In a recent post, I took some pictures of some shower items to show what hard water residue pictures looked like. If you check those out, then you will see that it leaves a very thick white residue on anything it touches (including your skin).
This film of “gunk” is very sticky, and is extremely difficult to wash off of anything. My wife and I are clean people, and when we take showers it isn’t like we are filthy or something. Yet in no time gunk builds up on our sinks and tub due to the extraordinary hard water.
The dissolved minerals in hard water bind to almost any surface it touches, and to remove it you have to scrub extremely hard and buy cleaners that deal with the dissolved minerals.
Anyway, I wanted to take another picture to just display how hard the water is here. This is from the side of my shower. Keep in mind a couple of things before you even look at this picture:
- This is just the side of the shower, most of the water runs off into the drain. This is just a residue only of the side, which shows just how insanely hard the water is here.
- We clean our tub regularly (at least 1 per month or so), and we are never “filthy.” It isn’t like we get in the tub covered in mud or something.
Anyway, here is what the side of the tub looks like. The tub is white, and has hard water (whitish) residue on it:
So just to illustrate how fast the water builds up (just on the side where the water barely touches), I took a scrap piece of wood I had lying around. I then took the wood, and scraped from the bottom to the top of this small side part. Here is what it looked like:
Yuk! No folks, that isn’t cocaine, sugar, or even salt. It is nasty gunk in the water supply. And let me remind you, I have CITY water (not a well). This is just regular tap water from the city!!!
The only good news is that I have a new business idea: I can buy some empty capsules, and start a calcium/magnesium supplement business by scraping my shower!! Yah! (just kidding of course)
Not only does it leave this white powdery residue when it dries, but it also leaves a brownish colored residue as well (I am assuming probably iron deposits). On top of that, there is this black “sludge” that always forms in the drain.
I know this because my wife has extremely long hair, and every month or two I have to remove it from the drain in the tub to prevent it from clogging. And I always see this black sludge material, which I am assuming is probably some type of magnesium or manganese deposit.
Not only that, but we have to replace our shower curtain almost monthly, because the water is so hard and sticky, that mold starts to form on the shower curtain very quickly, even when cleaning it with bleach every month.
To clean this beast, I usually get some shower gel stuff with bleach, let it sit for an hour or two, and then scrub it and scrub it until it finally gets clean. Needless to say, I don’t exercise on that day…
Is This Water Great for Cholinergic Urticaria and Eczema Conditions?
Okay, just a little common sense here…does anyone actually think this water could HELP cholinergic urticaria, or eczema type conditions? My water has at least the following known chemicals in it:
- Calcium
- Magnesium (or manganese)
- Chlorine (added by city)
- Fluoride (added by city)
- Possibly Iron
- Who knows what other contaminants/minerals
I don’t see how all of these chemicals can help cholinergic urticaria or eczema. In fact, it is quite obvious to me that the water is going to aggravate or inflame any conditions with the skin (including psoriasis, or any type of rash/hives).
At the very least, hard water like this would clog pores and dry the skin. At the worst, this hard water could inflame or cause eczema, skin rashes, and potentially even Cholinergic Urticaria or allergic reactions.
Don’t get me wrong, I do realize that minerals are sometimes found naturally dissolved in water supplies like rivers, lakes, etc. But I honestly can’t see how even a river can be as bad as my water here!
Oh yeah, and this reminds me: When my wife and I moved in we purchased a small aquarium. We filled it with this crazy water, and the fish died within days. I now realize I should have used distilled water. I feel so sorry for those fish! I wouldn’t splash this nasty water on my worst enemy.
And after considering how my hives went crazy after I moved here, and how I developed terrible eczema/dermatitis type rashes like I have never developed before in my life, I think it is safe to say this water has some involvement with my skin problems.
So while I have no idea whether or not softer water will cure cholinergic urticaria (it may, it may not), I am fairly confident that it will at least make my skin more comfortable, and help cut down on skin irritation.Worst case scenario, I won’t have to scrub the tub as hard and my skin will feel softer. Best case scenario: It will cure my hives and prevent any eczema rashes from forming.
I Am Scrubbing My Skin Tomorrow and Using Distilled Water Again
In my last post, I talked about how I have been using distilled water to bathe every few days. I also talked about the white gunk my wife was able to get from my skin. It did it right after the shower, while my skin was moist. A person also replied on the forum and noticed this same gunk on their skin as well.
Anyway, I have purchased more jugs of distilled water, and also a nice little scrub brush. Here it is:
My wife is going to scrub me down, and trust me, it will be painful. Hopefully I will get as much of this gunk as I can off my skin. I know that in the eczema water softener trials, most people seen an improvement within 2-3 weeks. After a few months the change was incredible.
So I know this is going to be a long process, but I am definitely going to be experimenting with it over the next 1-2 months. Time will tell if it helps. I still think an actual water softener will be even better, as it is hard to really scrub using heated jug water.