I think this is the right place to post this, if not my apologies.
I go to University in a different than city from where I’m from and have a house here. One of the things I noticed is that the water has a strong metal taste and through a summer of working at the Ministry of the Environment, I know that the city has higher levels of metals in the water than my home city. I’ve also noticed that while I’m at school, I get dandruff. I’ve used the same anti-dandruff shampoo for the past 6 years, at least, and had never had any problems except when I’m at school. I still shower daily, and my hygiene is no poorer. I was just wondering if there was any connection between “hard” water and dry scalp/dandruff? And if there was anything I can do to make it better.
I’ve written an SDMB Staff Report on hard water and washing *which will be hopefully forthcoming in a month or two), but to answer your question quicker than that - the hard water works to make a soap “scum” or “curd” that can make skin feel and seem dry and harsh, but it doesn’t actually seem to truly dry the skin out that much. It could do, I suppose. However, hard water can and does interfere with the effectiveness of cleaners to varying degrees, and one thing that could be happening is that your shampoo’s effectiveness is being reduced by reaction with the magnesium, calcium, and iron ions in the water.
Here is a solution that might work - try using a coal tar based dandruff shampoo. My WAG (no cite) is that the coal tar based chemicals could be more resistant to the effects of the hard water. The downside of coal tar based dnadruff shampoos are smell, colour, and (possible) very, very slight increase in potential carcinogenic effects. Given the witches brew that makes up most cleaners and chemicals nowadays, I have a hard time feeling overly risky using it.
Ugh. There’s a couple of terrible typos in there, but given that I should be in the hospital now it’s a miracle that I typed anything at all. Hopefully it’s still somewhat clear.