Winter & Water
Let’s talk about water. It seems pretty basic right? Not quite. Water can affect your hair, skin and overall health drastically.
Humans are made up of 70% water. A lot of of water is lost through sweat and urine. This makes it imperative to monitor our water intake. During hot summer months, people are more mindful of staying hydrated. During cold winter months, however water is often forgotten. The dry air during colder months dries out our hair and skin so it is important to continue drinking around 8-10 oz glasses daily. The type of waater we intake is extremely important! What is the best water to drink and use on your hair?
Tap water is treated with a lot of chemicals (such as liquified chlorine, fluorosilicic acid, and aluminium sulphate) to kill bacteria and other microorganisms. It can also have other contaminants like toxic metal salts, pesticides and/or bacteria or chemicals from pipes.
Bottled water is often times just glorified tap water. While some does come from, clear, sparkling springs or other lavish sources, more than 25% of it comes from a municipal, public supply. The water is treated and purified, but in reality it’s not much more regulated or safer than tap water. There are many chemicals that seep back into the water from the plastic bottle. Also, the process of bottling and purifying the water is really damaging to the environment. It would be a better choice, for the environment and your wallet, to buy a water filter and some reusable glass water bottles.
Distilled water is water that has boiled out contaminants. Most metals and chemicals have a much much higher boiling point than water, so when it is boiled the pure water comes out as steam which is captured and cooled to make distilled. Distilling is a method of purifying water, making it very clean and safe.
Alkaline water is water with a higher pH (8 or 9) than normal water (pH 7). Alkaline water can be naturally occurring or man made and it is thought to be beneficial in many ways. There are anti-aging effects because of the liquid antioxidants, naturally occurring in alkaline water, that are able to quickly absorb into the body. Alkaline water has been shown to improve energy and the metabolism because, it helps neutralize acid in the bloodstream. This in turn helps increase oxygen levels inside your body. It can also rejuvenate your body, helping your immune system, colon and skin. It has also been linked to weight loss and cancer resistance.
The water you put on your hair is also important. The chemicals in tap water, like the liquid chlorine mentioned above, can damage your hair. Chlorine specifically dries out your hair because it strips the hair of its natural oil (sebum) when it is absorbed into the hair shaft. The cuticle layer of hair, that protects the strand of your hair needs that sebum to stay intact and to reduce friction. Without it you may experience shedding and/or breakage. It’s important to minimize how much tap water you put on your hair, which means not shampooing everyday. Also, different pH levels do different things to hair. Low porosity hair needs a higher pH to help open up to cuticle, thus allowing for more product to be aborbed. Higher porosity hair, that can easily absorb products with its open pores, needs a more acidic substance to help close the cuticle, so it is able to retain moisture. Our Hair Dew Leave in Conditioners, are a great to replace the use of tap water you may be using to achieve your hairstyles. Hair Dew in low porosity uses alkaline water while, Hair Dew in high porosity uses distilled water and doesn’t have any have the harsh chemicals found in tap water.
No matter what season we are in water is an instrumental part of our health and hair growth! So drink up! Happy growing.