Chances are, any beauty tips you’ve ever read will contain a part about drinking lots of water and there are reasons for that. We’ve seen people that seem to have flawless skin and a glow to their face. They might contribute that skin to chugging down water throughout their day. Our skin is the largest organ and it’s there to protect us from a harsh outside environment. Harsh cold weather, dry weather, pollution, sun and dust, not to mention makeup, all have a negative effect on the skin and clog pores.
To create that barrier of protection, the skin needs to be always hydrated to its optimum. Water is also one of the components that helps build up much needed collagen that lessens with aging. While there are a lucky few that might be blessed genetically with clean and clear skin, they, and the vast majority of people also depend on drinking water to help nurture their skin cells.
It’s not just about drinking water, it’s about drinking clean water. The water coming out of the taps is often hard water and hard water is not purely H20. Hard water has other elements in it such as a high mineral count. These minerals, while not all of them are necessarily harmful, yet over time, the build up of these minerals is not healthy.
Hard water
A major effect of hard water is that it causes dryness of the skin because of the minerals in it. These minerals can be manganese, iron and sometimes aluminium. Some of these minerals cause skin pores to clog and increase skin irritations, making it more flaky, dry and itchy. It also increases skin ailments such as, eczema or acne. And we won’t even get into some of those bad hair days when washing and rinsing your hair with hard water is actually one of the culprits behind your dry, unruly hair.
Determining if your home is running on hard water
Water is used in most of the things we do, from bathing to laundry. You can detect hard water if you notice:
- Clothes are stiff and rough after being laundered
- Soaps and shampoos don’t lather well in the shower
- Soap film left on the skin
- Dry, irritated skin after a shower or bath
Why hard water cause skin problems
One of the reasons for this is that soaps don’t dissolve well with water that contains high levels of calcium, which is often found in hard water. The same is true of detergents and other cleaning solutions. When not well dissolved, soap will leave film residue on your skin and this is what causes clogged pores. Plus, if you’re a fan of long, hot showers this strips the skin of its natural oils.
Tap water
Most cities and towns use municipal water, known as tap water, which reaches your taps. This water comes from wells, rivers, or reservoirs and piped through to your home. The water is treated first to meet the requirements. The quality of this water will often depend on the community you’re living in. Wells need to be made maintained, and we know that all rivers of the world are polluted to one degree from another. While many of us just do drink water straight from the tap, it’s not always advised for people who have certain health problems or skin problems.
That’s a lot of water!
Now that you know a bit more about hard water effects on the skin, you want to make sure that the water you drink is clean and will benefit your skin rather than harm it. While many people do drink bottled water, it will become costly overtime. And if you have a big family, it’s not very doable, or economical to have bottled water for everyone because the recommended amount of water to drink is eight glasses per day. For people who exercise, the amount is more to make up for what is lost during exercise. Add drinking water to all the other things we need to do with water, such as bathing, cooking, washing, and the average person will need about 20-50 liters of water per day.
So this adds up to a lot of drinking water and water for other uses. That’s why many people would prefer to install a whole house filter in their homes, guaranteeing clean, drinking water all the time and saves them money in the long run. Drinking from a filtering system removes a very high percentage of elements that contaminate water, such as, toxic waste dumping, acid rain or rusty particles from old pipes.
Knowing that our bodies are around 60% water, this means that our skin and other health factors reflect the type of water we drink. We know the old saying, ‘you are what you eat’, well, you are what you drink is akin to it. Obviously, drinking unclean water is going to cause harm to your overall general health, including the skin.
Drinking clean water will:
- Replenish the skin tissues, giving it more elasticity which delays the onset of aging in wrinkles. Drinking sufficient amounts of water daily is more beneficial than applying a topical anti-aging creams.
- Give a glow to your skin, enhancing the overall complexion by looking and feeling softer.
- Release some of the stress you experience daily. Daily stress shows up on our face and skin and drinking water helps to detox your skin from stress-related effects.
- Combat skin disorders as eczema, or psoriasis. It also helps to lessen fine lines near the eyes.
The effects of clean water will also:
- Tighten your pores through cold showers. You can also soak yourself in a cold bath for 2 or 3 minutes to rejuvenate your skin.
- Reduce under-eye puffiness or inflammation by using cold water.
- Tighten your skin, when you splash your face with clean water a number of times.
To improve your skin, you need to improve the quality of your water intake. You can find your skin more radiant, softer and healthier after a couple of short weeks after taking an adequate daily amount of water.
