I HATE soft water!

[Vanyel]

I was out of town attending a funeral and stayed in a hotel with other members of my family. The hotel was nice, clean beds, a lot of towels for the shower, and a mini fridge in the room for you to put drinks or whatever in. It's only problem, soft water.

I hated showering in soft water, it felt like the soap/shampoo never came off. I could feel it on me the whole time I was shower and I could not feel clean. It really did feel like I had a soapy film on me.

Anyone else here come from a place with hard water and not like showering or even just washing your hands with soft water?

Also, Why does soft water leave a person feeling that way? And it wasn't just me everyone in my family who stayed in that hotel felt the same.

So who here likes hard water showers, and who likes soft water showers?

 

[Kestra]

I'm the opposite; I dislike hard water. I had to deal with it in the dorms and a few apartments, but it just left my hair kind of icky. I'm really sensitive to whether water is hard or soft. At my parents' house I can tell if they need more water softener long before anyone else has any idea.

That being said, as long as the water is clean I don't mind that much one way or another.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I agree with Kestra. I hate hard water.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Another fan of hard water. It leaves me with a much better feeling on my skin after showering, and it's much more pleasant to drink for me (dunno why, honestly).

The water in my town is crazy hard: around 140 mg calcium/litre. A bitch when washing cutlery, tho.

 

[Deckerd]

Scotland is mostly soft. It depends where you grew up which you prefer. Me, I'm a softie. You use a quarter of the detergent in your washing machine than you need in a hard water area. You don't need to descale anything. Ever.

 

[Miss Chicken]

We have soft water in Hobart and I prefer it to Adelaide water which is hard though I don't 'hate' Adelaide water.

 

[trekkiedane]

Isn't it just a matter of using the appropriate soap?

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm on town water, which is treated to certain standards. My parents have a well and have really hard water, something like ~400 mg/L as CaCO3.

I can drink buckets of the stuff and not feel quenched.

Plus, it's ruined their plumbing over the years due to all the scale.

 

[RoJoHen]

I can get used to either if I use it long enough. I agree that soft water makes me feel like the soap never comes off, but hard water leaves me feeling sticky.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Hate soft water. Was visiting friends a few years back and had never experienced anything like that before. It really felt like the soap wouldn't come off!

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I tend to prefer soft water to hard water (unless you're talking about in a pool with a concrete lining). Ideally, it shouldn't be too far in extreme either way. I just think calcium is a nasty substance if you've ever had to deal with it in raw form.

 

[SVD]

Our hard water is only fit for cooking and bathing in. Drinking too much of it straight sits a little wrong, though it tastes better from a garden hose than the tap.

It also wreaked the pressure tank that came with the house, forcing us to buy a new one a couple of years ago. The water heater is on its last legs, the only way I can get a piping hot shower is if the "hot" (read lukewarm) water has been depleted and it's just been heated after the refill.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Count me in as hating soft water. It takes ages to the soap out of my hair, and I always feel a little icky.

I don't understand how anyone can deal with soft water in terms of bathing.

 

[auntiehill]

I know exactly what you mean, Vanyel. Every time I go to visit my parents, I have to put up with their soft water. They live out in the country, outside Austin, which is on a huge limestone plateau. They have a well system that purifies the HELL out of already soft water, so showering becomes a less than lovely experience.

It feels like the soap never comes off. The water is so soft that your skin feels slimey even after just rinsing your hands off.

Where I live now has slightly hard water, with lots of iron. I think I prefer it, since it at least makes me feel clean when I'm done. However, the iron build up makes rust-colored marks on all the fixtures that are hard to scrub off.

 

[marillion]

I love our soft water system.. My clothes (mostly dark of color) don't fade near a quick, we save money on soap, shampoo and detergent, and cleaning the shower is a snap.

Hard water deposits are horrible and such a pain to scrub (and scrub and scrub)

That feeling you get when rinsing off is actually an illusion.. You're clean and the water has softened your skin and hair.

 

[Sledder]

Hard water is hell your appliances, dishwasher, water heater, etc. You will end up replacing them way sooner than if you have soft water. You also use much less soap which is nice.

 

[trekkiedane]

Hard water is the norm here -we buy a lot of stuff to rid ourselves of the consequences (having the consequence that it costs a lot of money *sigh*); when doing laundry we use the same amount of water softener as we do soap, and dishwashers are also a pain to operate -but at least the water tastes excellent

 

[Vanyel]

That feeling you get when rinsing off is actually an illusion.. You're clean and the water has softened your skin and hair.

It may be an illusion, but it's a DAMN GOOD one. Also it's no big deal to clean the fixtures on the sinks and shower. Do it once a week and you're good to go.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

That feeling you get when rinsing off is actually an illusion.. You're clean and the water has softened your skin and hair.

It may be an illusion, but it's a DAMN GOOD one. Also it's no big deal to clean the fixtures on the sinks and shower. Do it once a week and you're good to go.

Exactly right

But, then again, I grew up with hard water, so I might not really understand how to adjust to soft water, and that might be why I'm having issues.

 

[clint g]

I'm not sure what kind of water we have here in NY either way, I've never had an issue with the water in the various places I've been.