Doesn’t the term “sparkling clean” give you a nice clean feeling? You can imagine the freshness, the purity, the whiteness and, perhaps, clean sheets blowing gently in the breeze on the clothesline. When you Google “sparkling clean,” the thousands of results include ads from soap companies that say their product will leave you sparkling clean and fresh. From the laundry soap ads of World War II to today’s shampoos, dish detergents, and body washes, what these companies aren’t telling you is that the “sparkling clean” feeling isn’t really it’s not clean at all. In fact, that squeaky feeling can be pretty gross and dirty. For people with hard water, that feeling may actually be nothing more than grime, grime, soap scum, and dead skin particles clinging to hands after washing.

Other soap and shampoo companies boast of leaving skin smelling fresh. Over the years, we have been programmed to associate smelling fresh with cleanliness. Instead, the fresh smell should be associated with the perfume of your soap. In fact, if you smell soap on your skin, it doesn’t mean your hands are clean, it means you didn’t rinse all the soap off your hands. Once again, it’s the hard water to blame, which causes the scented soap to stick to the skin. Here’s an interesting test if you ever get a chance to try it: Wash your hands with soap in hard water. Rinse, then smell and notice the scent of soap clinging to your hands. Now, wash your hands with the same soap in soft water. Once again, rinse and smell your hands. You will notice significantly less odor clinging to your hands this time. This is because there is no residual soap, or “scented soap scum,” clinging to your hands.

Hard water refers to water that is high in minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Magnesium and calcium are useful to us, but often at lower levels than we get from groundwater. So while this may not turn into health problems, it does not allow your soap and detergents to work properly. You may be wondering what water has to do with soap, so let’s consider this simple explanation: Soap’s cleaning action is determined by polar and nonpolar structures and solubility principles. Well, that doesn’t sound so simple. Let’s just say that the presence of calcium and magnesium in the water, when combined with your soap, creates insoluble compounds that interfere with the soap’s properties and cleaning abilities. Basically hard water makes your soap not work as effectively or efficiently.

Perhaps you live in an area with hard water. You know precisely how much shampoo to use, how much dish detergent to put in the sink. Have you ever traveled to another place that has soft water? He probably noticed that if you use the same amount of shower gel in the soft water that you use at home, you had too much and you had suds everywhere. Also, when you finally rinsed everything off, did your skin feel slippery? That slippery feeling is because you’re used to having soap scum clinging to your skin after showering, and since you washed with soft water, there’s no soap scum! Plus, you’ll notice that you need fewer moisturizers and skin lotions when you wash with soft water. Hard water soap scum clinging to your body causes dry skin and irritation, resulting in the need to use lotions.

However, it doesn’t stop there because hair is also affected by hard water. Just like soap, your shampoo is affected by hard water. Since you don’t rinse it out completely with hard water, you’re left with traces of shampoo and conditioner in your hair after you shower. Eventually, your hair can become dry and difficult to comb from shampoo products left behind.

Good water means good cleanliness and good hygiene. When soap doesn’t work properly, it doesn’t effectively clean dirt and germs from your hands and body. Poor hygiene, while certainly frowned upon in most parts of the United States, can facilitate the contagion and spread of disease and illness. Hard water, while it may not add up to this level of poor hygiene, it still may not allow your soaps and cleansers to do their job 100%. Perhaps this is part of the reason why we have fallen so in love with antibacterial soaps, because at some point someone realized that germs were not being killed. So now we wash with antibacterial soaps that promise to kill germs. Great, now we have dead germs instead of live germs trapped in the soap suds on our hands. This gets better all the time!

Let’s talk for a moment about the ingredients in your soap. Soap manufacturers realize that a large percentage of our country has hard water. They also know that the basic ingredients in their soap don’t foam and clean well when combined with calcium and magnesium in hard water, so they add special water-softening agents to the soap to counteract the water their customers will use when washing with their soap. product. Of course, every ingredient added to a soap product increases the price of that product and decreases the amount of actual soap you buy in a bottle. Pure, natural soaps have fewer ingredients, keeping the cost to a minimum. Companies put many ingredients into soaps, including these softeners, oils, perfumes, and much more to make your soap feel sparkling clean and smell great. But do you really know what you are putting into your body? Pure, natural soaps are not only more cost effective, but dermatologists recommend pure soap over popular brands. When you use a soap that has pure and natural ingredients, you don’t have to worry about your skin drying out mainly because soaps that are pure and natural contain more glycerin and fewer other ingredients than regular store brands. People who are prone to skin conditions of any kind, including eczema, will often find that soaps that are pure and natural do not cause any skin irritation like other brands do. The American Association of Dermatologists also recognizes the effects of oily and scented soaps on the skin. They define those effects as dry, irritated, itchy, and scented skin. So in general, fragrance doesn’t necessarily mean clean.

Hard water does not only affect the cleanliness of the skin. Imagine that same soap suds sticking to your dishwasher, washing machine, shower doors and sinks. Unfortunately, your appliances and accessories can’t remove excess layers the way our skin eventually does. It just keeps building up and eventually decreases the lifespan of those items. The costs add up in every way. Consider this: Clothes washed in hard water will look dirty and lose their softness. According to Hardwater.org, continuous washing of clothing in hard water can damage the fibers and possibly even shorten the life of clothing by forty percent. Limescale buildup in pipes has been estimated to increase energy bills by approximately 25%.

So let’s take a look at some estimated math. Let’s say you spend $20 a week on soaps and detergents for your family. But soaps and detergents last half as long as they should because hard water and residue make them difficult to use, so your family members are doing more scrubbing, thus losing about 25% of the value of soaps. Then she spends about $100 a month on clothes for her family. However, as the data shows, around 40% or $40.00 of that value is lost due to the effects of hard water. You’re also spending about $10.00 each week on products to help you clean soap scum off something that’s supposed to clean you! Eventually, you will need to repair pipes and appliances that no longer work, at an estimated cost of $500.00 over several years. Oh, and don’t forget that your water may not taste great, which is why you spend about $20.00 a week on bottled water for your family. Add up what you’re spending to “improve” your current drinking water, and tap water doesn’t seem like a cheap product anymore.

Fortunately, you don’t have to continue down this path. First, find out if there is hard water in your house. According to Hardwater.org, if you’re on a municipal water system, your water supplier can tell you the hardness level of the water. If you have a private supply, you can have your water tested for hardness. Then, with a little research, you will find that there are several solutions within your reach. Treatment can be most effectively and cheaply treated with a water softener, which replaces the calcium and magnesium ions in the water with sodium ions. Sodium ions do not cause buildup in pipes, on shower doors, or as soap suds. The water softening process has proven so successful that many types of service and manufacturing companies also choose to use water softeners to ensure their products are working properly. For example, plating processes, circuit board manufacturing, laboratory analysis, water-based coolant developers, printers, car washes, film processing, window washing, and film manufacturing. aerospace components use water softeners. If soft water is so vital to inanimate objects, shouldn’t your body benefit from it too?

Of course, untreated water seems like the least expensive option, but you also have to consider the financial losses you take on by continuing to use your hard water. Soft water requires the initial investment of purchasing a water softener unit and a small maintenance cost of salt, but there are many savings. Soft water does not mix poorly with soaps and detergents. This means that there is no “soap scum” that cannot be washed off, the bath is more effective, and the soap lathers better. Your hair and skin are softer. The washing machine cleans your clothes better and since mineral deposits are removed, your clothes last longer and are brighter. Spend less on laundry and dish detergents, shampoos and soaps, and household cleaning products designed to remove limescale and soap scum. The electricity savings from less washing, fewer costly appliance repairs, and a calmer mind for safe, clean water far outweighs the one-time expense of purchasing a water softener. A water softener can pay for itself and maintenance quickly, and still save you money.

Between the taste, safety, hygiene and maintenance of your appliances, a water softener is your best bet. The one-time cost associated with this product, or similar products, will save you money in the long run and also save you the headache of scrubbing up soap scum and shower residue from your and your family’s shower. Have your water tested today, find pure soaps, remove soap scum and save some money.