Shower Head Water Softeners – Will You Notice The Difference?

Shower head water softeners can be beneficial in several different ways.

Hard water causes a variety of problems in the household, and bathing is a major one. Hard water can leave a gritty coating on your skin and make hair feel dry, dull and heavy. Some people have even reported the onset of alopecia after moving to a home that has hard water.

Anyone who has hard water is well aware of the various problems that it can cause. It causes troublesome scale deposits that clog pipes, damage appliances and make laundry look dull and chalky. It leaves spots on your dishes and a white chalky film on tiles and bathroom fixtures. It also does the same thing to your skin and hair.

If you prefer to take baths, then hard water is easy to deal with. Simply add a water softening agent to the bath water. Calgon is a popular brand of water softener that is used by many people to soften water for baths and laundry. Adding a cup of coarse salt to the bath water also helps counteract the effects of hard water.

If you don’t have access to a bathtub or simply prefer to take showers, softening the water isn’t as simple as just adding something to the water. You need to install a whole house water softener or, if that isn’t an option, you could look into shower head water softeners.

There are many devices out there being marketed as shower head water softeners, but they are in reality simply filters. The difference between shower head water filters and shower head water softeners is that filters are generally simple charcoal cartridges that filter out iron, chlorine and other impurities from the water while softeners take care of the real culprit, which is calcium. If your water is heavily chlorinated but there is no problem with scale, then a shower head filter will work just fine.

Another mineral that causes problems in water is iron, which is commonly found in well water. Heavy iron content in the water can leave rust stains on everything, even your hair. A charcoal filter is a simple little device that attaches just above the shower head and will easily remove iron and chlorine from your shower water.

However, in genuine cases of hard water, more aggressive measures of water treatment need to be taken to condition water for showering.

A shower head water softener works the same way a whole house water softener does, by using salt to remove calcium and magnesium, the causes of hard water. It also removes a good deal of iron, eliminating rust stains in the shower and discoloration of the hair. It is slightly larger than a simple shower head filter, and it installs simply by unscrewing the shower head and attaching the unit, which is in turn connected to a new hand-held shower head that is easily mounted on the wall beside the original one.

You regenerate the water softener simply by adding ordinary table salt.