It's back to class for a refresher course.<br /><br />Water softening is often mis-understood. It is nothing more that a process that removed dissolved ions of certain minerals down to near zero level. It is not a process that adds something to the water to create a desired result.<br /><br />Those certain minerals are nothing more that the dissolved ions of ROCK, also know as limestone(hardness. Softening also has the ability to remove the dissolved ions of iron and manganeese which once contacted with air leave yellow, brown, red or blackish brown stains.<br /><br />Water, as we might have occasion to use direct from the sky or snowmelt from resivoirs is naturally soft. It has not been in the ground where it will invariably dissolve the material that makes up the aquifer.<br /><br />Soft water is prefered water because it is closer to, well, just plain water. When soap products are combined with hard water, the soap actually causes the dissolved minerals to be pulled out of solution (returning to their solid state) and combine with the soap to form a sticky drying insoluable curd of soap and limestone. This curd stick on your skin, hair, fabric and does not rinse away.<br /><br />A high alkaline mixture of soap and limestone breaks down fabrics more rapidly, is very drying on the skin and will cause an increased bacteria level on your skin causing varying degrees of itching.<br /><br />Further more hard water causes you to HAVE to use chemical soaps and to use more of them. All soap that ties up with minerals pulled out of solution become useless for cleaning. Therefore you have to add additional levels of soap to do the job.<br /><br />"Softwater soaps" are nothing more than natural soaps. You do not have to buy the dealers Soap Packs to get natural soaps. They are not effective in hard water but they are more pleasant and way easier on the skin. Many natural soap products are available in the supermarkets. Amway's soaps are also natural.<br /><br />. Soft water ie water absent of dissolved limestone, is wetter water, it has lower surface tension and it is a better solvent. Therefore it rinses soap off the body and out of the fabrics more quickly and thoroughly than hard water plus there is no hardness to form that curd.<br /><br />As to the slipperyness of softwater, it is nothing more than the absence of the opposite effect of being slathered with the sticky curd. High alkaline soap interacts with the surface skin protien causing that smooth slippery feeling in the absence of that sticky curd. The soap is long gone with minimal rinsing. The end result is that your skin is left smoother and moister.<br /><br />Go for the soft water. Which ever soap you use be sure to reduce the common dose by as much as 3/4's. That even includes your dishwasher.
