00:00is a shower filter worth it for your
00:02skin what about for your hair let's
00:04discuss the impact of water quality on
00:07skin has been a topic of great interest
00:09in dermatology for many years dating
00:12back to as early as the '90s
00:13epidemiologic studies nicely demonstrate
00:16a significantly increased prevalence in
00:19eczema among school children who live in
00:21areas with hard water what exactly is
00:24water hardness anyway water hardness is
00:27essentially the amount of dissolved
00:30calcium and magnesium in your water and
00:32it is overall typically defined based on
00:35the concentration of calcium carbonate
00:37salt in water anything from 0 to 60 Mig
00:41per liter calcium carbonate is
00:43considered soft water hard water can
00:46then be defined as well hard water
00:49moderately hard water and very hard
00:51water anything over 180 milligram per
00:54liter of calcium carbonate is consistent
00:57with very hard water with without a
01:00doubt hard water has an impact on Skin
01:03Barrier function as well as to a certain
01:06extent the health of your hair water is
01:08a great solvent while calcium and
01:10magnesium are the main players in water
01:12hardness a variety of other metals can
01:15also influence the overall hardness of
01:17your water such as aluminum or zinc or
01:20stonum these things they interact with
01:23negatively charged ions in the water to
01:25form salts our overall water hardness is
01:28a reflection of both temporary hardness
01:31and permanent hardness temporary
01:33hardness means to a certain extent you
01:35can soften up your water so to speak
01:37simply by boiling it whereas permanent
01:40hardness requires more sophisticated
01:42Technologies to soften the water how
01:45exactly does our water become hard in
01:48the first place hardness enters the
01:50water as it percolates through minerals
01:54that contain calcium and or magnesium
01:57common sources of minerals in our water
01:59include Limestone which donates calcium
02:02as well as Dolomite which provides the
02:04Magnesium your water hardness is going
02:07to boil down unintended to where you
02:11live uh it it varies quite a bit
02:14geographically even within the city you
02:16live different parts of a city may have
02:19different relative hardness levels where
02:22exactly is the problem here though with
02:24hard water and its impact on the skin
02:27there are quite a few ways in which
02:28having hard water can take a toll on
02:31your skin one of the most obvious
02:34although maybe not to the general public
02:36is that when you have hard water it
02:39makes it very difficult for your
02:40shampoos your body washes to lather and
02:44the compensatory response to that is
02:47well as a consumer you end up using too
02:50much body wash too much soap too much
02:52shampoo that can be really hard on your
02:55wallet but it also can be very taxing On
02:58Your Skin Barrier especially your scalp
03:01your skin folds because you end up using
03:04too much detergent which can really be
03:07hard on the Skin Barrier also the more
03:09you use the less efficient it will be
03:13for you to rinse that cleanser off you
03:16leave cleanser residue behind on the
03:18skin surface that can further aggravate
03:20skin problems especially eczema but also
03:24acne any other skin problem or just lead
03:27to dry skin rough skin texture also can
03:31leave a residue behind on your hair
03:33strands and make them appear dull and
03:35feel unmanageable furthermore the
03:38detergents in your body washes they
03:40interact with these salts and they form
03:44essentially chalk on the skin little
03:48particulates of chalk which if you have
03:50ever touched chalk you know feels very
03:54irritating on the skin can be very
03:56drying little fine particulates of chalk
03:59all over the skin surface guess what not
04:02so great especially if you have a
04:04genetic tendency to have at topic
04:06dermatitis otherwise known as eczema
04:09having this chalk particulate matter on
04:11the skin surface is not in your best
04:13interest but obviously it's going to be
04:15irritating the vast majority of people
04:18in contrast if you live somewhere with
04:19soft water your body washes your
04:22shampoos they s very readily so you
04:25don't end up reaching for another round
04:28of shampoo you don't end up putting out
04:30too much body wash into that lofa in an
04:33effort to get get a real sudsy lather
04:36and while Suds doesn't necessarily
04:39equate to efficacy of a given body wash
04:42it does help in facilitating spread to a
04:45certain extent of the product on the
04:47skin surface so things that don't lather
04:50well they make us reach for more because
04:52we feel like we're not getting it all
04:54over the skin well the other way in
04:57which hard water can disrupt your skin
04:59help Health overall is that it becomes
05:01disruptive to the Skin Barrier forms
05:03like a residue of essentially soap scum
05:06on the skin surface and this is
05:08disruptive to the Natural turnover
05:11processes that require enzymes to do
05:14everything that is necessary to maintain
05:17your Healthy Skin Barrier those enzymes
05:20can definitely have their function
05:22impacted by this hard water soap scum
05:25film and things just get messed up
05:28barrier function becomes compromised
05:30now it's even more of a problem if you
05:32have an underlying skin condition such
05:34as atopic dermatitis rosacea acne where
05:37there is at Baseline a problem with your
05:39Skin Barrier already the last thing you
05:41need is a soap scum film on your skin
05:44surface further aggravating your barrier
05:47function but really anyone regardless of
05:49your background skin Health can be
05:53impacted negatively by hard water and
05:56with the impairment and barrier function
05:59what that lends itself to is not only
06:01what's called an increase in
06:03transepidermal water loss meaning The
06:04Exodus of water out of your skin dry
06:07skin further leading to more impaired
06:10barrier function but you also have
06:12enhanced penetration of irritating
06:14substances things that otherwise would
06:17not bother you suddenly your skin is a
06:20lot more sensitive to whether that be
06:22fragrances in your body wash or certain
06:25preservatives things just the skin just
06:27doesn't tolerate them maybe certain fat
06:29Fabrics become even more likely to
06:31irritate your skin and a lot of times in
06:33these situations especially people chalk
06:36it up no pun intended to maybe their um
06:40uh laundry detergent when in reality
06:42it's a bigger picture issue related to
06:45the hardness of the water that can leave
06:48that barrier film issue behind now the
06:52other problem here is that not only do
06:54you have enhanced penetration and
06:55irritant but also potential allergens
06:59and with that also comes a more
07:02favorable situation for pathogenic
07:05strains of stafl cagus orus to colonize
07:08the skin surface for patients who have
07:11atopic dermatitis this is a common issue
07:14for them and contributes to disease
07:18flares recurrences and overall disease
07:21burden and severity so while it's not
07:24proven that having hard water makes you
07:26more likely to become colonized with
07:28staff it likely plays a role um and a
07:32lot of the research that we have on the
07:34impact of having hard water on the skin
07:37it comes from studying patients who have
07:40a type of eczema called atopic
07:43dermatitis but knowing what we know
07:44about that condition and the similarity
07:47of that condition with other skin
07:49conditions in that there is a inherent
07:52barrier issue one might further
07:55extrapolate to assume that hard water
07:59can like wise take a toll for other skin
08:01conditions such as acne such as rosacea
08:04at the end of the day it is clear that
08:06having hard water can certainly leave
08:08your skin feeling dry being more prone
08:11to itch and irritation which is not
08:14pleasant for anyone what about for your
08:17hair specifically hard water can have an
08:19impact on your hair in a variety of ways
08:22first of all the health of your scalp
08:24your scalp remember it's skin so the
08:27same issues that can occur on the rest
08:30of your body from having hard water what
08:32with barrier impairment can happen in
08:34the scalp can lead to scalp itch but as
08:37I mentioned earlier you also can get a
08:40buildup on the hair strands which ends
08:43up leaving your hair appearing dull and
08:47more stiff some people think that this
08:50may also contribute to an increase in
08:53hair fragility and hair breakage now to
08:56a certain extent it may some studies
08:59suggests that having a hard water has no
09:02actual true impact on the tensile
09:05strength of the hair strands whereas
09:07some other studies dig a little bit
09:09deeper and demonstrate that for people
09:12who are shampooing their scalp their
09:15hair in hard water if they switch to
09:18distilled water there is a significant
09:21Improvement in the overall tensile
09:23strength now I'm not telling you to run
09:25out and start buying distilled water to
09:28wash your hair with is a bit extreme but
09:31I wanted to bring your attention to that
09:33to further lend support to the idea that
09:35having hard water is definitely no easy
09:38task on your hair at any rate if you are
09:41someone who color treats your hair
09:43having hard water will fade the color
09:46treatment much faster now a lot of our
09:50research on how hard water impacts the
09:53hair strands themselves is in a
09:57laboratory setting not necessarily
09:59studying people who live somewhere with
10:02hard water and how it influences their
10:04hair and as you can imagine we all
10:07differ in terms of our Baseline hair
10:10texture and type so there are a lot of
10:12different moving parts to the hard water
10:15and hair story something in our shampoos
10:17that to a certain extent offsets the
10:19negative impact of hard water on the
10:22hair is the fact that shampoos as well
10:25as conditioning products are formulated
10:28with ingredients that are called keyers
10:30and what these do is they actually
10:33prevent those metal ions from
10:36interacting and reaching our hair they
10:38kind of wall them off this is something
10:41for example you will find in most
10:44shampoos now that being said some people
10:48are interested in using shampoo bars and
10:51a lot of times in my experience
10:53examining the ingredient list shampoo
10:56bars often do not contain these key
10:59ingredients and what people consumers
11:02who use them end up experiencing with
11:04consistent use of a shampoo bar versus a
11:07traditional shampoo is their hair
11:09becomes unmanageable and a lot of that
11:13could have something to do with your
11:15overall water hardness coupled with the
11:17lack heating ingredients in the shampoo
11:20bar so something I wanted to bring your
11:23attention to um and all of that to say
11:27so is it worth it then to go out and
11:30invest in one of these shower filters
11:32for your shower head uh maybe you live
11:34in an apartment you can't get something
11:37installed uh Plumbing wide so to speak
11:40to to to change the water quality in
11:42your shower you just want something that
11:44you can screw on to the shower head
11:46there are plenty of shower filters out
11:49there that you can just screw on to the
11:51shower companies out there willing to
11:54sell you these things but do they
11:56actually make a difference uh the the
11:59devil is in the details here's the thing
12:02it boils down to what is it about your
12:04water that is impacting your skin if
12:06it's hard water which is really what we
12:09know the most about in its impact on the
12:12skin if it's true hard water leaving
12:14that film behind that disrupts Your Skin
12:16Barrier making you use too much body
12:18wash too much shampoo leaving your hair
12:21dull shower filters they do not soften
12:25the water they don't they filter out
12:29certain things but they don't actually
12:31soften the water in order to soften the
12:33water it involves this complex ion
12:37exchange um and so you can't really have
12:39a showerhead filter that does that above
12:43and beyond simply one shower you would
12:46need to be changing this thing out every
12:48time now the complexities of how water
12:52softeners work the island exchange is a
12:55bit above and beyond my scope of
12:57knowledge but I do know that these
12:59shower filters they are not actively
13:01softening your water now depending on
13:03the filter they may remove things that
13:07play a certain role maybe in some
13:09temporary softness now the filters that
13:11you buy they may help to a certain
13:13extent in removing things like chlorine
13:17which can be drying maybe some other
13:20things in the water that in theory could
13:22be disruptive to your skin but a lot of
13:25what you're going to encounter online
13:26and people seeing the Praises of power
13:29filters anecdotal purely anecdotal and
13:32I'm not saying there's nothing to the
13:34anecdotes there could be something there
13:37if you're looking for a research back is
13:39this the most evidence-based thing I can
13:42be doing for your skin the answer is no
13:44shower filter is not really going
13:47to uh definitively change the game for
13:49you uh not saying it won't help but it
13:52is the the research is not there to
13:55recommend patients with any skin issue
13:58with any hair issue for that matter to
14:00go out and buy a shower filter now what
14:02about a water softener then um if you
14:05live in an apartment it's not something
14:07that you can just have a water softener
14:10put in um you can get one of these
14:11filters but again that's not the same
14:13thing as a water softener say you you
14:15know live somewhere you can have a home
14:17water softening system put in ion
14:20exchange um don't get me wrong this can
14:23make a huge difference for a variety of
14:25non-skin and hair things in your home uh
14:28everything from the health of the pipes
14:31uh to like the longevity of your clothes
14:34cuz hard water you know it impacts more
14:36than just your skin barrier in your hair
14:39um it definitely can help in that regard
14:41but does it actually help the skin
14:44here's the thing the few studies that we
14:46have again done on patients who have
14:49atopic dermatitis children suggest that
14:52installing a true water softener Island
14:56exchange water softener does not have
14:59any impact does not change any of the
15:02associated measures of atopic dermatitis
15:06severity for these patients now the
15:08study that we have looking at the water
15:10softener admittedly you know it's not
15:12perfect it's actually very good it's
15:16uh and it is blinded by to a certain
15:21extent uh they they can't you can't
15:23really here's the thing you can't really
15:25blind study participants to having a
15:28water softener or not you can't use a
15:29sham water softener because when you
15:33have a water softener it makes such a
15:35visible difference in the Laing that
15:37people know right away so it's kind of
15:39that's kind of not valid to have a sham
15:41water softener but what you can um do is
15:45blind the researchers and so that's what
15:47they did in the study but also um the
15:50other thing is they didn't really look
15:52for a very long period of time so it's
15:55really hard to say if there's going to
15:56be a longterm difference given the
15:59length of the study you know long term
16:01maybe it could make a difference the
16:03other thing about the study is it was
16:05looking at already people with already
16:07established atopic dermatitis whether or
16:10not it could influence prevention of
16:12flares of atopic dermatitis was not
16:15really uh well well clarified in that
16:18study furthermore they did not quantify
16:21how much shampoo how much body wash
16:23participants used before and during the
16:26intervention if you know the assumption
16:29is that the intervention the water
16:31softer is going to you know lead to the
16:34use of perhaps less body wash less
16:38shampoo and therefore have less of a
16:40disruptive impact on the Skin Barrier
16:42but if participants didn't change up the
16:44volume that they were using then of
16:47course you know you may not see a
16:49difference so I'm not you know saying
16:51that if you have a water softer and you
16:53see some Market change in your skin in
16:56your hair I'm not saying that it's all
16:58on your head by any means but as it
17:00stands now for dermatologists there is
17:03insufficient evidence to recommend
17:05patients have water softeners put in
17:07their homes for the purposes of managing
17:10any skin condition but the research that
17:13we have Al be at limited is in patients
17:17dermatitis specifically in children not
17:20in adults and children you know their
17:22skin depending on their age Their Skin
17:25Barrier is is a lot more sensitive to
17:27these changes so the Rel to adults
17:30honestly who knows at this point so long
17:33story short is having a shower filter
17:36worth it in my opinion we don't have
17:39sufficient research to to promote the
17:42use of shower filters for any skin
17:45condition that being said if you've used
17:48a shower filter and you find that it has
17:49made a noticeable difference in either
17:53hair then uh who am I to say that that
17:57is all in your head makes sense we we
17:58just don't have good research to support
18:01the shower filter thing and if you have
18:03hard water the shower filter is not
18:06going to change that um shower filters
18:08are not actively going to soften the
18:11water you need an ion exchange water
18:13softener for that is my understanding so
18:16before you know you go plunk down money
18:18on something to put in the shower just
18:20keep that in mind it may not make a huge
18:22difference overall all right y'all
18:25that's what I wanted to talk about in
18:26today's video our shower filter is worth
18:29it of course you're not going to get a
18:31yes no answer from me there's always a
18:33matter of nuance there and so if you've
18:36invested in one and you find that it has
18:38made a difference by all means carry on
18:41but shower filters uh they they vary a
18:45lot actually they vary a lot in terms of
18:47what they actually filter out not only
18:49are they an upfront investment but you
18:52also have to change them out regularly
18:54so that becomes quite an expense as you
18:56can imagine if there's not a research
18:58study to back it up no physician should
19:01go recommending you to invest in
19:03something that you're going to have to
19:04continue to invest in an ongoing bases
19:07that about wraps this video up I hope
19:09you guys enjoyed it if so give it a
19:11thumbs up share it with your friends and
19:13as always don't forget it's on screen
19:15and subscribe I'll talk to you guys
