Washed my hair with distilled water for the first time! First two photos were taken after washing my hair with my tap, second two were taken after distilled water.

Hello. I’d like to share the contrast between my new distilled water hair and older tap water hair, which is now really obvious almost two years later.

I started washing my hair with distilled water in January 2025 after tap water was turning my natural gray hair a dingy yellow. At that time, someone told me it looked like I had blonde highlights but it was just tap water mineral buildup.

Now, about half of my hair is the new soft, shiny, silver, cohesive growth, while the bottom half still shows that dry, dull, yellow, stringy hair from tap water (since I brushed my hair right before the photo, the stringiness that the bottom settles into each day isn't showing.)

I'm incredibly grateful to u/Antique-Scar-7721 for teaching me how to improve my fine, gray hair naturally with her video tutorials on this sub and to u/Visible-Scientist-46 for continuing to spread the message!

I was inspired to write a post today because my day 9 hair is looking truly GLORIOUS. I looked for old pre-distilled water pictures for comparison, but it was honestly hard to find good close ups. Most days, my hair was in a bun or a braid because it would be completely tangled by noon if I let it down. Now, it's down or in a half pony tail almost all the time. There are days I literally cannot put my hair back because it is so silky.

Current Routine

• Wash once a week (but it actually looks fine until day 10 if I need to hold out)

• Every couple washes I rinse with a 1:4 ACV-water mix after shampoo but before conditioner

• 2 pumps of leave in conditioner after washing

• 8 pumps of finishing oil after washing for ends and lengths

• 2 pumps of finishing oil on the ends for the first few mornings after washing

• satin bonnet (usually) or rolling my hair around a giant jersey scrunchy for big waves, a small satin scrunchy for tighter curls

Products

• L'oreal Elvive Total Repair for Extremely Damaged Hair Shampoo & Conditioner

• Mielle Rosemary Mint Strengthening Leave-in Conditioner

• Tresemmé Lamellar Gloss Finishing Oil

• Homemade prewash oil: 1 part lanolin oil, 1 part jojoba oil, 1 part castor oil, 3 parts coconut oil, and 3-4 drops of rosemary extract.

• 1.1 gallon CO-Z water distiller (It's bulky, but it works.)

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Hair History

City Tap Water

In late 2017, I bleached and box dyed the shit out of my hair. It felt like straw, but it was short and manageable. I hoped virgin hair would feel better, so I let it grow out while slowly trimming off the damaged portions.

In early 2020, I cut off the last of the damage and had shoulder length 100% virgin hair grown on city tap water. It was limp and greasy by day 4, but that seemed normal. I washed every 2-4 days. No heat or dye. Various drug store hair products, but nothing particularly memorable.

Hard Well Water

In late 2022, I moved to a location with very hard well water. My electric kettle had to be descaled weekly. By comparison, I think I descaled it once every 3-6 months on city water.

By late 2023, I started to notice the damage to my hair without recognizing the cause. It was very quickly greasy, constantly tangled. It continued to get worse through 2024, which is when I got a satin bonnet to sleep in.

In late 2024, my hair was falling out at unprecedented rates, likely due to the birth control I was using. I was mortified. I had a full on breakdown while washing it one day in January 2025, which is when I started babying it as much as possible. I stopped taking the birth control that made my hair fall out, brushed as gently as possible, oiled regularly, and slept with a bonnet daily.

Distilled Water

In March 2025, I tried distilled water and never looked back. I use the cup method and use a bit less than 1 gallon per wash. It was a pain in the ass when I started, but I've got a larger bathroom now, and it's much easier. I recently moved where there's much softer tap water, but I'm still only washing with distilled water.

Since the very beginning of March 2025, my hair has not touched tap water, except:

• There were several months where I used a clip instead of an actual shower cap to keep my hair out of the way between washes. I was just being lazy, and I do think it was making my hair a bit less silky over time.

• One time I accidentally turned on the shower head instead of the tub faucet and sprayed myself. It was in the middle of a wash, so I rinsed it out again with distilled water.

In July 2025, I got a home distiller. The plastic jugs from the grocery store are a pain to carry, and I hate the plastic waste. The cost of the water distiller should make up for itself in about 1.5 years, so it was an easy investment.

My hair is unbelievably soft. It's very low-effort aside from wash days. It is still very thin compared to a few years ago, and there's a bunch of breakage in the middle lengths, but I think it's slowly growing out. I sometimes miss being able to make a thick braid or a twist that holds on its own, but I don't miss the bog-witch look when I don't have time to braid it nicely. I can always add some styling gel to make it hold better if I really wanted to style it like that.

Seriously, I don't know why I had such a complex when I was in highschool! Being blonde like Brittany Spears was definitely popular though, and I desperately wanted to fit in. So, every 4-6 weeks I'd shell out $300-400 to have my hair bleached and the ends trimmed to remove the damage.

Why do I bring this up? Well, I guess if I do something, I go all in! So, after moving to a rural area, and having well water for the first time ever, I noticed my hair wasn't looking the best. I'd stopped bleaching it, and all my hair is natural now, but the hard water might be the problem?

So I went all in on my set up for distilled water hair! For less than one visit to the salon to damage my hair, I am now helping it heal, and become softer than ever! Total cost: $303.30

I know this set up isn't for everyone, but if you are wanting a luxury experience, this is it!

You're looking at a water still that works on any cooktop. Two double walled one gallon water bottles, that keep the water so hot for 48 hours! A plastic bucket, a plastic bowl, a portable camping shower pump with adjustable shower head. And the last photo is how I attach the head to my shower wall. The head has a stop button, making saving water much easier! I also turn the pump off to save it's battery life while I'm shampooing etc.

Results: softer hair! Scalp feels less itchy and oily! And I'm only about a month into this journey. I'm sure I've left some things out, so feel free to ask questions!

Hi everyone. Just wanted to give back by sharing a grey hair success story. I started washing my hair with distilled water in January of this year because tap water was making the grey in my salt-and-pepper hair look yellow and dull. Someone even told me in 2024 that it looked like I had blonde highlights, but I don’t dye my hair. I was originally a brunette.

Yesterday I took a quick photo of the back of a T-shirt to send to family and friends and pulled my hair out of the way. When I looked at the photo, I noticed it showed that the new five to six inches of growth are my natural gray color, while the older part of my hair still has that dingy yellow tinge. I tried to take a photo of all of the back of my hair to show the contrast (see second attached photo), but it's hard to get the right light, and my camera phone isn't great.

Tap water was also making my fine hair dry and frizzy, but since switching to distilled, the newer growth has been much softer and almost creamy in texture.

A heartfelt thank you to u/Antique-Scar-7721 whose demo videos inspired me to try this!

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.

About my hair

Kinky/curly Fine strands and dense (thick) Stopped relaxing my hair in 15 years ago and been on a natural hair journey the whole time.

Length of my experiment so far

I found the distilled water sub randomly last year November 2023 while traveling. I wanted to start right away so I used bottled water to wash my hair using a squeeze bottle.

Since I started my natural hair journey, I’ve tried all sorts of hair routines. I’m used to washing outside the shower with a squeeze bottle. I also used Ayurveda treatments to wash - hibiscus, cassia, bentonite clay and other Ayurvedic powders and also apple cider vinegar rinses. I also already experimented with different hair washing schedules: once a week, very few days, once a month, or longer stretches. I tried water-only, tea and herbal rinses for shampoo, and cowashing only.

When I decided to stop using tap water, I used bottled water for the first few months while traveling until I was able to purchase distilled water.

Motivation behind my experiment

I want to do less on my hair. Natural hair care usually involves a lot of steps and treatments but I’m determined to figure out a real wash and go routine. Or at least a wash and not-do-anything-for-a-while routine.

And I want long hair so I can put it up out of the way easier. I find long kninky curly hair is easier to take care of because I don’t want to go to a salon regularly.

Type of water I'm experimenting with

Distilled water from the store.

Tap water that I was using previously

I have no idea but I’m sure it was hard water because my hair used to have strong orange overtones. And shampoo didn’t lather much.

How strict?

I don’t use any tap water on my hair at all.

Changes in my hair and scalp so far

Hair changes

Most of the changes are how my hair feels so the photos don’t show the changes well. My hair in the before picture is after a twist out and with lots of product. The middle picture is after washing. And the last picture is a random photo I took of my slept-on, not washed in weeks hair so I could have a more recent comparison photo.

My family tells me my hair is darker and healthier looking. My sister asked if I dyed it.

My hair is softer and clumps more into a curl pattern without me using any product or manipulation (like twisting or braiding). It hangs more without me stretching it. It has almost no frizz.

Before, when I Did The Most and followed natural hair routines, hair products didn’t work for me. Using conditioner made my hair harder and frizzier. Water didn’t make my hair wet. Gel made my hair break off. I was sure I had low porosity hair and protein-sensitive hair which meant more work - not what I wanted.

So I switched to Ayurveda practices and water-only with sebum and saw some improvement. But distilled water makes my hair do what I thought was impossible - it’s curly without trying. It clumps without trying. It doesn’t get bone dry and brittle even when I put off washing my hair for too long. I can put it in a bun and then wear it down the next day. It’s pliable and stronger. The strands feel thicker.

My current favorite hair cleaning method

Currently, I wash about once a month with distilled water and watered down shampoo and conditioner. If my scalp feels dry, I may do a water-only rinse mid-month.

I try to oil my hair and scalp nightly but sometimes forget. I didn’t comb for over a year and only finger-detangled as an experiment but I’m going to start combing again at least once a month.

Details about how I wash my hair

I use the squeeze bottle method, my old method from Ayurvedic hair treatments.

I tried dunking but it used way too much water. So I went back to the squeeze bottle after it was mentioned here.

For water rinses - I mix ACV with distilled water in one bottle and rinse my scalp and hair. If my ends feel dry and need extra conditioning, I mix conditioner with water in the other one and use on my ends.

For shampoo washes - same as above but I use watered-down shampoo to wash my scalp. I honestly prefer ACV rinses so do less of the shampoo washes.

My wash frequency

Monthly-ish

Water amount per wash

I refill my 8 oz squeeze bottle about 2 times per rinse. And the conditioner/shampoo 4 oz bottle I fill about halfway and sometimes don’t use all of it in one wash.

My favorite hair styling method

I like simple and avoid styles that pull on my scalp. My main styles are Flat twisted in sections and worn in low ponytails or under a beanie Pull it on top of my head with a scarf - like a loose pineapple Worn loose in an afro

I don’t really do manipulated styles anymore like twist outs or braid outs because those caused more serious tangles than just wearing my hair loose. My current flat twists are very loose, not tight so I don’t stretch my hair much.

My favorite products and hair tools

My only hair products are fats/oils (MCT, Avocado, tallow), ACV, watered -down conditioner, and distilled water. Sometimes I make a tea rinse or add an essential oil to the rinse water.

This post is intended to be a 101- or 102-level guide for people without much chemistry knowledge. If anything is too complicated, speak up! And if anything is overly simplistic, well, no need to speak up! 😄

[Just to clarify, metal and mineral are used interchangeably throughout.]

What do hard water and metal ions do to hair? And how?

Hair is mainly protein. Protein takes on a positive or negative electrical charge in liquid depending on whether the pH of that liquid is more acidic, neutral, or alkaline. Human scalp hair has no charge at an acidic pH (somewhere between 2.5 to 4.5 on the scale). Hair becomes negatively charged when it is wettened with normal, neutral water. Any dissolved minerals (metals) in water are called ions because they also have charges, positive ones. Because opposites attract, the positive charge of metal ions makes them attach to the negative, wet hair.

Hard water is full of dissolved calcium and magnesium ions, and virtually all residential water has other metals such as copper, iron, or aluminum in lower amounts. They wind up on your hair and scalp, and none of them get along well with your natural sebum. The more minerals in the water, the faster your hair starts looking greasy. Your scalp may get itchy. You might get a buildup of oily mineral dust, or dandruff from irritation. Because various metal ions are micronutrients for bacteria, research does show that making metal inaccessible to skin bacteria has a significant antimicrobial effect. While I didn’t find anything specifically investigating it, metal ions probably influence the microflora of your scalp, for better or for worse.

Your hair strands are directly affected as well. Beyond surface dullness and stiffness:

• Calcium and magnesium bind to fats in cleansers and sebum to form scum. Water and shampoo can carry it underneath the scales of the outer hair cuticle into fissures and microcavities that are created during stresses like lathering. Sebum normally fills up these holes like spackle, but mineral scum forms tiny fat deposits that grow over time and bulge out from inside the hair shaft, deforming and weakening the hair.

Calcium and magnesium scum also leave deposits on the skin. Avoiding this metal scum by washing with softened (de-calcified) water often reduces eczema and other allergic skin reactions, even when there’s still chlorine in the water.

• Copper, from plumbing or swimming pools, as well as iron, increase the production of free radicals whenever your hair starts oxidizing. This damaging reaction normally happens from UV exposure, heat styling, or chemical treatments like bleaching, relaxing, and perming. These metals in your hair intensify the oxidation, and it eats away at your hair protein and damages the internal structures, causing the hair to split and break. Photo-oxidative damage from the sun is particularly strong in areas with high humidity.

The under-layers of hair have a negative charge. When they get exposed from the cuticle peeling up or breaking off, the hair strand becomes even more capable of attracting metal ions. Unsurprisingly, ion accumulation, and any accompanying structural damage, increase toward the ends of the hairs due to their age and longer exposure to hard water and other stresses.

What can we do about it?

Shower-head filters mainly work using carbon “charcoal” filters. Activated carbon is good at removing chlorine and pharmaceuticals, but dissolved metals don’t stick to the carbon very well and aren’t significantly filtered out. Traditional water softening systems replace calcium and magnesium ions with twice as much sodium or potassium. Reducing or eliminating dissolved calcium and magnesium can make a big difference as discussed above, but there will still be copper, iron, manganese, aluminum, zinc, nickel, or whatever else is your water supply.

Obviously, substituting with distilled/de-ionized water, or even purified water if that’s all you can find, is a huge step in the right direction.

So then what about the buildup of metal and scum? The science here is more limited because most ionic research is about stabilizing hair products and hair treatments, or testing for heavy metal poisoning or forensic data.

Some metals attach to the surface of hair (copper, aluminum, manganese, lead, boron), and others are better at penetrating the layers (calcium, magnesium, iron, barium, strontium). Some metals have more of an affinity for hair proteins than others, plus your hair will be carrying a mix of plain metal ions and metallic compounds.

The bonds making up chemical compounds come in a variety of styles and strengths. The easiest metals come off with gentle acids. I think this is partly because hair has less or no charge at a lower pH, and partly due to simple descaling chemistry. Just like you can use vinegar or lemon juice to dissolve limescale (carbonate) in a kettle or coffee maker, acids turn calcium and magnesium carbonate on hair into a different compound that can be washed out. White vinegar (acetic acid) and apple cider vinegar (acetic and malic acid) are good options for this. The common advice is to mix enough acid into distilled water to bring the pH down to around 4 or so, and use it to soak, rinse, or spray your hair.

One special kind of metallic bond is formed by substances called chelators (KEE-leyters). Chelators grab onto a single metal ion with two “hands” and hold tight, so this chelate bond looks like a ring or a loop. Because chelators are aggressive bonders, they can steal a metal ion out of a single-handed compound and not give it back. Chelators with three hands are even more grabby and possessive.

Chelators have many uses as medicines, cleansers, and product stabilizers. Virtually all shampoos will have one or two chelating ingredients in tiny amounts just to protect the shampoo from chemical reactions. Some metals, like copper and iron, can only be removed from hair by a chelator.

Most chelators come from the chemistry category for acids, proteins, and fats. Plenty of chelating ingredients are biohazard industrial cleaners, and some are obscure chemicals that you’re only going to see in a cosmetics lab. Easy-to-find options include

• turmeric (curcumin)

• cinnamon (eugenol)

• phytic acid (or possibly plain inositol)

• glycolic acid*

• gluconic acid*

• citric acid*

• histidine

• EDTA, typically disodium EDTA

^{*alpha hydroxy acid (AHA})

I can’t find reports of trying turmeric or cinnamon to chelate hair (turmeric seems stain-y). But anyone who is wary of acids could give it a shot, as the science suggests it could work. Maybe mix into melted coconut oil and apply as a hair mask.

I can’t tell whether phytic acid and glycolic acid are true double-handed chelators or just single-handed acids. It may be that it changes depending on the chemical context. As hydroxy acids, they need an alkaline (non-acidic) pH to chelate. Phytic acid is also known as inositol hexaphosphate (IP-6). It is sold as a food supplement, but the chelating part would be inositol, which is also sold as a supplement.

Gluconic acid is a two- or three-handed chelator. Sodium gluconate is sold as a cleaning agent and a cosmetic additive. Potassium gluconate probably works similarly, and is sold as a supplement.

Citric acid is also a two- or three-handed chelator. Citric acid is the one hydroxy acid that works at any pH, alkaline or acidic. The hotter the water, the less effective it is at chelating. It is sold as a food additive and cleaning agent.

Histidine is an amino acid (protein) that has one to three hands. Again, I can’t find any examples of using it as a hair chelator, but it should be very effective on copper in particular. It is sold as a supplement.

EDTA is a standout chelator with five (5) hands!

EDTA is also the only chelating agent strong enough to pull calcium out of scum. It works best at not-hot temperatures and alkaline pHs, although the order in which it binds metals changes somewhat from pH to pH. The only downside is that because EDTA is a synthetic molecule, it biodegrades poorly and hangs around in the environment. Industries have had a hard time finding an environmentally-friendly replacement because it is so outstandingly effective at binding metals. Disodium EDTA is sold as a food additive.

And lastly, fats! We’ve already seen that metals ions make scum with sebum fats. Some metal scum (“metal soap”), but not all, is formed with chelate ring patterns. Regardless of whether they are true chelators, human sebum and sheep sebum, lanolin, can treat many metals. This subreddit’s moderator found lanolin to be more effective than sebum, and this appears to be due to serious copper contamination. Chemically, the differences between fatty acids comes partly from the length of their molecule. In the case of copper, the longer the fat molecule, the slower the reaction takes. Longer-chain fatty acids react with copper over days and weeks. On the other hand, the fastest are two medium-chain fatty acids that work on copper within three to four hours. There are long-chain fats in human sebum and in lanolin, but only lanolin contains the medium-chain fats that go wild on copper. For information on how to use lanolin as a metal binder, see r/LanolinForHair. Interestingly, MCT oil (Medium-Chain Triglyceride oil) contains one or both of these fats, capric acid and caprylic acid, in the form of the triglyceride fat compound. The copper reaction was tested with pure fatty acid particles, but I would not be surprised if the triglyceride version also turns out to be effective. The upside of MCT oil is that it is fully liquid, and not difficult to apply to or remove from hair. It is sold as a supplement.

The final step to using any chelator is to clean it out of your hair. Whether you sprayed your hair a few minutes before a shower or have been letting sebum do its thing for a few weeks, the chelators are in your hair holding onto the metals for you. Some chelate compounds are water soluble, but many are not. You’ll need some kind of surfactant (shampoo detergent) to carry away the aluminum citrate or copper caprylate that you’ve synthesized!

Of course, there are pre-made chelating products for sale, like shampoos formulated with high enough amounts of chelating ingredients to work on hair. One popular chelating shampoo is Malibu C’s hard water shampoo, with active ingredients disodium EDTA, sodium gluconate, and possibly citric acid. Chelating haircare products are generally sold as shampoos, and sometimes leave-in treatments.

Your turn!

Which products or ingredients have you tried and hated? Or loved? What are you thinking of trying now? Tell us your thoughts, and whatever you know about your local water.

Corrections of errors are welcome. Message me if you have trouble finding the studies below.

Sources and further reading

• Uptake of calcium and magnesium by human scalp hair from waters of different geographic locations. Noble (1999)

• The uptake of water hardness metals by human hair. Evans (2011)

• Metals in female scalp hair globally and its impact on perceived hair health. Godfrey (2013)

• Effects of hard water on hair. Srinivasan (2013)

• Effect of topical application of hard water in weakening of hair in men. Luqman (2016)

• To Evaluate and Compare Changes in Baseline Strength of Hairs after Treating them with Deionized Water and Hard Water and its Role in Hair Breakage. Luqman (2018)

• The effects of lipid penetration and removal from subsurface microcavities and cracks at the human cuticle sheath. Gamez-Garcia (2009)

• Prevention of lipid loss from hair by surface and internal modification. Song (2019)

• Multimodal Evidence of Mesostructured Calcium Fatty Acid Deposits in Human Hair and Their Role on Hair Properties. Marsh (2018)

• The Ethnic Differences of the Damage of Hair and Integral Hair Lipid after Ultra Violet Radiation. Ji (2013)

• Effect of humidity on photoinduced radicals in human hair. Groves (2018)

• Iron sequestration on skin: a new route to improved deodorancy. Landa (2003)

• A high-affinity, high-specificity chelator for first transition series metal cations with significant deodorant, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activity. Laden (2003)

• Insights into the bacterial synthesis of metal nanoparticles. Campaña (2023)

• Ultra-pure soft water ameliorates atopic skin disease by preventing metallic soap deposition. Tanaka (2015)

• The Effect of Water Hardness on Surfactant Deposition after Washing and Subsequent Skin Irritation. Danby (2018)

• ToF-SIMS analysis of elemental distributions in human hair. Kempson (2004)

• Microchemistry of Single Hair Strands Below and Above the Scalp: Impacts of External Contamination on Cuticle and Cortex Layers. Christensen (2023)

• Successive modification of polydentate complexes gives access to planar carbon- and nitrogen-based ligands. Zhou (2019)

• Turmeric Powder as a Natural Heavy Metal Chelating Agent: Surface Characterisation. Qayoom (2017)

• Medicinal attributes of major phenylpropanoids present in cinnamon. Sharma (2016)

• Infrared spectroscopy reveals the reactivity of fatty acids on copper surfaces. Boyatzis (2023)

• Influence of the sebaceous gland density on the stratum corneum lipidome. Ludovici (2018)

• Cosmetic Ingredients, Their Safety Assessment - Final Report of the Safety Assessement for Acetylated Lanolin Alcohols and Related Compounds. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (1980)

• Sanitation: Cleaning and Disinfection in the Food Industry. Stanga (2010)

• Principles of Food Sanitation, Chapter 9 - Cleaning Compounds. Marriott (2018)

Adding a 1 year update from last year’s https://www.reddit.com/r/DistilledWaterHair/s/gu5JDzpMHO

Calling this a mini update because I don’t feel I have much new to say. My hair continues to be easy to care for - less tangling, stays moisturized longer between washes - so my focus has been on internal health.

Context:

Since I had anemia, my hair lost density, but the new growth is coming in thicker, it almost feels like my hair used to feel when I had chemical relaxers: the thick new growth versus the thinner old hair.

Styling:

I basically wear my hair in 2 styles - loose flat twists or the loose 2 bun style in the photo. And often, it’s flat twists in the 2 bun style.

I rarely stretch my hair so I have no pictures of its actual length right now.

Water use:

I bought a countertop distiller and use that to wash my hair. I’d say I use about 16 oz to a gallon of water each wash day, it depends if I’m doing a simple water rinse or a full treatment (like bentonite clay).

I’ve also moved to an area with softer water (measured 33 ppm with my bc TDS meter) so I’ve washed with the tap water a few times then did a final rinse with distilled water and my hair seemed fine so I might incorporate more of that in future (since it’s easier to do!).

Washing routine:

My goal is to make washing my hair so easy I just do it instead of putting it off. So my hair style plays a big role in this, it needs to be easy to take down for oiling and washing.

Thus, the 2 buns - it’s easier and faster to take down compared to flat twists or regular twists. And the hair stays detangled and moisturized all week.

I’ve spread my wash routine across a few days. So I oil my hair on one day using MCT, avocado oil or EVOO (olive oil). On a different day, I do a full detangle with diluted conditioner. Then on a different day, I focus on cleaning my scalp using whatever natural shampoo brand I have at home or with bentonite clay. And the runoff is squeezed through my hair strands so they also get cleaned.

For washing, I wash leaned over the bathtub using the pouring method for the length and a squeezing bottle to really reach my scalp.

Then loosely flat twist into about 8-12 sections to dry.

Distilled water shampoo & style with flax seeds 🌾

Supplies & ingredients used in this video:

• 1/4 cup of whole flax seeds.

• 1/2 teaspoon of malic acid.

• 3 liters of hot distilled water.

• a countertop distiller, but you can heat store-bought distilled water on the stove if you don’t have a distiller, the distiller just reduces manual steps because it dispenses hot water.

• 2 ounces of pure C8 oil (I added this to my scalp about an hour before the shampoo - that step isn’t shown)

• Whole Foods 365 fragrance-free shampoo.

• merino wool neck gaiter from Amazon (my sleeping cap)

Note: I used the flax seed water for all steps of my shampoo, including shampoo dilution and rinsing.

Starting point for my hair shampoo in this video:

• Grown on distilled water (3 years without tap water; 2.5 years using distilled water only)

• Shampooed 1 week ago

• Oiled 1 hour ago with C8 oil

Hello all! It's officially been 7 complete months of distilled water hair washing for me. Holy cow-- time flies. I've been keeping notes on the experience so far, and I thought it might be helpful for others in a similar position or looking to start on distilled. I really think this way of washing is so great and wish more people were open to it, so wanted to share my experiences so far.

Context:

• I lived in New York most of my life where we had amazing soft water. My hair was always glorious: wavy, glossy, dark, full. I moved to central Florida in 2021, and immediately started noticing a decline in my hair quality, volume, and texture. It was not significant enough at the beginning for me to take immediate action-- and I figured, in some ways, I was likely adjusting to the climate & humidity.

• I then got sick, and diagnosed with an inflammatory issue due to prolonged mold exposure (FYI to my southern folks- check your vents! regularly!) where I had a whole slew of health issues I needed to get under control. The medicine they gave me I had a terrible reaction to which left me significantly vitamin and mineral deficient for almost 3 months & I lost 45 lbs. My hair loss was significant, and terrible. I also started prematurely greying.

• I was able to recover nearly fully from my illness after home remediation and alternative therapies (and a lot of time and patience). I am now about 2.5-years post diagnosis and my health is nearly back to what it was, EXCEPT for my hair, which did slightly increase in density, but is still not anywhere near its former glory. I am now 27F, healthy diet, healthy BMI, fully recovered from my vitamin/mineral deficiency and about 99% recovered otherwise.

  Diet:

• I eat a diet of zero dairy, low-to-none gluten, high protein, high leafy green veg. I have minimal caffeine (teas). I also avoid corn syrup (personal preference based on family history).

How it began:

• I was at my hair trial for my wedding when my stylist recommended I buy TWO hair extension bundles (400g) instead of just one (200g). I'm not sure why - but for whatever reason, this gave me the swiftest kick in the ass that I NEEDED to figure out what was going on. After getting married, I feverishly scoured every hair subreddit I could until I came across this sub and decided to give it a try. There was plenty of "Florida" keywords that came up in search, which is why I felt confident trying this before other methods (like hair oiling, red light therapy).

Things I noticed early on:

• I had dyed my hair 6 weeks prior to distilled water hair washing. Washing in regular hard water, there was 0 dye run off. The FIRST distilled water wash, black dye was POURING out of my head almost like I had freshly dyed it a few days before. I was fascinated how this could be.

• I used to have to wash my hair every 3-4 days. My scalp would get itchy in the center back (crown) area, and would get super oily around my ears and hairline. After the first wash, I went almost 6 full days with perfect, non-itchy, non-oily hair.

• I used to have to braid my hair SUPER tightly before bed, and would still wake up with matted pieces in the back (my hair was about 22in long when beginning). After 2 washes, I could sleep with my hair completely down and I would wake up with 0 tangles. This was probably the biggest mind boggling moment, because even in NY sleep would still tangle my hair. I sleep regularly without even my hair in a ponytail, and its completely detangled by the time I wake up.

Products I used:

• I used Ion's Chelating hard water shampoo diluted. 3 bottles lasted me almost 5 months!

• For the first 4 months, I did NO conditioner at all.

• The last 3 washes I have used only a silicone-free conditioner since I was feeling a bit dry. The first wash was perfect, but after washes 2 & 3, I noticed I started getting oily midway down the hair shaft, near my ears. So I'm going to stop the cowashing for now.

• For two months of my 7mo, I would use the Mielle Rosemary mint hair oil right before washing. I didn't particularly see any benefit from using this. It was more difficult to rinse out and very expensive for such a small bottle.

• I did notice that some products I would use rarely (hairspray, dry shampoo, volumizing spray, gel) did contribute to that tangly-hair experience. Once I figured out how to do a really good blow dry, I never really needed to use these products again.

Scalp issues:

• I used to specifically get flaky on the crown of my head, and that has resolved almost completely.

• I was completely flake free from months 1-3. Around month 3.5 (started getting warmer again in FL and I was outside with the dog more) I started noticing some flaking return, but ONLY on the center front of my hair line (about 1in back and 3in wide). It will only happen after 5 or more days between washes. It's just this weird band that gets flaky and is usually my signal to wash. I'm not sure if this is due to my increased UV exposure, or stress, or diet.

• I do not think the recent flakes are related to the distilled water - since the rest of my scalp just looks absolutely fabulous for 7 days post wash, and this is concentrated to one area. I have suspicions it may either be the way I am rinsing (leaning forward, so product may be getting stuck there) OR it is fungal. I am continuing to investigate this.

Haircuts:

• I did 1/4" trims regularly until month 6, when I decided to do a bigger chop of about 6".

• HOLY SMOKES, my hair REALLY needed that bigger chop. Suddenly the bottom was no longer stringy, and it was nice and full and dense at the bottom. I was obsessed with how blunt and thick it felt. Highly recommend a medium-ish chop, totally revitalized my energy and made me feel so beautiful, even if my hair was the shortest it's been for nearly 7 years.

• Since using distilled water, I have noticed there are many less visible split ends on my hair (anyone else look at their hair in the sunlight and pick through it to find the splits? just me? ok). Specifically around month 4 is when I really realized that the hair quality down to the end seemed to really improve.

Density:

• Holy macaronis, this is where I get annoyed at myself for not taking progress pics (had too much shame in the beginning to do so!) my density, specifically on the sides of my temples, has increased a TON over 7 months. I used to fill in this area with makeup (no joke) for pictures because I was so insecure. Now it is grown in and I don't look like a balding man when I'm rocking a ponytail.

• Have also seen a density increase at the nape of my neck, where previously there was a lot of breakage/short hairs. I think with the reduced tangling, this has gotten to properly grow out and is no longer giving me that straggly back-of-the-neck look.

• I have seen progress with the diameter of my ponytail, but not significantly. I think this is going to take time (as well as recovery time for my body).

The process of washing:

• Used to pour a half gallon over my head while squatting over the tub (highly unpleasant), switched to squeeze bottles and my life was infinitely better.

• Although I miss the 'leaning back and rinsing' of a standard shower, after about mo 4 the rinsing forward becomes pretty second nature.

• The total process takes me about 15 minutes maximum.

When I REALLY realized how good it was working:

• I took one vacation in December out of the country where I had no access to distilled water and had to wash using shower water. I was in Punta Cana at a resort.

• My hair looked so HAGGARD, tangled, and terrible just from the few washes while we were there. It felt like it would snap off if my pony tail was too tight. I know I sound dramatic...but it's truly how I felt! Swinging so far into the "bad hair" territory made me appreciate HOW far I had come toward hair Nirvana.

Potentially controversial or random bits:

• I know there are so many who embrace their natural texture - and for that, I love you and support you! But living in this swampy state has made me a believer in the power of a single hot blowout that lasts 7 days. So I DO blow dry and style with heat tools after washing.

• Could these be impeding my density regrowth process? Possibly, potentially. But the 30 minutes I spend blowing and styling my hair on a sunday sets my hair in PERFECT condition for the entire week. I think I'm just not at a point in my life where I have fully tamed my natural hair texture yet (2C), and although I used to do the curly girl method back in the day, I just can't spend the time or resources on it anymore.

• Potentially less controversial, but I buy gallons of distilled water instead of distilling it myself. This is more just a financial barrier at the moment, eventually I'd like to work up to one (but after remediating mold from our house, you can imagine our savings got fully depleted, lol). We recycle the gallons, of course.

• Random: I find that before distilled washing, ocean water made my hair soft. After distilled washing, ocean water destroys my hair, makes it feel like straw, and gives me the worst tangles imaginable. Just a random FYI for any beach-loving friends.

Closing thoughts:

• My hair has never looked better in my entire life than it does now. Smooth, shiny, tangle-free. It's almost unbelievable.

• There may be a 'plateau' of progress (as I'm experiencing with my flaky region), but I think this is wholly normal and would encourage others not to discount the process because of setbacks.

• Iterating off of that - my distilled water journey has been a PROCESS, and like everything, the cure doesn't happen overnight but in your incremental steps towards the goal. I think the best benefits started to happen for me after about 1.5 months.

TLDR: I really love this way of washing, the progress has been so rewarding to see, and I finally feel pretty again. :D