fbpx
0
Your Cart

Hard Water Rash: Can Hard Water Cause Skin Irritation?

When you get in the shower, you probably expect to relax and feel comfortable. Unfortunately, if you have hard water in your home, you may have a difficult time doing so if you are itchy. Can hard water cause rashes? Yes. Hard water can definitely cause a rash on your skin.

Hard water means that your water supply has an unnecessary level of calcium and magnesium ions. While you might need calcium and magnesium ions for your overall health, they can also cause a significant amount of skin irritation.

There are a few important points you should keep in mind. 

What Does Hard Water Do To Your Skin Barrier?

Hard water can definitely cause a rash on your skin. When you have calcium that builds up on the surface of your skin, it can lead to itching, scratching, redness, and a rash. Sometimes, calcium can lead to a rash directly, but in other cases, calcium can cause you to start scratching, which could make your rash worse.

What are some of the impacts that hard water may have on your skin?

Hard Water Can Cause Dry Skin

One of the most obvious effects of hard water is that it can cause your skin to dry out. While this might sound counterintuitive, as water should make your skin moist, the extra ions in the water could actually strip water from the surface of your skin.

Have you ever noticed that your skin feels a bit dry when you get out of the ocean after you have been in the water for a long time? The same thing happens when you are exposed to hard water. If you do not want your skin to dry out, you should be careful about showering in hard water.

Hard Water Can Cause Itchy Skin

Hard water can also cause your skin to feel very itchy. Have you noticed that when your skin dries out you tend to scratch more? This tends to happen because your skin feels uncomfortable, and by scratching it you might deal with some of the discomfort.

The same thing will happen if you have hard water coming out of your shower. You might find that you are scratching a bit more, and that can lead to skin irritation and a rash. If you notice that your skin is a bit red, it could be a sign that you are itching and scratching more often. 

Your Acne Might Get Worse

You might also notice that your acne gets worse with hard water. If you have ever taken acne medication, you probably know that one of the side effects is that your skin can get a bit dry. Now, you might be wondering how dry skin can possibly develop acne.

Well, when your skin dries out because you have been exposed to a lot of hard water, the hard water will also deprive your skin of many of its natural oils. When your body realizes that its natural oils are gone, it will start to produce more oil underneath the surface of the skin. This can cause your skin pores to get clogged, meaning that you are much more vulnerable to the development of acne. 

You May Have More Dandruff

You might notice that you have more dandruff falling on your shoulders when using hard water as well. While the skin on your face and body can certainly dry out, the skin on your scalp can also dry out. When this happens, you might notice some white flakes falling from your head onto your shoulders, which can be a bit shocking.

If you want to help stop dandruff from happening, you should remove the hard water from your water supply.

You Become More Vulnerable To Sunburn

If you have ever felt sunburn on your skin, you understand just how painful it can be. While this is typically a problem that people associate with the summer, the reality is that UV rays and skin damage can happen at just about any time during the year.

When you have excess calcium and magnesium ions in your water supply, it can break down some of the elastin and collagen in your skin. As a result, your sensitive skin might be more vulnerable to a serious sunburn, so you need to protect yourself and ensure you have healthier skin.

How Can You Remove Hard Water From Your Water Supply?

Clearly, these are just a few of the many issues that hard water can cause for your skin. You need to protect your skin and overall health, and that means protecting the quality of your water supply as well.

If you want to remove hard water from your water supply, you need to rely on a water softener to produce soft water. How exactly can a water softener help you?

Swap Calcium and Magnesium Ions for Sodium Ions

DROP Smart Water Softener

A water softener is an appliance that you can install at the point of entry where water enters your home. The goal of a water softener is to remove calcium and magnesium from your water supply, which can help you protect your skin among many other benefits.

A water softener works by taking the water entering your home and funneling it through a resin bed with a bunch of sodium ions in it. Then, as the water works its way through the water softener, calcium and magnesium will be removed from your water supply. It will be replaced with sodium ions, which are not nearly as irritating to your skin.

If your doctor has advised you to follow a low sodium diet, you can also find water softeners that use potassium salt instead. That way, you can still reduce your hardness level, but you don’t have to worry about consuming excess sodium. A water softener is one of the most efficient ways to soften your water, which can help you protect your skin.

A Water Softener Can Help You Protect Your Appliances

Even though a water softener can certainly prevent skin irritation from developing, it can also help you protect your appliances. You have a lot of appliances throughout your home that depend on a clean water supply. A few examples include your washing machine, your refrigerator, your faucets, and even your shower.

If your water hardness level is too high, you could have a significant amount of mineral scale building up inside these appliances. This can place a lot of stress on these appliances, and it could cause them to burn out more quickly.

One of the easiest ways to protect these appliances is to install a water softener. A water softener can soften the water that goes into these appliances, preventing problems from developing while extending their lifespan.

If you want to find the right water softener for your home, you need to look at DROP.

Find the Best Water Softener for Your Home From DROP

If you want to protect your skin and appliances, you need to rely on a water softener. At DROP, we are proud to provide you with systems that you can use to protect the quality of your water supply and your health. We have cutting edge smart water softeners and water filters, among other products.

If you are tired of itching and scratching, you need to reduce the hardness level of your water. Take a look at the selection from DROP today, and find the perfect option to provide you with soft water.

My cart
Your cart is empty.

Looks like you haven't made a choice yet.