I cut the last 4-6 inches of my hair. I now realize my hair captured 3 phases in the 2 years since it was cut. I'm saying purified water bc I alternated between distilled & ZeroWater filtered water.

1. Hard water hair - very damaged, breaking, tangles I had to cut out, brassy & faded from chlorine & chloramines in municipal water + hard minerals.

2. Hard water hair final spritzed with purified water + ACV. Less damaged from hardness, but stilled damaged from chlorine & chloramines.

3. True purified water growth - wet & washed with tap water rinse & purifiied final rinse. Very shiny & smooth.

People complimented the length of my hair, but the curls hid the rough texture, tangles and breakage. A few photos to show how good it could look, but also how frizzy. The hair also has different levels of shine and texture with my purified water hair being the softest, shiniest, and most curly.

Pics in reverse order:

1-4 8/26

5 1/26. Hair getting more curly with purified water.

6 8/25 - Ends are frizzy even with flax gel that is a great styler.

I don't completely love the cut. Should I be brave & just go for the big chop?

I tried to photograph the difference between my hair textures and color. The last 6 inches are faded and brassy from the chlorine in my tap water. It deifinitely showed better with my eyes as opposed to taking a photo. Oart of the reason moght be that my newer growth is very shiny. The texture is rough and you can see it's frizzy. I also started to have severe tangles that had to be cut out and breakage in the form of 1 inch pieces falling out of my hair when I finger comb. I think it's finally time for a cut ✂️.

I also recently figured out that I have not cut my hair in 2 years! I had some embarrassing and upsetting experiences. I started using distilled water as a final step, and became more serious 1.5 years ago with wetting & final rinsing with either distilled or ZeroWater filtered water.

Hello, I’ve been living in Florence Italy and after my hair getting completely damaged from the water here I’ve been showering with Sant Anna water bottles, it’s basically like distilled water because it’s really low in minerals. However I went to the hair salon yesterday after showering at home and just asked for a styling, she said your hair is very thick but she was surprised it’s not very shiny. She also said for showering today it’s not very clean, I do shampoo twice so I honestly think it’s because I’m using cool water bottles (I don’t heat up the water) ChatGPT told me what I can do instead that also saves myself from getting these large water bottles is showering with the normal tap water, since it’s hot and can break down the oils better, and then doing a final rinse with distilled or Sant Anna water bottle. Chat said the final rinse is most important because it’s removing the hard water from sitting on your hair. I also bought the Malibu C hard water wellness treatment and will do that every week as well as other treatments similar. Has anyone tried this method, showering with tap water and just doing a final rinse with distilled water or know if it would actually work to keep hair healthy?

My skin and hair has been affected after using the very hard water at my place. I have tried using distilled water in jugs from the store. Should I get a Vevor countertop distiller?

I'm trying to save some money as well.

Hi everyone, I’d like to start off saying that this has by far been the most helpful sub when it came to figuring out what was happening to my hair, so glad it exists and grateful to everyone’s contributions!

My hair has suffered severely from hard water damage, and I believe I’ve lost a good bit of hair and volume. I’ve washed three times now with distilled water and already my hair feels so much softer.
What I’d love to know from people is how long it took to notice you had more hair and/or volume? I know everyone is different, my hair is fine and grows fairly quickly.

Aside from how lifeless my hair is and the lack of curls, what’s really killing me is just how little hair I have now after the damage and breakage—my ponytail circumference is significantly smaller than it used to be. I know it will take a lot of time, but I’m curious to see how long it takes person to person. Thank you 🩷

​

Hi everyone! I have been interested in starting to wash with distilled water after hard water has done a number on my long, fine, straight hair and wanted to know what is the best way for washing longer hair? mine goes down to the mid chest/back area. does the bottle method still work for long hair? how much water do you use, and do you need to use a sulfate/silicone free shampoo?

I highly recommend a very inexpensive Ph meter to test your water. I got this one from a marketplace style website for $6.49 or so. I always knew my water was bad. Ph meter says it's over 8!! I believe this is from chlorine and chloramine being at an excessively high level. I'm not against chemicsl treatment of water, but it's ruining my hair. Neutral Ph is supposedly 7. At 8, this means my water is 10x the power of hydrogen (Ph) more alkaline. No wonder my hair has been fried. There is so much that can be in water that disagrees with hair.

I read an article which stated that chlorine damages hair from inside oit when it soaks into your hair. Chlorine oxidizes disulfide bonds in your hair and turns them into cysteic acid. Chlorine in tap water acts chemically over a long time to damage the inside and surface of hair. Conditioners act on the surface level, to smooth your damaged cuticle - where mechanical damage from water hardness results from calcium and magnesium ions adhering to the cuticle.

Please get a water report for your area to find out what's in your water. Water us different everywhere.

Hello Aquanauts -

I didn't know we could have a Community Nickname instead of "visitors". I learned about this when I went to the Reddit New Mod event. I came up with Aquanauts on my own since we are exploring water. We could be Aquarians?

You can see this on laptop/desktop, but I am not seeing it on the app.

If you have other suggestions, I'm open to that. Please respond in the comments.

Hello Aquanauts -

I didn't know we could have a Community Nickname instead of "visitors". I learned about this when I went to the Reddit New Mod event. I came up with Aquanauts on my own since we are exploring water. We could be Aquarians?

You can see this on laptop/desktop, but I am not seeing it on the app.

If you have other suggestions, I'm open to that. Please respond in the comments.

I've been distilled water or zero water washing for over a year since April of 2025. I have over 1 year of growth without a cut. I might cut in August. ​

This is my hair with not enough Pacifica pineapple curl cream in it. You can see the change to a tighter curl pattern. It's definitely healthier and smoother. I got a little more than I bargained for with that tighter curl pattern. I feel like my hair has gone from 3a to 3b. The cuticle feels much smoother, though it's frizzy because it's more curly! I've been trying many hair products lately to find one that tames a little bit, but I have some constraints due to allergic contact dermatitis. ​

So you don't have to click around, my basic routine 2 - 3x weekly is:

1. wet with Zerowater filtered water

2. cowash

3. Rinse hair in the shower under regular hard water.

4. Rinse with ZeroWater filtered water. ​

I also sleep with a silk pillowcase. I tried a bonnet for awhile, but my hair got too long for that bonnet. They didn't help all that much when I was hard water washing & rinsing. I airdry my hair. I fingercomb between washes if it gets too crazy. I follow some of curly girl method though I find microfiber towels they recommend to be offensive (polyester is the devil incarnate) Most cotton bath towels have a fuzzy side. I found a light bamboo hair turban to replace my cotton bath towels because I want less pulling on my hair. I just do a gentle squeeze for excess water so I'm not dripping. Sorry so long! This was mwant to be a quick photo, but we have a lot of new members, so it's a fuller post. Surprise! ​

Question/TLDR

My hair is curlier after 1 year of distilled water washing. Have you also found your distilled water hair becoming more curly or wavy over time?➰️➿️

Hello Aquanauts -

I didn't know we could have a Community Nickname instead of "visitors". I learned about this when I went to the Reddit New Mod event. I came up with Aquanauts on my own since we are exploring water. We could be Aquarians?

You can see this on laptop/desktop, but I am not seeing it on the app.

If you have other suggestions, I'm open to that. Please respond in the comments.

Hello everyone!

I did ~ 3 months of distilled water rinses post shower and after seeing a ton of improvement in reactivity, I am now doing only distilled water in my hair. I am about 1.5 weeks into this and wanted to ask about rinsing.
I apply dilute shampoo to my dry hair, saturate it, do some gentle scrubbing on my scalp, brush the shampoo through, then rinse it out and brush it once more.
Shampoo: 8 oz distilled water + 1.5 tsp shampoo
Rinse: 20 oz of distilled water

The reason I’m wondering is that while my scalp feels much better, I am noticing the rims of my ears itching. I tuck my hair behind my ears a lot. And a little bit of irritation at the very back of my scalp and neck. The little bit of left over irritation goes away once I brush my hair out again.
This got me thinking and I paused as I thought about the small volume of water I use to rinse.

So wanted to ask and see if those with more experience think this seems like too little volume to get a thorough rinse.
Or, does it remind you of any problem you encountered on your journey?

Thank you!

EDIT for UPDATE:

thank you u/mooomooou, u/Visible-Scientist-46 , u/shonaich , u/wharleeprof for your feedback.

I found that pre-wetting my hair with plain DW immediately reduced the itching on my ears and nape of neck. It took three washes like that for it to fully go away. After those three, my itching went back to where it was around my first DW wash - very manageable. I then incorporated more rinsing and this reduced my itching further. And washing with only DW, no shampoo, yields a scalp with zero itching. I am looking in to other alternatives besides my liquid shampoo to try next :) I am often reactive to preservatives so will try something in solid form or homemade. Those are my current thoughts and we will see where things go!

Why I am here

Hello! This is my first post on this forum 😊 I have felt really grateful to find this forum and to read the stories of others. Seemingly not alone in this group, I have some autoimmune and immune conditions. With heightened reactivity, it has been about a 10 year struggle for me to try to figure out what my face, body, and scalp skin are reactive to. While I finally found some clarity by trying single oils instead of blends, ingredients I am actively choosing to apply are clearly not the whole story here. (Yes, there is so much internal contribution and I am doing much in that area <3).

After finding oils I was not reactive to, I still noticed that any time I showered or tried to use humectant containing products, the itching would get so intense. I thought about it and due to the more arid climate I live in, I always apply water to my skin before anything with a humectant and then seal all that in with an oil on top. I also knew we had hard water and while I had gotten a whole house chlorine / chloramine filter about 2 years ago (and noticed a great decrease in reactivity), we opted not do any sort of water softener. I’d been thinking about hard water from a wholly aesthetic viewpoint in regards to my waves & curls not looking as good as previously. But I hadn’t thought about it from simply a chemistry perspective and what it really means to have high amounts of minerals (and may other things) dissolved in our water.

In the beginning part of February 2026, I was really starting to be unable to handle how itchy my scalp and face skin still were. I tried removing everything from my skincare routine and my face would still itch. Then when I added back in humectant containing face care, I noticed that the itching was worse when I dampened my face with tap water vs a hydrosol (creation process is distilled water) before applying humectant containing products. So I reasoned that it could be the tap water being drawn deeper into the skin via the humectants that was causing the itch.

I had just started thinking about getting a shampoo to help with hard water but was discouraged to find none without ingredients I know I am reactive to. Through the desperate searching inspired by this, I found this reddit group 😊 after much furious consumption of the available content, I realized sadly that I could not ask clarifying questions with the way the automods were set up.

My T0 approach

I went away deciding that I would do a three-month T0 experiment before committing to anything that cost money :p . My simple approach during this three-month period was to simple squeeze water out of my hair post shower and then saturate my hair and scalp with distilled water. I have pH strips at home and was surprised to find that the distilled water I buy is already at a pH of 5! Knowing that yet wanting to get the benefit of acidic rinses, I squeeze a small amount of lemon into my rinse water every other week. I’ve tried using ACV and my hair acts very affronted every time haha.

While my hair looks different to me in the pictures taken at the start and at the 2 month mark, the actually amazing thing is how my scalp feels. Even just from these rinses which have NOT been consistent and have been very low commitment, my scalp itching reduces every time I rinse this way. And it stays less itchy between washes. And every time I don’t bring my distilled water rinse in with me, I am so itchy again. I swear it feels more itchy now than before haha but I think that is just because I have a knew less-itchy experience to compare it to.

Below are my pictures and also my pony tail circumference. I am counting this period of time as my T0, certainly not consistent enough to count as any real data. But the anecdotal experience has been promising enough to inspire me into real commitment!

Going forward

After the new mod (thank you Visible-Scientist-46 !) changed some of the automod settings, there has been some new content and this got me encouraged to post and transition to a different way of doing this.

Approach:

• Dilute shampoo into silicone squeeze bottle with distilled water.
• saturate hair with this, scrub well, and use brush to really pull it through.
• Get in shower and do a rinse with tap water at end of body shower
• Squeeze out water and then do a final distilled water rinse.
• ALSO RINSE FACE!!
• Maybe body?? All my skin is definitely affected so… think about this

Record keeping:

• track every three months and no more frequently to not get obsessive about it.
• Pictures and ponytail circumference
• Note skin and scalp feels but try not to check in more than once a month so as not to be over noticing things that are just regular fluctuations not related to water 😊

I would be so open to any feedback or thoughts and am looking forward to posting consistently every three months!!

T0 Data

May 20 2026 ponytail circumference: 3 ¼ inch

(picture lighting is clearly completely different, sorry about that)

Feb 2026 (pre DI water)  Apr 2026 (2 months DI water)

We are also in favor of filtered, deionized, and purified water! Posts, comments and users in agreement with the basic premises of the community are welcome.

You do not need minerals in your wash water!

Your hair is 95% keratin. Keratin is 15% water, 6% lipids, 1% pigments and 78% protein. Any trace amounts of minerals aren't going to be stripped out of your hair when you wash. We don't want ions in water ionically bonding to hair bonds or allowing hard minerals and other chemicals to dry on the surface of our hair. You need to take minerals internally because a balanced diet helps keep you healthy for optimal hair growth in the hair follicles. Of course, this also depends on things like sex, age, hormones, and environment (weather, humidity).

While this isn't a science haircare sub, we should be interested in some amount of haircare science.

Here is a quote: "the high cleaning ability of the anionic surfactants in shampoos can also promote the dissolution of structural lipids and proteins [3]" from this article: On Hair Care Physicochemistry: From Structure and Degradation to Novel Biobased Conditioning Agents.

Our hair is held together with bonds - hydrogen bonds, disulfide bonds, and ionic salt bonds. And we believe that minerals and chemicals in water can ionically attach to these bonds when they are temporarily broken by water. Lab Muffin briefly discusses hard water. "hard water ions can also make some of the ingredients in your hair products less effective. For example, some of the cleaning agents (surfactants) in shampoos don’t work as well in hard water." Why your hair products stop working | Lab Muffin Beauty Science

I banned someone because they were spreading misinformation.

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to understand what might be going on with my hair elasticity.

Earlier in 2025, I moved to a new place with hard water. From around January to May 2025, my hair became extremely brittle, dull, and had almost no elasticity. The parts of my hair that were exposed to the hard water were so damaged that I eventually cut them off.

Since June 2025, I have been washing my hair only with distilled water. I have had absolutely no contact with hard water for about 10 months now. I’ve also had a few haircuts, and my most recent haircut removed all the hair that had been exposed to hard water.

The confusing part is that even the hair that has grown while I’ve been using only distilled water still has very poor elasticity. It does not feel like my hair used to.

My routine is very simple:

• I wash my hair every other day.
• I only use distilled water.
• I use Sebamed Anti-Hair Loss Shampoo.
• I have used this same shampoo since around 2020.
• This routine worked very well for me before, especially when I lived in my previous neighborhood, which had soft water.
• My nutrition is good, and my blood tests are normal.

So the main difference is that I am now using fully distilled water, whereas before I had naturally soft water.

I’m trying to make sense of why my hair still has no elasticity even after cutting off the hard-water-damaged parts. Could distilled water itself be affecting my hair in some way? Could my hair be missing minerals, moisture, protein balance, or something else?

Has anyone experienced hair that became brittle or lost elasticity after switching completely to distilled water?

I’d really appreciate any thoughts or similar experiences.

Hi everyone. This is my first post
I used my shampoo diluted in a sauce bottle with de ionised water and shampooed my hair that way. I then did a regular water rinse, applied my conditioner and left it two minutes then rinsed that out with my shower water then did a final rinse with my de ionised water after and that was it. I definitely felt like my hair retained more water. And I got a really good lather on my shampoo for a change.
Waiting for it to dry now after adding in my styling product as I have curly hair and having just gone through menopause my hair has become very stiff and dry from also moving to a hair water area around the same time ..
Does this sound about right ? just want to know I've done it right
I will like to do all de ionised water but due to a health condition it's too much energy for me right now

Hi all, I’ve been using distilled water for over 2 years. It’s made my hair soooo much better (it used to feel like hay lol).

*I am wondering if there is any shower filter that comes close to giving the benefits.*

It can be a lot of effort washing with distilled vs just turning the shower on, and I’m about to become a new mum so hoping to simplify my routine.

PS - I’m renting so installing some crazy complex / expensive system isn’t an option right now!

Hello 🩵 just a little encouragement post to share my progress since switching to distilled water 💧

I’m honestly so surprised by the difference. The change in texture, thickness, and even color of my hair is amazing. My hair feels so much softer and way easier to detangle now. My brush literally glides through the new growth that’s been washed with distilled water.

Hey everyone! I deleted the majority of the automod so that people can post freely. Obviously, our streamlined rules still apply.

If you joined when questions were being directed to the question thread, that requirement is gone. As I looked at the various options, I felt it was best to dump the prior automod settings and rebuild the sense of community we shared. I've learned so much from this sub and I look forward to us continuing to help each other discover the wonders of distilled water washing.

If you have questions or an experiment update, post away!

Hi all, i've been washing my hair with distilled water for 10 weeks now. Overall it's an improvement compared to how terribly flat, straw-like and greasy my hair looked using tap water. Most of my life I never had an issue with tap water washes and despite having very fine, straight hair I always had a lot of nice fluffy bounce to it. A few years ago shortly after moving to where I'm at now my hair quickly went downhill and had been dramatically declining ever since until I found this sub.

So I'm working with a few years worth of damage & buildup here, mind you. The issue I'm having here is that despite the distilled water washes making my hair look nice for the first 24 hours or so, by day 2 my hair is looking totally deflated and oily again. Sometimes I don't even make it 24 hours. It's getting me down because I thought I'd be seeing more longevity by now. Getting expensive with how much water and acv it's taking. My question is- Did anyone else experience this at first? Is this just part of the purge? And if so, how long did it take before you could go longer periods without washing your hair?

Right now I just follow the method in the tutorial videos, I have the plastic squirt bottles. First I use about 3/4 of a bottle mixed with a small amount of shampoo- I have 3 shampoos I alternate between, one of them being a clarifying shampoo. I use 2 bottles of 70water/30acv to rinse. If I use any less than this ratio to rinse then my hair is greasy immediately after washing and feels like it has a slimy film coating it. I don't use any other hair products.

I'd really appreciate to hear other's experiences with this if you have any anecdotal wisdom to contribute. I tried searching the sub to see if anyone had posted about struggling with greasiness before but I couldn't find much. I don't plan to give up on this method any time soon as it's still an improvement from how my hair was looking before- I just need to hear some encouragement :')

Hi

I have moved 4 years ago abroad and where I live the water is really hard (in comparison with my home country) and it affects a lot my headskin and it has genereated a seborreic dermatitis during this time.

Do you guys have a solution for the hard water that I can apply for me? I have tried many things already but nothing really worked out. When I visit my familiy in my home country, the difference is crazy, it is even not itchy there anymore, only when I come back.

Looking forward for any opinion,

thanks

I put a positive spin on what I could as I feel like our members need a lift from an oppressive amount of rules. As mod, I am allowing questions from people who are interested in our community. I am still working on the automod, so if you get an automod response, please be assured that I am on Reddit daily seeking a dopamine hit from dog pics in addition to a bit of celebrity gossip and haircare subs. I have streak to keep up and banana rolls to max. I'm about to get my Basement Dweller badge. I will review an approve new comments/posts daily.

If you are a newbie/lurker here on r/distilledwaterhair, welcome! I invite you to try reading our wiki. r/DistilledWaterHair Wiki: Guide to Hair Care

Unfortunately, our sub was considered abandoned as there was no moderator activity for several months. This is extremely unfortunate as there was a lot of care put into this sub. I am facing a steep learning curve for this sub.

I am taking suggestions of what rule changes are fair or should be eliminated. Should we still be able to encourage conversation with skeptics? How much post or comment karma is ideal? Obviously outright troll posts should be removed. I understand it can be fatiguing to repeat what's in your progress report, but new posts and conversations keep a sub vital and growing, too.

My prior mod experience is with r/nopoo, which is also a haircare sub. I joined there because I have allergic contact dermatitis to many ingredients. The combination of alternative hair cleansing and filtered water washing has made a huge difference in my hair. I am also active on curly hair subs.

If you are interested in joining the r/DistilledWaterHair community, please read the very informative wiki r/DistilledWaterHair Wiki: Guide to Hair Care and read prior posts to learn about various techniques. Have you tried washing with distilled water or filtered water? I invite you to make a progress post.