Soft water allows soap to lather more than hard water does, so the primary reason that soft water feels slimy is that you use too much soap and/or shampoo. The minerals in hard water inhibit the lathering properties of soap and shampoo. Because soft water doesn’t have those minerals, the same amount of soap will lather far more than you’re used to. The extra soap is what feels slimy. The best way to stop the slime is to use only a fraction of the soap you usually use. You’ll save money, too, because you won’t go through soap as fast.
Is This Normal?
Yes, this is normal. Also, you might feel as if the soap is still on your skin because you won’t be able to hold the shampoo bottle without it slipping. Just keep rinsing, and eventually, the soap will be gone. In actuality, the tacky feeling you get in hard water comes from particles of soap staying behind on your skin. It’s that same set of particles that causes the rings on your tub and in your sink.
Water softeners also use a salt solution to remove the minerals, and the extra salt in the water contributes to the slimy feeling. The salt removes the minerals by creating a chemical reaction that turns the minerals into other things that are then filtered out.
Are There Any Problems?
Salt-based water softeners have a downside: the salt. If you require a low-sodium diet, then you won’t be able to drink the water or use it for cooking. You’ll need a separate, filtered loop to remove the salt from the water for human consumption.
Can You Do Anything Else to Get Rid of the Slime?
There are some body washes that don’t have soap in them. You can use them on your body and on your hair too. Because they don’t contain soap, you can use as much as you like to get yourself clean. Synthetic cleansers don’t work as well as soap, however, but they give you a reasonable choice when it comes to reducing the slimy feeling.
You can also pick a water softener that doesn’t rely on salt. Water conditioners, for example, crystallize the minerals so that they don’t cause scaling or calcium buildup. These systems’ downside is that they use a lot more water than water softeners with a brine tank.
Reverse osmosis is another kind of system that will reduce the slime. The filtering technology removes both the minerals and 99% of other contaminants, such as pathogens, from the water. Reverse osmosis systems are complex, however, and also more expensive than other options.
The last kind of softener you can choose is electromagnetic. They’re the least expensive option, but they are also the least effective as water softeners.
Answers for Your Questions
Benjamin Franklin Plumbing has decades of experience and can advise you regarding the different water softeners. Give us a call today to set up an appointment.