I am a 31 year old female. I've never had a problem with acne, even as a teenager. I would get the occasional large pimple that would last forever, but usually never more than one at a time. We recently moved into a new home that we built, which of course involves stress. The acne started right about the time we moved into our house. The one thing that is different is that we are now using a water softener. Everything that I have read says that they are good for acne, but I immediately started developing pimples after we moved in. The pimples are around my hairline, and clustered on my chin and under my nose. I have also developed noticeable blackheads, which were never an issue before either. Any thoughts?

I agree, amybe it's the different water chemistry. I'm military and move a lot and I usually get a few pimples when I first move and I've always thought it could be the change in water.

I also use to own a house and we had a water softener and I swaer I cried when we left it.

Maybe your skin just needs time to adjust.

That would make sense, except we moved across the driveway, and our water line is the same original line (We built a new house on our existing property). I didn't know maybe if the type of salt used in the softener would make a difference. I know you can use potassium and sodium, and I wasn't sure if one would be better than the other.

Thanks

I think I might be having this problem as well. I am 23 years old and never had a problem with acne (maybe super mild) until I moved to Arizona. Once I moved here, I started getting somewhat deep pimples on my cheeks, which had NEVER been a problem area for me. I have lived in a house with a water softener before and didn't have this problem. But, the water softener was out of salt for a few weeks here, and during that time my face got really clear. I thought it was because of a different regimen that I was using (baking soda and sea salt scrub and AC/lemon juice toner) but my acne seems to be on the path of getting bad again now that we have added more salt and turned the softener back on (I am still using the same regimen). I really don't want to have to wash my face with bottled water, but this is not my house and I'm sure the other people living here will not want me to turn the water softener off.

P.S. This house also has a whole house water purifier.

well from what i've heard most people seem to clear up when they go swimming in natural bodies of water like oceans or lakes

and those bodies of water have lots of dissolved salts (and pollutants of course too)

if you remove the cations from those salts with water softening your skin may be treating it like something unnatural, just guessing

This is very interesting, I am a 32 year old male who has NEVER before in my life had acne until about 9 months ago, now I have acne on my cheeks, chin and forehead hairline just like you.....and 11 months ago I moved into my current home that has a water softener. The first time I have ever used this kind of water.

I can honestly say I haven't heard of this causing acne, but now you have got me wondering because my derms haven't been able to stop my acne problem with all kinds of treatments. And like yourself ritchgirl, I have NEVER before had acne, not even as a teen. Does anyone here have and opinion on this? Or any facts, because thats really weird how both of us are getting acne for the first time in our 30's after using a water softener. I have noticed that most people on this site have had acne problems for many years starting when they were much younger than their 30's. This is really the only diffrence in my life since my acne problems have started, besides washing my face much more.

I have turned the water softener down to a hardness level of 5 so it is cycling less and putting less salt into the water. My skin has been getting better since I have done that, but I have also been rinsing my face with bottled water and exercising a little more, so I can't say for sure if it is the water softener. I have also changed the baking soda i use in my regimen (see below) to walmart brand instead of arm & hammer...it has 7% sodium per serving as opposed to 6% in arm & hammer, and there is probably no difference, but just to be safe i switched because my skin got worse during the time I was using arm & hammer. Also, last night I steamed my face (i do this every week or 2 but should do it more often) and remembered that when my skin was really good for a while there, I had used a masque of 1 beaten egg white with some lemon juice after steaming and washing So, last night after steaming, i washed my face and then i applied a masque of 1 beaten egg white and some ground up oatmeal (for moisturizing and soothing) and a little ACV and lemon juice. My face is pretty smooth this morning.

When I started having this acne problem, I tried using OXY maximum strength face wash and then bp spot treatment. I would get flaky skin in places, especially under the corners of my mouth between the mouth and the chin...and it just seemed to bury the pimples, so when i ran my fingers across my face, i could feel deep bumps. I am using a regimen now that I think is pretty good...I run my face under warm-hot water for about a minute, to open the pores and get some crap off of it. Then in one hand i take one squirt of st. ives clear pore cleanser, a sprinkle of pure sea salt from the health food store, and about 1 1/2 tablespoons of walmart brand baking soda. i make a paste of it and gently scrub my face with it, then rinse with warm water. Then I apply a toner made up of 1/3 apple cider vinegar (ACV), 1/3 lemon juice and 1/3 bottled water. I apply it with a cotton round. Then when that is mostly dried after a few seconds, I use a few drops of pure jojoba oil for a moisturizer. This does not clog your pores! it is amazing. after using this regimen, my face glows a lot more. before it looked kind of dull. It also makes it so your pimples don't get trapped under your skin like with bp products...and they don't really come to a head that much either, they just eventually go away somehow, without too much ugliness like coming to a head and becoming flaky and stuff. I still have a problem with little skin colored bumps on my forehead, cheeks and chin (mostly forehead). I hope this helps you guys...this crap sucks.

Please note that some water softeners remove chlorine from the water, resulting in unprotected water between the softener and the spigot. The resulting bacteria could be the source of the problem, I think it contributes to mine. I figure since I see a red film on the showerhead and in the coffee maker resovoir over time.

Perhaps run the softener in "bypass" a few days to let the chlorine disinfect the lines.

Be sure to use some bleach in with your towels. If you have colored towels, use them for show and buy some taupe or white towels for actual bathing so you can use chlorine bleach in the wash.

If you use a jacuzzi tub, be sure to throw a cup of bleach in the tub and run the jets before draining the water. If the jets have adjustable pressure, adjust the knobs up and down to get the disinfectant to all the hoses/pathways.

For many years now, I have refused to rent a beach house that doesn't have a water softener. Everytime I would go to the shore I would get *horrible* outbreak and by the end of the week my hair was plastered to my head. On summer, I was so fed up that I hauled buckets of ocean water up to the house to bathe in. It worked. My hair and skin cleared up.

The bacteria content could be an issue, as could the chemical components of the softening agent. I'd just try to rule out one thing at a time. Good luck!

P.S. I ascribe to Paul's towel theory as well. Pretty colours for show; otherwise, I use all white. I like "allergy-free" type detergent and HOT water. We bleach them about once every 4-6 weeks.

That would make sense, except we moved across the driveway, and our water line is the same original line (We built a new house on our existing property). I didn't know maybe if the type of salt used in the softener would make a difference. I know you can use potassium and sodium, and I wasn't sure if one would be better than the other.

 

Thanks

I didn't have the same break out probs with new water as you do, but I noticed my hair looked so dull and just wouldn't do anything (flat and yucky...like that Seinfeld episode w/ the new shower head!)... Anyway, what helped me was getting a water filter from Aquasana and putting it onto my shower head. I noticed a difference immediately-- it supposedly removes all the chemicals from the water-- my skin felt so much smoother and softer, and my hair was easier to manage and looked better too. I know when I need to replace the filter (c. every 5-6 months) as my skin gets super dry and my hair gets knotty and dull...

Yeah, I really think water softener does have to do with getting acne or aggravating it, at least in some cases. I don't necessarily think I'm allergic to something in it, it's just that I don't feel like it really takes the soap/face wash off my skin and so it makes my skin very dry which probably makes the oil glands produce more oil or whatever. I've been living at two dif. places with water softeners for almost two years now and hadn't really thought of it, just that I have to rinse and rinse a million times to get the soap off. But THEN I recently remembered back to when I was in college (I'm 25 now) and how my skin was pretty clear but then when I came home to visit or live for a short period, I would break out SO much more, and I swear it was because my parents had a water softener. I remember actually commenting on that because I used to run a few miles everyday, and although this did not affect break outs on my back at school, it did at home because I would sweat and then take a shower, but then I would never feel completely rinsed off, and so I had to start putting baby powder on my back before I went running to try to at least tone down the sweat so I wouldn't be as dirty going into the shower or whatever.

I don't know if any of this makes sense. It's late, and I want to go to sleep, but I bought bottled water today to start washing my face with, and I'm going to try this experiment for a couple weeks to see how it works.

Do you drink the water from the water softener system, or only bathe in it?

I've also noticed a difference in my skin when I moved from place to place. I often wondered if it was due to the water - especially hard versus soft water. Now I live in New England, where the water is hard. I see white calcium and magnesium build up on things that water evaporates off of. Here, my skin is not so good. When I visit Ohio for a few days I see an improvement in my skin. When I lived in Texas my skin wasn't too bad, but the heat and humidity there probably played a negative role.

It has been my belief that hard water irritates my skin, and that softer water (I mean naturally soft, not with salts added to soften it) was gentler. Of course it could be something else entirely that is making the difference - different levels of air pollution, more or less chlorine, fluoride in water, etc.

Has anyone found an alternative chemical solution for the water softener? Maybe a different brand of salt?? Like most of you, the same has happened to me. I've never had an acne issue in my whole 45 years of life until moving into this home 6 months ago, which has a water softener. I know for a fact that the water softener is causing my acne because I went on vacation for a month and didn't get one pimple. After returning home the acne started up again. I initially thought it was from drinking it so I switched to bottle water but the acne still returned. As some of you have described, I'm getting acne on my hairline around the face and hairline on the back on my head, and neck, and face.