9 Top Shampoos for Soft Water For Healthy Hair + Scalp
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Looking for shampoos for soft water? While many say that soft water has more benefits and is safer for hair, it also has drawbacks.
What people call soft water is water free from too many minerals. Some prefer it over hard water because of the lack of mineral residue on the hair.
Unfortunately, too much of a good thing can be bad as well. Luckily, many products are available in the market to counter this.
Wondering what shampoo for soft water works best? Read on for our list of the top ones you can find in the market today!
- Provides gentle cleansing for the scalp
- Keeps hair hydrated and moisturized
- Refreshes and rejuvenates hair
- Deep cleanses hair and scalp
- Helps control excess oils
- Best prep for hair treatments
- Cleanses hair and scalp
- Keeps hair shiny
- Soothes irritated scalp
Table of Contents
What Is Soft Water?
Soft Water vs Hard Water
Water that goes into our homes can be described as soft or hard water.
As water travels to the residential pipes, it may pass through treatments or deposits that infuse it with minerals, particularly calcium.
Water with a high concentration of minerals is called hard water. On the other hand, water with little to no calcium and minerals in it is called soft water.
Water’s Role in Hair Care
Most of the time, one does not have the option to choose between soft or hard water. Some areas treat water in a way that will keep the mineral deposits, while others do otherwise.
This has many effects on our lives, and one aspect that water hardness is known to impact is hair care.
Hard water can be damaging and harmful to our hair and scalp. Because of this high mineral concentration, deposits of these minerals can be left stuck in the hair.
Not only can it irritate your scalp and cause flakes, but it can also weaken and make hair strands brittle.
Given this, many would prefer soft water for hair care, and it’s the more desirable option. However, it would help if you also looked out for soft water hair problems as this might be the hair issue you’re currently experiencing.
Since soft water has no minerals, it promotes oil production. This can be a bit too much for the hair to handle.
Too much grease can cause the hair to become flat and dull, while oils may cause pores to clog up in our scalp.
Additionally, soft water also helps hair products stick, causing old products on the hair to build up. This may irritate and cause problems on our hair and scalp if you don’t deal with it.
Shampoos for Soft Water: Things to Consider
Hair and Scalp Type
When buying personal care products, you first need to consider what works for you. To know this, you have to know your body.
Before buying a shampoo for soft water, make sure to consider your hair and scalp type. When it comes to hair, you might have to pinpoint which one you have from the main hair types: straight, wavy, curly, or coily.
Meanwhile, your scalp type depends on the condition of your skin in that part of your body. Usually, your scalp can be normal, oily, dry and flaky, and sensitive.
Ingredients
The biggest consideration when finding a shampoo to use in soft water areas is that these products must not have ingredients that can make your hair and scalp too oily.
Since soft water already promotes oil production, finding products that can add to this will only cause more harm than good.
Apart from making your hair flatter, this also encourages more buildup on your hair as time passes by.
9 Top Shampoos for Soft Water
Many recommend this shampoo for soft water for its effective oil-lifting power.
Key Benefits: Cleanses and lifts excess oils from hair and scalp, helps detoxify hair and scalp
Features:
- Contains extracts from Panax ginseng root, rosemary, and sage
- Formulated to be a detoxifying treatment
- Works great with most hair textures and densities
It’s time to detox your hair with Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo!
If you’re looking for the top shampoo for soft water areas, Bumble and Bumble’s offering is definitely a contender.
It’s effective in cleansing the scalp and lifting excess oils and impurities. It also detoxifies the hair and scalp from any nasty pollutants and product buildup.
The shampoo features extracts from natural ingredients like Panax ginseng root, rosemary, and sage. It has a potent formula as it’s meant to be a detoxifying shampoo.
While it works great with most hair and scalp types, it’s best to only use it twice a week.
Have dry hair? This one from Body Shop is worth your money!
Key Benefits: Provides gentle cleansing for the scalp, keeps hair hydrated and moisturized, refreshes and rejuvenates hair, soothes the scalp
Features:
- Formulated with birch bark, ginger, and willow extracts
- Has hydrating ingredients
- Free from parabens and best for those with dry scalp
Take care of your dry hair and scalp with The Body Shop’s Ginger Scalp Care Shampoo.
In many articles exploring the top shampoo for soft water, this product from The Body Shop is a mainstay.
Well, given how well it works, we can see why. Soft water issues on dry hair and scalps are often overlooked, but this shampoo can help save the day.
This product effectively cleanses and clarifies the hair and scalp, freeing it from dirt, impurities, and pollution. It does so in a way that doesn’t over-strip the scalp of the little moisture it still needs.
On top of this, it also has hydrating ingredients that will keep the moisture levels on your scalp at a healthy range.
A lot of people swear by this shampoo in preventing hair loss.
Key Benefits: Prevents hair loss, works well with anti-hair-loss treatments, fortifies hair strength, nourishes and cleanses hair and scalp
Features:
- Formulated with Cinchona extract and vitamin B nutrients
- Also contains mango butter for added nourishment
- Best suited for those with naturally dry and dehydrated hair
Nourish your scalp with natural ingredients using Kloraine’s Nourishing Shampoo!
Hair loss is a problem for many people, and many different factors can add to this issue.
Klorane’s Nourishing Shampoo helps fight against this, effectively strengthening your hair while cleansing the scalp.
This shampoo contains Cinchona extract and B nutrients to strengthen your hair. These also cleanse your hair and scalp while breathing new life into it.
Apart from this, it also keeps your hair moisturized, specifically with a wonderful ingredient: mango butter. It leaves the hair soft, shiny, and healthy, making it a must-try.
Many consider this as their holy grail shampoo for its detoxifying properties.
Key Benefits: Detoxifies the scalp, helps remove impurities and hair product buildup, helps get rid of dry flakes, balances scalp pH, makes hair shinier, protects hair from damage
Features:
- Contains apple cider vinegar as a cleansing ingredient
- Also has ginger extract, pomegranate seed oil, and salicylic acid
- Formulated with pro-vitamin B5 and rice protein
Keep your hair and scalp clean and healthy with Fekkai’s Apple Cider Vinegar shampoo!
Another mainstay in shampoos for soft water lists is Fekkai’s ACV shampoo, and we know why.
This shampoo contains apple cider vinegar, which removes the buildup, dirt, and impurities on your scalp.
Apart from that, it also helps balance the pH of your scalp while allowing your hair to achieve a healthy shine.
This product also contains ginger extract for scalp breakout treatment and stronger strands; pomegranate seed oil for clean, hydrated, frizz-free hair, and salicylic acid for exfoliation and dandruff removal.
This shampoo also helps protect the hair from heat and sun damage thanks to pro-vitamin B5, rice proteins, and edelweiss extract.
We love this shampoo for its fantastic scalp-purifying properties.
Key Benefits: Removes excess grease from hair and scalp, clarifies scalp from buildup, helps keep hair volume and shine
Features:
- Contains essential oils from lemon, rosemary, and cypress
- Clarifying formula is free of sulfates
- Best suited for people with oily hair and scalp
Clarify and keep your hair and scalp healthy with Maple Holistics Degrease Shampoo!
Still searching for the top shampoo to use with soft water? Take advantage of this one from Maple Holistics.
Specifically made for greasy hair, a lot of people swear by this shampoo for its amazing hair and scalp care.
But why is it so great? Made without any sulfates, this shampoo uses an effective cleansing formula that can help control excess sebum production. Additionally, it also helps in fighting off dandruff!
Hair care enthusiasts recommend this shampoo for its pH-balancing and hair-nourishing properties!
Key Benefits: Nourishes hair and scalp, helps prevent hair loss, detoxifies hair
Features:
- Contains apple cider vinegar
- Hypoallergenic, sulfate-free, and cruelty-free
- Curly hair-friendly
Strengthen and nourish your scalp and hair using WOW Skin Science’s ACV Shampoo!
A good shampoo for soft water is WOW Skin Science’s Apple Cider Vinegar Shampoo. As its name suggests, it’s formulated with clarifying and nourishing apple cider vinegar.
Given its formula, it claims to be able to soften and balance the pH of water that you use on your hair. Apart from these, it’s effective in getting rid of dirt, impurities, and excess oils on the scalp.
The shampoo is hypoallergenic and sulfate-free so that it can be used by most people, including those with color-treated hair.
Hair experts suggest using this hair cleansing cream because it deep cleanses impurities from the scalp and hair.
Key Benefits: Deep cleanses hair and scalp, helps control excess oils, strengthens scalp and hair cuticles
Features:
- Formulated with AHA fruit acids
- Salon-grade cleansing that works well with hair treatments (color, keratin)
- Perfect for all hair types, including color-treated hair
Protect your hair and free your scalp from grease and buildup using Redken’s Hair Cleansing Cream.
If you’re looking for some of the top salon-grade soft water hair products that you can use, look no further than Redken’s Hair Cleansing Cream.
This is extremely handy if you want to eliminate all the dirt, excess grease, and buildup from your hair and scalp.
It features AHA fruit acids as its star ingredient, which works to deeply cleanse the hair and scalp. On top of that, though, it also contains ingredients that reinforce the strength of your scalp and hair cuticles.
Trusted by many salons, this product can be used by everyone. It also works well to prep the hair for color and keratin treatments.
This shampoo refreshes the hair and scalp after removing all the dirt and pollution.
Key Benefits: Removes product buildup, impurities, pollution, and excess oils; keeps hair shiny and bouncy; moisturizes hair for a denser, volumized look
Features:
- Formulated with sea-based ingredients (e.g., salt and seaweed)
- Has moisturizing ingredients
- Perfect for all hair types
Breathe new life into your hair. Keep it shiny and bouncy with Nature Skin Shop’s Voluminous Sea Salt Shampoo!
Nature Skin Shop produces the top shampoo and conditioner for soft water.
The Voluminous Sea Salt Shampoo contains a rich concentration of sea-sourced ingredients, perfect for keeping hair healthy.
First, this product cleanses the scalp using salts. It helps get rid of dirt, pollution, oils, and impurities that can keep the scalp and hair from being healthy.
Next, it has moisturizers that will reinvigorate and volumize dull hair, helping your hair achieve a healthy luster to it.
Looking for a shampoo that deeply cleanses yet volumizes the hair? Get a bottle of this Aveeno shampoo now!
Key Benefits: Cleanses hair and scalp, keeps hair shiny, adds volume to limp hair, soothes irritated scalp
Features:
- Formulated with oats and apple cider vinegar
- Sulfate-, dye-, and paraben-free
- Widely available and budget-friendly
Soothe your scalp and keep it protected with Aveeno’s ACV Shampoo!
A wonderful and budget-friendly shampoo for softened water option is Aveeno’s Scalp Soothing Apple Cider Vinegar Shampoo.
While its name implies that ACV is its star ingredient, it also primarily has oats added to it, for which the brand is named after.
Oats and ACV work in wonderful ways as a duo in this shampoo. First, oats help calm and soothe irritated skin. Meanwhile, apple cider vinegar clarifies the scalp while offering your hair shine and volume.
Made with natural ingredients, Aveeno’s ACV shampoo is perfect for everyone of all skin and hair types.
On top of this, the product is also easily accessible and affordable!
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Soft Water Wash Hair Better?
Yes, it does! When you wash hair with soft water, you will use less shampoo, which means you rinse faster too.
This will do wonders for your hair. Plus, soft water helps maintain the hair’s pH balance, leaving the hair softer and shinier.
Should I Use Conditioner If I Have Soft Water?
There’s no harm in using conditioner after shampooing your hair with soft water. It’s actually great for the hair because soft water helps shampoos and conditioners lather the hair better.
Thus, you are using less product and preventing buildup on the hair shafts.
Does Soft Water Change Hair Color?
Hard water can be the main nemesis of your colored locks, but that doesn’t mean that other types of water are better.
Truth is, even soft water, city water, well water, or any water that has minerals will still affect colored hair.
Does Soft Water Help Dry Hair?
Yes, it can, but it can still depend on some factors. Hard water’s minerals can definitely dry up your hair fast. However, this doesn’t mean that switching to soft water can fix your hair issues instantly.
While soft water is known to have fewer minerals, it can promote overproduction of sebum in the hair. So while you may not have dry hair, you can have limp, flat, greasy, and/or smelly hair.
The key is to find the right shampoo for soft hair to prevent these from happening.
Soft Water Shampoo for Beautiful Locks
When it comes to hair care in soft-water areas, we shouldn’t overlook the negatives that it can bring. Yes, soft water is the better choice, but given certain circumstances, it can also harm our hair and scalp.
Choosing the right shampoo to use when we wash our hair can minimize these drawbacks and keep our hair and scalp healthy.
Hopefully, this list has helped you pick the right shampoo for soft water that you can add to your bath time routine. Choose the right one to fully reap the benefits of soft water on your hair!
Want to Learn More About Hair Care?
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- 9 OGX Shampoos To Try For Healthy Hair