Hard water question

[gigglelocs]

On the issue of hard water that dread heads seem to have, what mineral specifically is it in the water that is causing the problem? Or is it generally the amount of Total Dissolved Solids rather than the water's specific make up?

(I don't have hard water issues with ny hair. My water has a TDS average reading of 55. Just curious after learning a lot about pH, minerals and pH "buffers" in water whilst setting up an aquarium and also the same minerals etc in soil composition and how they affect plants etc.)

[willowbranches]

Hard water is primarily an issue if using a natural soap product instead of a detergent cleanser. Calcium and magnesium ions in the water have a chemical interaction with sodium ions in the soap, creating scum which doesn't rinse out well without copious amounts of lather, which is difficult to achieve with soap in hard water. Different hard waters will have different degrees of this interaction with different soaps, but that's the overarching problem in a nutshell ^_^

[gigglelocs]

Thanks for that