Can soft water help heal or improve eczema, psoriasis, wounds and other skin ailments?
Soft water helps your skin and hair feel soft after bathing; but what about itchy skin rashes?
As a child, perhaps you remember being down the Shore and your parents telling you that salt water was good for any skin ailments or rashes that you had. The salt water seemed to speed up the healing process and reduce itching and redness.
Since water softeners utilize salt to reduce hardness, what are the chances that bathing with it can improve skin conditions such as atopic eczema, psoriasis and other skin abrasions and rashes?
There’s not a lot of research available to prove its efficacy, however a couple of studies conducted in the U.K. indicated that softened water may show positive results for some children with eczema. One study was conducted in areas of the country that were notorious for hard water. Of the over 350 families who qualified, 29 were given use of a water softener for 12 weeks and then were followed up with on a monthly basis to measure the results. Their answers showed:
- 91% recorded less itchiness
- 83% maintained that the water softener reduced the severity of their child’s eczema
- of the 78% regularly applying emollients or steroid cream, 67% were using less.
Perhaps more convincingly, at the end of the study, two-thirds of the families opted to purchase the water softeners. Ask your dermatologist if he or she thinks softer water could help improve your irritation.
How does hard soft water become soft?
In a simple process, your household water passes through a water softener unit where the calcium and magnesium mineral ions in the hard water are exchanged with sodium ions, rendering softened water. Soft water will definitely make your skin feel softer and more moisturized. At first, if you’re not used to softened water you may detect a slippery or slimy feeling on your skin and hair after showering or bathing. This may be because you are using too much soap and shampoo when showering. Soaps produce more lather in soft water; so if you’re bathing with the same amounts you did when you had hard water, there will be that much more soap lather to rinse off. Because the detergent properties in soap and shampoo work better in soft water you can use smaller quantities to get the cleansing effect you desire. The same goes for your laundry. You’ll find your linens and towels will come out of the wash softer, more vibrant and feeling cleaner than ever when you use less detergent.
Another thing to remember is that softened water doesn’t leave behind the scum of calcium and magnesium deposits that cling to your body when you shower. This is what contributes to that dry and scratchy feeling hard water produces on skin and hair. Instead, by ridding your water of these minerals, soft water lets your body’s natural oils come to the surface resulting in a smoother, silkier touch to the skin.
Unconvinced? Try Our Rent-to-Own Plan.
While we can’t be 100% certain that soft water will make you or anyone in your family’s skin irritations heal quicker or feel better, you may find it useful to try out a water softener by renting one for your home to see if it helps reduce itchy, scaly skin. If you don’t show any improvement, Passaic Bergen Water Softening can always come by and remove it. You also have the option of renting to own in case you decide you’d like to keep the unit in your home.
To learn more, contact Passaic Bergen Water Softening by calling (973) 697-6055 or use the handy Contact Form on this website and we’ll be in touch.
