I grew up with hard water in my house.
And when I say hard water, I mean that when my parents had it tested it was actually worse than the lake in the town where they live. It literally ate a hole in their bathtub throughout the course of the time they’ve had their house.
Hard. Water.
Don’t know what that means?
Hard water is water that a high mineral content. It’s formed when water passes through deposits of limestone and chalk and it picks up various minerals from it. Hard water can clog pipes, damage appliances, and wreak havoc on your hair and skin…trust me, I would know!
When Corey and I moved into this house (literally, the day we moved in) we had someone stop by and try to sell us a water softener. Corey was skeptical at first because he’s awful at telling salespeople “no” and I’ve hammered into his head that he needs to ignore all of them, but I was actually very intrigued so we let the guy in. He tested our water and, while it wasn’t nearly as bad as what I grew up with, the water in our neighborhood is pretty hard.
We decided to dive in and get a water softening system for our entire house, and there are no words for how glad I am that we did it. After we had lived with our soft water for a while, I took a shower at my parents house one day and was shocked at how gross my skin and hair felt after getting out of the shower. I was so spoiled by my soft water that I didn’t even feel clean after a shower with the water at my parents’ house!
Luckily, my parents have seen the light since we’ve raved on and on about our water softening system, and they’ve since installed one as well – they’re thrilled with it and can’t believe they didn’t do it sooner.
So, since I’m so passionate about our water softening system and can’t stop bragging to anyone who’ll listen, I thought I’d share a few of the things I’ve noticed that are different about having soft water versus having hard water:
– My hair and skin feel so much better. I know I’ve already mentioned this, but it bears repeating. For the first few weeks after installing out water softening system, I actually thought I wouldn’t like it because it totally freaked my hair out to have soft water – the water actually felt slimy it was so soft. I was a greasy mess for a couple of weeks while my hair adjusted, but now that I’m used to the water my skin is much softer and my hair is much more manageable than it ever has been. It makes a much bigger difference than I ever thought it would, and the slimy feeling is totally gone. Now any other water just feels wrong.
– I can get a drink of water from any tap in my house and it all tastes great! The water from our kitchen faucet tastes the same as the water from our refrigerator, as well as the water from the sink in the bathroom! Growing up we always had to keep bottled water on hand, so it’s incredibly freeing to me to be able to get a drink from anywhere in the house and have all of it taste just as good as the bottled stuff.
– My towels and clothes stay soft. When I was a kid, the towels at my parents house were always so itchy and rough. I thought they just had poor quality towels but I later realized it was because of the water! Towels could never stay fluffy for more than few months because the water practically ate them away. Our towels are still just as soft as they were on the day we bought them, and we’ve had them for several years now!
– We have better water pressure. It sounds silly and it’s something you wouldn’t think about, but the water pressure at my parents’ house was always horrendous. Here? We have amazing water pressure. Why? Because when you have hard water the minerals create a buildup on the shower head that doesn’t allow the water to flow as freely! Our shower head never has any buildup on it, so we always get great pressure from it. Same thing for our sinks – my parents’ faucets were always so disgusting with all of the buildup (you could actually see it!), and the water flow was always pretty awful.
– My dishes get cleaner. My mom always had a dishwasher when I was growing up but I never once saw her use it. She washed every single dish in the house by hand because she said that if she ran the dishwasher the dishes would always come out with a film on them and they could never get fully clean. She had to scrub them by hand and dry them with a towel to keep the water from creating a buildup on them! She also knew that using the dishwasher with such hard water would, over time, cause pretty significant damage to the appliance, so she never did it.
Are you convinced yet?
We’re pretty infatuated with our water softening system – it was so easy to have installed (it took just a few hours), and it’s very easy to maintain. Most water softeners work by using a brine to strip the minerals from the water – so, all we have to do in terms of upkeep is add some salt to it every few months! We recently tried out Morton Salt for our system thanks to a coupon they sent me, and we were long overdue for a salt refill! Our water always tastes instantly better once we add more salt to our system, and this salt was easy to open and pour (important when you’re lifting 40 pound bags of salt!).
I know my example is pretty extreme – most people who have hard water don’t have water so hard that it’s going to eat through your bathtub, but I’m telling you there’s something magical about having clean, filtered, delicious soft water flowing from every tap in your house. I cannot recommend a water softener enough, and while it’s one of the biggest purchases we’ve ever made for our house it’s also one of my favorites.
Do you know if you have hard water in your house? You can learn more about hard water and how water softeners work AND order a free test strip for your water by clicking here. I swear to you, this system has been one of my absolute favorite things in our home, and I recommend it wholeheartedly!
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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