Renowned doctors explain what could cause hair loss to people in Bengaluru, whether hard water could be causing it and how to prevent it.
Published Sep 03, 2024 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 03, 2024 | 12:48 PM
Hair loss. (iStock)
With complaints of increasing hair fall among Bengaluru’s residents, many are beginning to question whether the city’s hard water is to blame. A viral post on X revealed a shocking hair loss struggle, with one resident resorting to washing her hair with RO water to avoid going bald.
With over 99,000 views and a flood of responses, people are now questioning whether the city’s water is secretly wreaking havoc on their hair. Could your daily shower be the culprit behind your thinning locks?
Renowned cosmetic dermatologist and Hair Specialist Dr Divya Sharma, from Dr Divya’s Skin and Hair Solution, clarifies to South First that while hard water can damage the cuticle, it is also equally difficult to wash the scalp since water has poor cleansing abilities and most of the shampoos that come in the market also have harped on the idea of chemical-free shampoos. So, the combination of sulphate-free shampoo and hard water makes scalp cleansing more difficult.
“We see a lot of dandruff, dry, flaky scalp in Bengaluru,” However, she says “these are not due to hard water depositing on your scalp. There is very limited evidence to prove that hard water can lead to hair loss or hair fall and it is a common myth that hard water is the root cause,” she explained.
I need to switch to RO water to wash my hair in Bangalore, else there will be none left.
PS: If anyone is using any water softening solution/ filter and has seen results, please share the link.— Amisha Aggarwal 📌 (@awwmishaaa) August 17, 2024
Dr Abhiram R, Consultant Dermatologist and Dermatosurgeon at Vasavi Hospital and Skin Clinic in Bengaluru explains hardness of water is usually decided by the salts of magnesium and calcium in it. He says, “As the days progress, due to depletion of groundwater, scarcity of water in Bengaluru and even all over the world, it is getting harder due to accumulation of minerals in the water.”
The hard water due to reliance on borewell sources which contain high levels of calcium and magnesium, can create a residue that lingers on the scalp and hair, leading to dryness, irritation, and eventually hair breakage. While hard water alone might not be the sole cause of severe hair fall, it certainly plays a significant role in aggravating the problem. “We cannot say water in Bengaluru is harder, in another city it is softer etc,” says Dr Abhiram.
He further said, ““Hard water will never interfere n the permanent or total loss of the hair from the root. Because, it can never penetrate beyond the scalp,cause a direct damage to the hair root leading to balding, or leading to excessive hair fall. This is a biggest myth and unfortunately Indian traditions have been giving us these false statements.”
What the hardwater can do is remove the cuticle of the hair, the top most layer of protection of the hair, by leading to evaporation of the water in the hair and making it frizzy, dry and broken.
Citing an example he says, “If you observe a person with baldness you can see a fringe of hair at the back, why do you think there is a partiality in losing that hair with hard water? Then throughout the scalp it should have gone right?”
In many parts of Bengaluru, the water is sourced from borewells and the Cauvery River, with significant variations in water quality across different areas. According to doctors, people residing around the regions like Bellandur, Whitefield, and Marathahalli complain and believe that they are among the most affected by hard water.
Speaking to South First, Sindhu Reddy, resident of Whitefield says, “I have actually found that whenever I wash my hair in my mother’s house in Basavanagudi hair fall is less but when I wash it in my house in Whitefield I can find strands of them gone!”
To combat the adverse effects of hard water, residents even consider using water softeners, installing shower filters, or employing clarifying shampoos to remove mineral build-up.
Amisha Aggarwal, a resident of Bengaluru took to X and said, “I need to switch to RO water to wash my hair in Bengaluru, else there will be none left. PS: If anyone is using any water softening solution/filter and has seen results, please share the link.”
Interestingly, to this one Akshansh Mahendra said, “I use bottled water in Hyderabad. I swear cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have huge water problems. Mumbai and even Guwahati never had this.”
Few of them have even use a separate softener to the geyser to ensure the water is softened before they use it.
Dr Divya Sharma says, apparently RO water or other purifiers make hair loss less apparent. One must understand that hair that you see after shampooing and combing are the ones that are already been rejected or already been shed ones. So, hard water, soft water, different kinds of shampoos etc only make hair fall more apparent or less apparent. It doesnt change the rate at which hair falls or grows back!
Dr Divya says hairfall is always multifactorial. Nutritional deficiency, bad lifestyle in Bengaluru, today’s city proudly admonishes bad lifestyle–people working late, people eating out in cafeterias, everybody gaining obesity, some role of stress and combination of multiple factorslike nutrition, hormonal imbalance, they impact more than hard water.
However, oiling hair only to the hair and not the scalp can reduce dryness, says Dr Abhiram. Meanwhile, he also suggests leading a healthy lifestyle, condition can be used for the hair and maintaining healthy diet rich in essential nutrients like vitamins D and B can help mitigate hair fall.
“One should consult a doctor to understand the reason for hairfall and not sit with such assumptions,” adds Dr Abhiram.
(Edited by Neena)
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