If you’ve noticed that your softened water feels slippery or even slimy when you’re showering, you may wonder if it’s clean and fresh. The truth is, your water is probably perfectly safe, but it behaves differently than the hard water you’re used to. Fortunately, with a few adjustments, you can ensure that using showering with softened water is a refreshing experience.
Why Does My Water Feel Slimy?
When your water feels slimy, the sensation probably has something to do with its mineral content. Hard water contains high levels of calcium and magnesium that can irritate your skin. These minerals tend to react with soaps and leave a residue on everything they touch, including your skin and hair. Consequently, many homeowners use water softeners to replace the minerals in hard water with sodium. This mitigates the hard water’s negative effects, but it can also change how the water feels.
If you’re used to the friction and the “squeaky-clean” feeling you experience when you wash with hard water, you may notice that your skin and hair feel different when your water quality changes. Soap lathers more easily when it’s mixed with soft water, and it tends to rinse away without leaving a filmy residue. This can help your skin retain its natural moisture balance, leave your skin more hydrated, and help your hair feel softer, healthier, and more manageable.
Water softening systems use a process called ion exchange to replace hard water minerals with sodium. The newly softened water is much gentler on your body, plumbing, and appliances, but when you’re showering, the sodium ions in the water can interact with excess soap, causing a slippery or slimy feeling. Since soap reacts differently to soft water, you need less of it to clean your skin and hair when you shower. Though the soap will rinse away without leaving a residue, too much of it can still create a slippery sensation.
How Can I Make My Water Feel Fresh?
If your water feels slimy when you shower, there are steps you can take to reduce the feeling and make washing up more pleasant.
Use Less Soap
Reducing the amount of soap you use by half should help your water feel less slippery. As a bonus, it can enhance the enjoyment of using your products and make them last longer, which can help you save money.
Use a Detergent-Based Bodywash
Using a detergent-based body wash instead of soap may be a more pleasant experience that leaves your skin feeling fresher. Try out different kinds of soaps and body washes when you wash to see how they mix with your water.
Change Your Water Softener
If your water still feels more slippery than you’d like, think about switching to a salt-free water conditioning system that uses potassium instead of sodium. These water treatment systems work by crystallizing the calcium and magnesium in hard water, which prevents them from forming scale buildup.
If Your Soft Water Feels Slimy, Call Benjamin Franklin
If a slimy feeling is keeping you from enjoying the wonderful benefits of soft water, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing can help. Call us today for advice on how to get the best out of your water softening system and to learn about alternative treatments that may suit you well.