Over 85% of households in North America live in areas with hard water. While you may not think much about your home's water hardness, hard water can impact your well-being, appearance and even your finances. If you suspect your home has hard water, it's worth investing in a reliable solution to soften it.

However, the many water-softening methods you'll encounter online and in stores can feel overwhelming and overly complicated, and not all methods are equally effective. Here is a guide from Long's EcoWater Systems to help you understand the most popular ways to make hard water soft so you can choose an appropriate method for your home.

What is hard water?

Hard water is water with a high concentration of minerals, including magnesium and calcium sulfates, carbonates, and bicarbonates. The more magnesium and calcium in water, the harder it is. Because these minerals are microscopic, hard water may not look or feel any different than soft water, which is water with a lower mineral concentration.

These minerals enter water systems from deposits in underground rock layers. While many associate hard water with rural areas, it's common throughout the United States in various locations — even city water supplies and homes with well water can have hard water. Hard water can also be either temporary or permanent, as some bicarbonate minerals can be removed by boiling the water.

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How do you know if you have hard water?

Your home likely has hard water if you notice signs like these:

• Crusty white mineral buildup around faucets, shower heads, drains, sinks, tiles, or appliances exposed to water.
• A strange taste or smell when you drink or prepare food or beverages with your water.
• Soap scum or rust-colored stains in your bathtub, shower, or sink.
• Stiff and rough clothing and linens coming out of the laundry.
• Soap not lathering well under shower or sink water.
• Increased frequency of plumbing issues.
• Persistent soap residue on your skin.
• More expensive water bills.

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What are the hazards of hard water?

Hard water can have multiple negative effects on your well-being and lifestyle, including:

• Hair: Hard water can leave a film on your hair, rendering your hair products ineffective. It can also cause damage, leading to frizzy, flat or brittle hair, dandruff, or excessive hair loss.
• Skin: Hard water can cause lingering soap residue on your skin, resulting in dry and itchy skin. It may also harm your skin's barrier, making you more vulnerable to eczema and other skin conditions.
• Water pressure: Hard water can cause mineral buildup in your pipes, leading to poor water pressure from faucets and shower heads.
• Water and appliance repair bills: Mineral buildup in your pipes from hard water makes your appliances, like laundry machines and dishwashers, work harder to produce the same results. This can raise your water bill and may require you to pay for more frequent appliance maintenance and repairs.
• Linens and clothing: Minerals in hard water can ruin linens and clothes. As you wash them in hard water over time, their colors may grow dull and their textures rough.
• Stains and scaling: Mineral deposits from hard water can form in and around your faucets, sinks, shower and bathtub, causing stains and scaling.

13 Ways to Make Hard Water Soft

If you notice any signs of hard water in your home, implementing a solution to soften it can help you maintain a happier, healthier and more efficient home. It may be necessary to use a combination of methods to soften your home's water, so you'll want to consider all your options.

Here are the 13 most popular ways to make hard water soft.

1. Ion exchange water softeners

An ion exchange water softener is the most reliable, efficient way of softening water for home use. If you install a softener, sometimes called a conditioner or refiner depending on additional built-in filtration, you can enjoy softer water right away. The system has two tanks — a resin and a brine tank.

The resin tank holds resin beads covered with sodium, which have a negative charge. When hard water flows through the resin tank, the negatively charged resin attracts the positively charged magnesium and calcium ions from the water. The resin then releases its harmless sodium ions into the water, exchanging them for the calcium and magnesium ions and softening the water that supplies your home. The amount of sodium that ends up in your water is low enough that you're unlikely to taste any added saltiness, and most healthy people will not experience excessive sodium levels from drinking this water.

Before the system becomes too full of calcium and magnesium, the salty solution from the brine tank flows in to wash the resin beads. The brine gets rid of the hard minerals and replenishes the resin with sodium ions to remain effective. The system drains out the used brine solution and the hard minerals.

2. "Water softeners" with salt-free technology

"Water softeners" with salt-free technology, usually called "salt free water softeners" convert hard minerals into crystals instead of removing them. These crystals remain suspended in the water, so they don't cause mineral buildup in vertical areas of pipe. However, these systems do not truly soften the water and water is still hard, most especially in areas with high levels of hardness. Additionally, the hard mineral crystals could still damage some appliances. Salt-Free "Water softeners" tend to be more expensive than ion exchange water softeners and aren't able to truly soften the water.

3. Reverse osmosis systems

Reverse osmosis (RO) systems are effective tools for filtering, purifying, and softening water. These systems have three stages:

1. Prefiltration: The prefilters get rid of chlorine and large particles that can damage the RO membrane.
2. RO membrane: This semipermeable membrane has small openings, which soft, clean water can flow through while catching hard minerals and contaminants.
3. Post-filtration: Further filtering removes any lingering tastes or odors to deliver high-quality water to your home.

RO systems are reliable for removing hard minerals and other contaminants. They improve the taste, smell, and health of your house's water supply without adding salt. That said, ion exchange water softeners tend to be more affordable and much more water-efficient than RO systems. RO systems are optimized for purifying and filtering water, whereas ion exchange softeners are ideal for softening water.

4. Chelating agents

As a molecule, a chelating agent binds with calcium and magnesium in water, creating a stable chelate complex that controls scale buildup. This process is called chelation, and citric acid is a common chelating agent.

Chelation systems are affordable and can protect your plumbing and appliances from scale buildup. However, since they don't remove the hard minerals from your water, they won't solve issues like mineral residue, bad taste, and odor if your water is very hard.

5. Distillation

Distillation involves boiling water to create steam and then condensing it back into fluid. This process removes hard minerals and other contaminants, softening your water. However, distillation's heat demands make it slow and energy-intensive. You could distill your drinking water to soften it, but distillation is typically impractical as a whole-house water softening solution.

6. Boiling

If you only need to soften a small amount of water affected by temporary hardness, you can boil it in a pot. Temporary hardness typically results from calcium and magnesium bicarbonates.

When you boil water on your stove, any hard mineral sediment will rise to the top. After letting the water cool for a few moments, you can scoop this sediment out. This is a simple, convenient solution to temporary hardness in small quantities of water. That said, it won't remove the calcium and magnesium sulfates or chlorides that cause permanent hardness.

7. Lime softening

Municipalities and industrial companies sometimes use lime solution to soften hard water. Introducing the right amount of lime solution raises the pH level, removing calcium carbonate and magnesium and reducing scale buildup. However, achieving the ideal pH levels is challenging, and this method is unsuitable for home use because of the precise control and monitoring of chemicals it requires.

Lime softening is ineffective for removing sulfates and chlorides, so it won't resolve all cases of permanent hardness. The residual calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide become a waste sludge that's inconvenient for homeowners to dispose of.

8. Water-softening shower heads

In addition to hard minerals, water-softening shower heads filter out heavy metals, rust and sediments like sand. They're easy to install on your existing shower fixture and can protect your skin and hair from the damaging effects of hard water. Before purchasing a water-softening shower head, do your research, as some models are ineffective at achieving what marketers claim.

9. Lemon juice

Lemon juice has a reputation as a natural remedy for hard water, but its effectiveness is limited. The citric acid in lemon juice helps neutralize some of the hard minerals' effects. Adding the juice of one lemon to a gallon of water, stirring the mixture and letting it rest can improve the taste and smell of hard drinking water. Lemon juice is also an effective cleaning agent for removing limescale buildup from faucets.

Note that lemon juice's impact is limited to masking some effects of hard minerals or washing away deposits — it can't actually remove calcium and magnesium from water.

10. Baking soda

Like lemon juice, baking soda is a good home remedy for addressing some effects of hard minerals, without actually removing calcium and magnesium from water. Technically, baking soda doesn't soften water, but you may find it helpful for drinking water and laundry.

Also known as sodium bicarbonate, baking soda's alkaline properties can alter water's pH levels, reducing some effects of calcium and magnesium, like soap scum, laundry detergent residue, and unpleasant smells and tastes. You can try adding a half cup of baking soda to your washing machine or stirring a teaspoonful into a gallon of drinking water.

11. Carbon filters

Carbon filters remove chlorine and volatile organic compounds from water by absorbing these elements into their own activated carbon. While these filters can improve your water quality, they're ineffective for removing calcium and magnesium — they don't actually soften water like ion exchange water softeners, salt-free softeners, or RO systems do. They also require regular filter replacements.

12. Epsom salts

Epsom salt, also known as magnesium sulfate, can wash away mineral deposits, soap scum and limescale. Adding it to water may help enhance the cleaning properties of some soaps and detergents, offsetting the negative effects of hard water. However, Epsom salts don't soften hard water by removing calcium and magnesium. They actually increase the magnesium content of water, so be careful of magnesium toxicity if you choose to use Epsom salts.

13. Aloe vera

You may come across claims that aloe vera is a natural water softener. There's no scientific support for these claims, as aloe vera has no properties that help remove calcium or magnesium from water. However, mixing aloe vera into water for bathing could help moisturize your skin if you're experiencing dry skin from hard water.

Which Water-Softening Solution Is Right for You?

If you want to soften hard water in your home, you have a range of options to consider. Some methods, like ion exchange water softeners, are very effective. Others, like lemon juice, can counter some effects of hard minerals or soften water at your point of use but aren't effective whole-home water softening solutions.

At the same time, you'll likely come across ideas or techniques that are unlikely to offer any real benefits at all, such as magnetic or electronic water conditioners. It's important to conduct enough research about water-softening solutions to understand the benefits and downsides of each option. With the details in this guide and other resources, you can make an informed choice to solve your hard water problem.

This story was produced by Long’s EcoWater Systems and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.