect the evaporated water and recondence it

quickest way boil the watter the steam goes up a tube which cools it back down into water and collects it

just if u do the boiling way u need a pressure relief valve to release if the pressure build up too much or it can go kaboom but a slow evaporation methiods fine and safe

though as a test u can just get 5 galln containers of distilled water to wash with as a test before u go through the bother of making something like that

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

do you use anything else like sea salt spray before you wash? im recommending this everyone sorry it just works so well!

wow. that seems like a lot of work. i've used distilled water to mix my bs mix in but i use tap water for wetting and rinsing my hair. maybe i'll do the 5 gallon thing and see if using distilled water for the whole wash would make a difference. i found a good shower water softener that i want to get but its $100 which is not exactlyfeasibleright now. i'm hoping my husband will get it for me for christmas:)

soaring eagle said:

well since u been at it so long its sure worth experimenting

make yourself a makeshift still to distill water and try washing in that

u can get a water softener too

but distilling might be the cheaper option u can even make a home nmade solar water distillery

all u need to do is get the water to evaporate then collect the evaporated water and recondence it

quickest way boil the watter the steam goes up a tube which cools it back down into water and collects it

just if u do the boiling way u need a pressure relief valve to release if the pressure build up too much or it can go kaboom but a slow evaporation methiods fine and safe

though as a test u can just get 5 galln containers of distilled water to wash with as a test before u go through the bother of making something like that

i do use sea salt spray but not as often now as i used to. i find that my hair gets really dry and brittle when i use it and i don't like the feeling. also i'm getting a lot of split ends which looks like little white tips (not the roots) all over my hair. i think i've been drying it out too much even though it still isn't knotting much. its really hard finding a balance.

Change~ said:

do you use anything else like sea salt spray before you wash? im recommending this everyone sorry it just works so well!

i'm in southern california which is basically desert heat here so humidity is rarely a problem. my hair is pretty dry feeling now after abusing it with clarifying washes and sea salt sprays over the last year. almost on the verge of brittle but still reluctant to knot. the entire underside of my hair is still normal looking hair. i really hate how it feels now. i want so badly to condition it to give it some moisture back but that won't do any of my unknotted hair any good. it will just prolong the wait:(

anouk fern said:

hey heather, we have hard water and it hasn't seemed to slow my progress. I always wonder if humidity makes a difference. We have quite dry air here and that makes my hair dry which I think helped it to dread up.

an ocassional acv rinse..weak very diluted will make i t feel better without harming progress really

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

what makes acv different for hair rinses than white vinegar? just curious. right now i use white vinegar as my fabric softener in my washing machine because i heard it cuts the hard water deposits and softens your clothes. it works well!

soaring eagle said:

an ocassional acv rinse..weak very diluted will make i t feel better without harming progress really

i dont know what it is, but acv is definately a conditioner, and like SE said it wont set you back. ive only been locking for over 2 weeks, ive done it once, and my hair felt so soft and i wasnt expecting that result at all. im thinking i might do it once every other week, not sure though. i can totally understand where your coming from. try the acv once and youll see the difference in how soft your hair feels

Okay, looks like it is about time that I step in here. As for hard and soft water... Soft water leaves hair and skin luxuriously soft...so soft, that it makes washing soap out VERY difficult. I guess I am spoiled because I grew up in a household where my parents used a soft water service every month and paid through the nose for us to have soft water throughout our house. I can explain it this way...ever use that tissue that is advertised to be easy on your nose and contains aloe vera? It feels kind of slimey, like someone already blew their nose on it! That is what softened water feels like! Like you are pouring lotion on your head and body. So, no...a resounding no! This would not be the answer to helping hair dread. Expensive shower heads are just a small scale version of soft water tanks and will give you the same result. It will waste your money and sorely disappoint you. Heather, you mention chelating shampoos in another post. This is a point of controversy, because there has been no concrete evidence that chelating shampoos even work. Besides that, you are only truly needing to remove mineral deposits if you are using chemicals on the hair (as in color, bleach or perms) and the minerals create a barrier. I have had clients who live in rural areas and they use well water, which can react with haircolor negatively...in this case a chelating shampoo may be of some help but quite frankly I would reach for another product before I would trust that to rebalance my client.On to my next topic...Hair health. I have said it before, andI will say it again. If anyone goes into dreading with the belief that they will continue to have healthy hair they are fooling themselves. Healthy hair will not dread! People on this site most especially cling to the notion that because they are not using chemicals that their hair is healthy. That is completely not true! For hair to knot adequately enough to dread, the cuticle layer ofhair hasto be severely compromised and that is a fact. There are degrees of damage...things that are breakage inducing, like crochet and back combing. But healthy hair will not knot! Healthy hair, unless of a very specific texture does not frizz. When you just wash your hair and don't cut it you are never replenishing it either. Hair is dead matter...therefore, if you do not replenish it...it is deteriorating and that is also a fact. The only live component of hair is the follicle (which is inside your scalp). So for a frank explaination as to why you are notdreading...you have to stop holding on to the notion that your hair will remain healthy. I clung to this impossible notion for 8 mos. and it was the reason I was so unhappy and disappointed. I keep thinking that somehow, my healthy hair would dread and it will not...I promise you that. Cutting and the use of a protein rich (the very substance hair is comprised of) conditioner to protect and replenish hair is theONLY way to keep it healthy. You may think that your hair is brittle and dry...and I am sure that compared to how it used to be it is...but you yourself said that the underside is healthy...and until it is all compromised you will continue to be disappointed. I don't believe that chemicals are our friends...but I do realize, as a professional that just because our grandparents used BS to wash their hair it isn't somehow a organic, magic solution. Afterall, BS is used to strip off residue to prepare walls for painting! Let's just all be real here...dreaded hair is damaged just by the simple concept that it is dreaded. A pregnant woman can not also be a virgin (unless you are... well, you know who) and dreaded hair is damaged hair. You just try to keep the level of damage to a livable level. Enough to achieve dreading, but not enough to lose hair through baldness or breakage. Oh, and P.S. to some members here...ACV is not a conditioner!!!