Beaut.ie How To: Solve Your Hard Water Hair Problems

Living in a hard water area's not just a feast of scummy-looking tea, clogged-up shower heads and washing machines with a shortened life expectancy.

It's a Calgon ad and so much more besides.

In terms of beauty, hair tends to be hardest (ho ho) hit when you've hard water. That's because the high concentration of calcium and magnesium that make hard water, well, hard can be deposited on your hair, and that build-up causes it to become dull, unmanagable, and dry. If you're not quite ready to spring for a home water softening system, you could try using a clarifying shampoo like Bumble & Bumble Sunday Shampoo, Redken Hair Cleansing Cream, or Pureology Serious Colour Care Pure Volume Shampoo once a week.

If you think they're not doing the job, step up to a chelating shampoo, which can actually stop minerals like calcium and magnesium from binding to your locks - Aveda Shampure and Joico's K Pac Clarifying Shampoo would be two good candidates for this job.

For a DIY fix, use a diluted solution of apple cider vinegar as your final rinse. Add 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to 3 cupfulls of distilled water and pour over hair.