Doesn’t the term “squeaky clean” give you a nice clean feeling? You can imagine the freshness, the purity, the whiteness, and maybe the clean bedding blowing gently in the breeze on the clothesline. When you Google “squeaky clean,” the thousands of results include ads from soap companies that say their product will leave you squeaky clean and fresh. From advertisements for World War II laundry soap to today’s shampoos, dish detergents, and body washes, what these companies aren’t telling you is that the “spotless clean” feeling isn’t really clean at all. In fact, that squeaky feeling can be quite gross and dirty. For people with hard water, that feeling can actually be nothing more than grime, dirt, soap scum, and dead skin particles that stick to your hands after washing.

Other soap and shampoo companies boast of leaving skin smelling fresh. Over the years, we have been programmed to associate fresh scent with cleanliness. Instead, the fresh smell should be associated with the perfume of your soap. In fact, if you smell the soap on your skin, it doesn’t mean that your hands are clean, it means that you didn’t rinse all of the soap from your hands. Again, hard water is the culprit, causing the scented soap to stick to your skin. Here’s an interesting test if you ever get a chance to try it: Wash your hands with soap in hard water. Rinse and then smell and notice the smell of soap adhering to your hands. Now wash your hands with the same soap in soft water. Once again rinse and smell your hands. This time you will notice that significantly less odor adheres to your hands. This is because there is no soap residue, or “scented soap scum,” adhering to your hands.

Hard water refers to water that is high in minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Magnesium and calcium are useful to us, but often at lower levels than we get from groundwater. So while this may not turn into a health issue, it doesn’t allow your soap and detergents to work properly. You may ask what water has to do with soap, so let’s consider this simple explanation: the cleaning action of soap is determined by polar and non-polar structures and solubility principles; Okay, that doesn’t sound so simple. Let’s say the presence of calcium and magnesium in your water, when combined with your soap, creates insoluble compounds that interfere with soap’s cleaning properties and capabilities. Basically hard water makes your soap not work as effectively or efficiently.

Maybe you live in an area with hard water. You know exactly how much shampoo to use, how much dish soap to pour into the sink. Have you ever traveled to another place that has soft water? You’ve probably noticed that if you use the same amount of shower gel in soft water that you use at home, you have too much of it and the lather goes everywhere. Also, when you finally rinsed it all off, did your skin feel slippery? That slippery feeling is because you are used to soap suds sticking to your skin after you shower, and since you washed with soft water, there is no soap suds! Also, you will notice that you need fewer skin lotions and moisturizers when you wash with soft water. The hard water soap scum that clings to your body causes dryness and irritation to the skin, resulting in the need for lotions.

However, it doesn’t stop there because hair is also affected by hard water. Like soap, your shampoo is affected by hard water. Since it is not completely rinsed off with hard water, residual shampoo and conditioner remains on the hair after showering. Eventually your hair can become dry and difficult to style due to shampoo products being left behind.

Good water means good cleaning and good hygiene. When soap doesn’t work properly, it doesn’t effectively clean dirt and germs from your hands and body. Poor hygiene, while certainly frowned upon in most parts of the United States, can facilitate the contagion and spread of disease and illness. Hard water, while it may not add to this level of poor hygiene, it may not yet let your soaps and cleaners do their job 100%. Perhaps this is part of the reason we have fallen so in love with antibacterial soaps, because at some point someone realized that germs weren’t being killed. So now we wash ourselves with antibacterial soaps that promise to kill germs. Great, we now have dead germs instead of live germs trapped in the soap suds that stick to our hands. This gets better all the time!

Let’s talk for a moment about the ingredients in your soap. Soap makers realize that a large percentage of our country has hard water. They also know that their basic soap ingredients will not lather or clean well when combined with calcium and magnesium in hard water, so they add special water softening agents to the soap to counteract the water their customers will use when washing with their product. Of course, every ingredient that is added to a soap product increases the price of that product and decreases the amount of actual soap you buy in a bottle. Pure, natural soaps have fewer ingredients, so the cost is minimal. Companies put many ingredients in soaps, including these softeners, oils, perfumes, and much more to make their soap feel perfectly clean and smell nice. But do you really know what you are putting into your body? Not only are pure, natural soaps more cost-effective, but pure soap is recommended by dermatologists over popular brands. When you use soap that has pure, natural ingredients, you don’t have to worry about your skin getting dry mainly because pure, natural soaps contain more glycerin and fewer other ingredients than normal store brands. People who are prone to skin conditions of any kind, including eczema, will often find that pure, natural soaps do not cause skin irritation like other brands do. The American Association of Dermatologists also recognizes the effects of oily and scented soaps on the skin. They define those effects as dry, irritated, itchy, and scented skin. So in general, fragrance doesn’t necessarily mean clean.

Hard water doesn’t just affect the cleanliness of your skin. Imagine that same soap scum sticking to your dishwasher, clothes washer, shower doors, and sinks. Unfortunately, your appliances and accessories can’t shed excess layers like our skin eventually can. It just keeps building up and eventually the lifespan of those items decreases. The costs add up in every way. Consider the following: Clothes washed in hard water will look dirty and lose their softness. According to Hardwater.org, continual washing of clothing in hard water can damage the fibers and possibly even shorten the life of the clothing by 40 percent. Lime build-up in pipes is estimated to increase energy bills by approximately 25%.

So let’s look at some estimated math. Let’s say you spend $ 20 a week on soaps and detergents for your family. But soaps and detergents last half as long as they should because hard water and residue make it difficult to use, so your family members are scrubbing more, so you lose about 25% of the value of soaps. Then she spends about $ 100 on clothes per month for her family. However, as the data shows, about 40% or $ 40.00 of that value is lost due to the effects of hard water. You are also spending around $ 10.00 each week on products that will help you clean the soap suds from something that is supposed to be cleaning you! Eventually, you will need to repair pipes and appliances that no longer work, at an estimated cost of $ 500.00 over several years. Oh, and don’t forget that the taste of the water may not be very good, so you spend around $ 20.00 a week on bottled water for your family. If you add up what you’re spending to “upgrade” your current hard drinking water, tap water no longer seems like an inexpensive good.

Fortunately, you don’t need to continue in this way. First, find out if there is hard water in your home. According to Hardwater.org, if you have a municipal water system, your water provider can tell you how hard the water is. If you have a private supply, you can have your water tested for hardness. Then, with a little research, you will find that there are several solutions at your fingertips. The treatment can be treated more effectively and economically with a water softener, which replaces the calcium and magnesium ions in the water with sodium ions. Sodium ions do not accumulate in pipes, on shower doors, or as soap scum. The water softening process has proven to be so successful that many types of service and manufacturing companies also choose to use water softeners to ensure their products work properly. For example, plating processes, circuit board fabrication, laboratory analysis, water-based coolant developers, printers, car washing, film processing, window washing, and Aerospace components use water softeners. If soft water is so vital to inanimate objects, shouldn’t your body benefit from it, too?

Of course, untreated water seems to be the least expensive option, but you also have to factor in the financial losses you take on by continuing to use your hard water. Soft water requires the initial investment of purchasing a water softener unit and a small maintenance cost of the salt, but there are many savings. Soft water does not mix badly with soaps and detergents. This means that there is no “soap suds” that cannot be washed, the bath is more effective, and the soap is better lathering. Your hair and skin are softer. The washing machine cleans your clothes better and as mineral deposits are removed, your clothes last longer and stay brighter. Spend less on laundry and dish detergents, shampoos and soaps, and household cleaners designed to remove limescale and soap residue. The electricity savings from less washing, less expensive appliance repairs, and a calmer mind for your safe, clean water far outweigh the one-time expense of purchasing a water softener. A water softener can quickly pay for itself and maintenance, and still save you money.

Between taste, safety, hygiene and the maintenance of your appliances, a water softener is your best bet. The one-time cost associated with this product, or those like it, will save you money in the long run and also save you the headache of scrubbing away your family’s soap scum and shower residue. Get a water test today, find pure soaps, remove soap residue, and save some money.