While showering is an important and relaxing daily ritual to help remove dirt and sweat, there is a small and dangerous secret lurking within the walls of your shower.
Depending on where you live you could be exposed to chlorine.
While some water municipalities and districts use small amounts of chlorine to kill harmful bacteria, daily exposure to chlorine especially with swimmers can lead to dry skin and hair.
Because of the repeated exposure to this toxin, the hot shower water vapors open your pores and increase the rates in which your skin absorbs the chlorine.
Thankfully, the right shower filter and a simple beauty regimen can help reduce your chlorine exposure and rehydrate your dry skin and frizzy locks.
Here are a few tips and helpful hints that you can follow to fix your hair and skin woes.
- Reduce the amount of times that you shampoo to three or four instances a week. Washing your hair every day can strip away natural oils from the scalp, leaving you with easily damaged and fragile hair. It’s best to use moisturizing shampoos and conditioners to soften and clean hair without stripping away the natural oils.
- Install a shower water filter. Premium Pelicanwater.com shower filters remove 96% of the chlorine that may be absorbed by your hair and skin. By filtering out the chlorine, your hair will be less dry and frizzy in less than 10 washes. In fact, you will be able to tell the immediate difference in your skin, after showering with your new filter. You can find inexpensive shower filters online and in your local home improvement or hardware store.
- Get out of the heat and minimize chemical exposure. Flat irons, curlers and hair dryers further damage your chlorine-exposed hair. Use a protective heat spray before using these products and turn down the temperature when using these tools. Limit straightening treatments to a few times a year.
- Don’t yank on your dry hair with a brush. When your hair is dry and damaged, it may break when you brush it with brush. To avoid further damage, use a wide-tooth comb in the shower when your hair is damp. The wide-tooth comb will gently remove tangles and knots without damaging your hair.
- Protect and moisturize your skin immediately after showering. Once you get out of the shower, pat yourself dry with a large towel. And then seal in the remaining moisture with a lotion while your skin is still slightly damp.
- Use a gentle body cleanser. By nature, the skin loves humidity – but showering with harsh soaps and repeated chlorine exposure is tough on the skin’s natural barrier. A milky and gentle body cleaner, combined with your shower water filter, won’t strip lipids from the skin and helps to restore moisture.
- Hydrate your skin with natural oils. The use of oils in skincare is an ancient practice. Even Cleopatra used oils to moisturize her skin over 2000 years ago. If you pat a thick and slow-absorbing oil onto your skin, your dry skin will look more radiant and feel softer.
