As a savvy salon owner, you want the best for your customers. Happy customers come back and are the source of good referrals. Conditioned water will give you happy customers, good referrals, and more business. Skeptical? Here is a look at how conditioned water helps your business.
Minerals in Water
As you may or may not know, water is processed through treatment facilities that add chlorine to kill bacteria. They also add lime (calcium) to help control the chlorine levels. This and other minerals in the water can have an adverse effect on hair.
Chlorine
Chlorine kills the bacteria but can also discolor hair and damage the cuticle leaving wet hair feeling gummy and dry hair feeling like hay.
Calcium
This mineral is in the majority of water as part of the water treatment process. It builds up and you likely recognize the signs of this in your client’s’ hair. Hair feels dry and weighed down, there is build up on the scalp (dandruff), has breakage and slow to no growth.
Copper
This comes from copper water pipes and sulfates used to control algae growth in pools and drinking water. This discolors light hair and produces the green tint, weighs hair down and can lead to problems in perms, coloring and relaxing.
Iron
Common in well-water it slowly tints hair darker, weighs hair down a prevents chemical processing from working properly. Iron also tints light-colored hair orange and dark hair becomes darker with red highlights. It works the same way as a mild peroxide and results in excessive dryness and causes a change in the texture of the hair.
Magnesium
Common in hard water and attaches to hair like calcium leaving hair dry and weighed down.
Silica
This sand-like substance often found in the desert and volcanic areas. Usually, this binds with calcium or magnesium and causes very hard, insoluble deposits that builds up on hair and causes dryness, dandruff and weighs hair down much like calcium does.
Lead
Is found in certain gray ‘cover-ups’ and builds up which causes dry hair and prevents perms and coloring from processing quickly.
How these affect your business
Your clients come to you with these various build ups in their hair as you probably recognize. Their hair is continuously exposed to whatever minerals are in their specific water, and they come to you with a wall of minerals attached to their hair. Using hot or warm conditioned water will help open the cuticle and get some of the minerals off of the hair shaft and not only help with the feel of the hair but also in the way the chemicals used for coloring, relaxing and perming work on the hair.
Those clients who see you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to have their hair washed and styled will notice the difference. Clients who come to you on a less regular basis will leave your salon noticing that their hair looks and feels better with results that last longer.
In addition to educating your clients on the proper hair regimen for their particular hair, you will also be able to help them understand and combat some of the other issues their hair is having that may be due solely to their water supply.
The first step to building better water for your clients is to have your salon water tested. After a free analysis, a water specialist will be able to work with you on the best treatment system for your business.