How To Naturally Soften Hard Water, At Home
We discuss hard water in great detail on this site.
It’s one of the main problems people face with the water in their homes, and therefore we see it as our duty to educate, inform, and where possible, provide solutions to this issue.
In this article, we’ll be looking at how to naturally soften hard water, at home.
We’ve written about the main ways to soften water before; here, we’ll be discussing the best natural ways to do so; the home remedy versions of water softening, you might say.
Without further ado, let’s check out the methods.
Introducing: How To Naturally Soften Hard Water
These are the most natural solutions for the problems and issued caused by having a hard water supply.
The majority of these methods are not actually softening the water, the only real way to do that is by buying devices with an ion-exchange mechanism.
They’re how you can deal with hard water naturally. Thus alleviating the harmful effects of overly hard water.
The best ways are:
| # | Tip |
|---|---|
| 1 | Boil away the excess minerals |
| 2 | Use washing soda for your laundry |
| 3 | Use baking soda for cooking water |
| 4 | Use the shower more than the bath |
| 5 | Add apple cider vinegar to shampoo |
| 6 | Use your dishwater with cooler water setting |
Let’s check out those methods in more detail.
1. Boiling away the excess hard water minerals
Fill a pot with water, or use a kettle. Boil the water, and remove any excess white, chalky stuff that has gathered on top of the water. That’s calcium sediment, and one’s of the main potential causes if your drinking water is unpleasant.
Since it involves removing some of this mineral from your water, it is effectively softening the water. Albeit, boiling water every time you want to use it is not the most convenient method!
2. Use washing soda in your laundry
Add washing soda (which is sodium carbonate) to your laundry.
If your washing machine has a hard water supply, it can result in duller clothes after washing. But washing soda has a chemical reaction with these excess minerals (like magnesium and calcium), which results in much better lathering of your detergent.
The result? Brighter, more colourful clothes than would otherwise be the case.
BONUS TIP: Instead of washing soda, you could also try adding some water softening liquid, along with your detergent. This will also result in softer, brighter clothes that retain their colour better.
3. Use baking soda for cooking water
If you feel that the hardness of your cooking water is causing your food to become hard, lacking in suppleness, or having its texture affected, then you can add some baking soda.
One teaspoon added to a full pot is enough to make a difference. It will reduce the harmful effects of the high mineral content, and improve the texture of the food.
4. Shower more often than bathing
Why would that make a difference? Simply because lying in the bath allows more of the high mineral content in the water to interact with your body. It allows it to seep into your skin (which is not great for the skin) and hair (here’s how hard water affects your hair) in greater amounts.
So if you want to reduce the negative effects of hard water on skin and hair, try taking a shower more often than you have a bath.
5. Add some apple cider vinegar to your shampoo
Apple cider vinegar is one of those products that has a thousand health benefits and uses in home remedies.
In this case, its acidity will reduce the effect of the high amount of magnesium and calcium in the water. Hard water can cause hair to become dull and dry.
Just add some to your shampoo to get the benefits. Your hair should get back its vitality and shine.
6. Use lower temperature water in your dishwasher
Use cooler water when using your dishwasher.
This results in less grimy limescale marks being left on the dishes when its finished.
BONUS TIP: If there are any residual markets left, apple cider vinegar can once again be your friend. It works really well as a cleaning fluid for scale.
Summing Up How To Soften Hard Water Naturally
That’s it for your top tips on how to naturally soften hard water in your home!
As you read, there are a few simple steps you can take to lessen the harmful effects caused by hard water.
Now, most of these methods aren’t actually softening the water, as such. They’re dealing with the symptoms, rather than the cause, you might say.
If you actually want to soften your entire home’s water supply; well, we’ve written an article just for you on that topic. Here’s How To Soften Hard Water UK – which talks about water softeners and other solutions. There are also some other water softener alternatives, which solve the issues of limescale – again, they don’t actually soften your home’s water.
Or you can go straight to source and just check out the Best Water Softeners UK.
Thanks for reading, we hope it was helpful.