If you have ever traveled between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, you might have stumbled on this bizarre experience once you take a shower in either of the cities.
Your hair, which might have been puffy after a shower in one city, becomes frizzier in the other?
Your complexion becomes drier after one shower and moister after the other?
The conditioner you have been using begins to perform less after a certain shower, making your hair less silky?
The shampoo you have been using begins to give out more volume after a certain shower?
After observing these changes, you just couldn’t help but wonder what the cause could possibly be.
An interesting question, as the answer is not as simple as many may think.
Although water in both cities is potable and suitable for consumption, many report it to be quite different for the skin and hair, despite both cities using massive desalination facilities.
So what is it that makes one city’s water healthier for your curly locks?
Now first of all clearing up some misconceptions.
There is definitely a reason that residents in one city report their water to be more problematic than the other, but it is not a one hundred percent definitive answer.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi, while using desalination facilities, have other means of treating their water supply.
Once it reaches your sink, it can go through numerous processes to get to your bathroom, such as sitting in holding tanks or running through hot water heaters and narrow shower heads.
This means that it would be foolish to take water quality reports from a friend that lives several kilometers from you as an accurate representation of what your water quality is. As a country known for its strict building codes, water in the UAE can vary wildly depending on where exactly you are.
This means that as much as it is true that one city has objectively worse water quality for your hair than the other, it is just as much of an exaggeration as well.
We assume that water in the tap just magically appears.
It doesn’t.
It has been treated and processed.
And in many cases, multiple times.
It already went through the process of getting to your home before you turn it on.
And again, oftentimes inside the building before it gets to your bathroom.
What affects the water coming out of your shower?
Dubai water isn’t the problem. Abu Dhabi water isn’t the problem. YOUR showerwater is the problem.
Your hair spends a surprising amount of time around water.
If you wash it multiple times a week, that’s a lot of interaction.
Water itself isn’t a bad thing, but the minerals and other qualities of the water can interact with your hair and cause your regular products to act differently than you’re used to.
That’s when the UAE hair complaints start coming in.
Not as smooth as it used to be
More frizzy
Harder to detangle
More heavy after washing
Not as shiny as before
Less manageable after washing
And sometimes the most telling sign is your bathroom.
Well, that is caused by the minerals in your water.
That doesn’t mean that something is wrong with your water per say,
But rather gives you more reason to worry about the health of your home.
Your skin tells you in its own unique way, what it wants and doesn’t want.
Once you get out of the shower, you feel a tightness, that isn’t quite comforting.
Your legs are left feeling dry minutes after toweling them, or you just cannot imagine getting through the day without that much needed moisturizer application right after your morning or evening shower.
A combination of factors, among which the climate in UAE, the air conditioning in your home, the cleanser you are using, or even your long hot shower can play a role.
In fact, hot water in long and frequent showers depletes the skin of its natural moisture, making it even more difficult to tolerate the dry climate outside the bathroom.
The properties of the water in your home, as well as the type of cleansing products you use, can also interfere with the skin’s hydration process
Therefore, you should consider all the variables involved in your skin condition and not jump to conclusions about the cause of your dry skin, be it an inadequate cleanser, insufficient moisturizing, or the long hot showers you enjoy every evening.
This is an important difference to make.
When most people hear the term “hard water,” they automatically think that the water is dirty.
This is not the case.
Water can be hard for a variety of reasons, but it typically has to do with dissolved minerals like calcium and magnesium.
These things occur naturally in water.
It matters because oftentimes, these dissolved minerals will react with the soap and leave behind deposits.
These deposits are commonly seen in the form of scales on glass shower doors,around the edges of sinks, and even around the holes in shower heads
These are all signs that you have hard water.
That’s not a bad thing.
These are not signs that your water is dirty or impure though.
Those are two totally different things.
One of the strange things about moving homes is that familiar products might act somewhat differently.
Your hair washing routine is probably one of them. You haven’t changed your shampoo or conditioner, but your hair seems to feel different.
You may be using more shampoo than usual if you feel like it isn’t getting cleaned properly.
Then, you may be using more conditioner than normal because your hair feels dry.
Eventually, you may have a much more involved hair care routine than before because your hair feels different than it used to.
Your water is most likely the culprit. The minerals in your water can sabotage the cleansing process of your products, leaving your hair drier or oilier than usual.
Do not despair, this does not necessarily mean you need to toss all your beauty products down the drain at the first sign of trouble
It does mean that if you’ve recently moved, you need to take extra care to understand why your hair is acting up
So consider this the next time you are trying to figure out why washing your hair leaves it looking
like something you’d see at the bottom of a raccoon’s nest:
A Couple Other Things About The Dubai Apartments (And Water) And Why They Were Different Than You Thought
Think about your building
Let’s say there are 2 different Dubais who are using the same municipal water supply
They’re both using roughly the same shampoo, and roughly the same amount of hair. One of them moved to a different apartment complex, and he’s buying the same products as always, but they just aren’t working as well as they used to.
You see, the water that comes out of his shower could quite possibly be different from the water that comes out of his neighbor’s shower. It’s desalinated water, yes, but there could be other differences.
It’s entirely possible that the storage tanks and fixtures in each building could be slightly different, meaning that they could interact differently with your shampoo, conditioner, and showerhead. If you recently moved, it’s not necessarily your city’s fault if your fancy skin cream stopped working all of a sudden.
Another factor that cannot be ignored is the UAE itself.
Your skin and hair are living in a desert environment with searing heat, brilliant sunshine, dryness plus the air conditioning of your home or office.
You may spend an hour outside in the heat, come home and sit in air conditioning for four hours, then have a hot shower at night.
Your skin is having to adjust to each of these different climates.
Your hair is being ravaged by heat, styling, sweat, washing and maybe even colouring.
So if you are having issues with dryness or frizz, think beyond water.
Think of it as a cocktail of variables:
climate + water temp + products + washing + water quality etc
Truth be told,
There is no right answer.
We hope you understand.
Both Emirates have abundant water resources and desalination facilities
What matters to you is the water that comes out of your shower. You may very well find that your hair looks better in Abu Dhabi than it does in Dubai. However, I personally know somebody who had the exact opposite experience.
Just because one city has better water than another doesn’t mean that the other city has bad water, it just means that something in the water coming into these specific showers is different. And when it comes to water, that’s a much more interesting conversation to have.
Clean your shower head
If there are any deposits on it that could be restricting the water flow- it’s always something to think about in the home
Have less overly hot showers
While taking a hot shower can be really nice to you after a long day, it’s not always great for dry skin
Think about your hair care routine
If you have started to observe changes in your hair quality, this may not always be a sign to purchase new hair products.
Think of asking this to the maintenance of your building where you currently live.
Ask them about water tank cleanings if you are in an apartment or building, and think of other factors that may determine a cause and effect relationship.
Consider why it might happen
Have you observed similar effects while you are on a trip? Have you noticed different reactions from your skin when being at a certain location? Does it always happen right after you take a long shower?
These may be relevant factors to define the source of your concerns!
This is where point of use filtration may become of particular interest to you.
You do not need to rely on entire home water filtration systems if you are only concerned with the quality of your shower water.
A point of use shower filter only treats the water at the location where it is used.
For the particular concerns of odor, sensation, and overall characteristics of the water used at the shower, water filtration may become an appealing option.
Still, it is essential to recognize that a shower filter is not necessarily the same as a water softener.
There are a variety of water treatment approaches suitable for different water concerns, and it may be helpful to define the specific goals of your water treatment prior to purchasing a system.
In the opinion of H2O PureBlue, the conversation should begin with water analysis, not scare tactics.
Perhaps the best answer to the original question is this:
The difference may be less in the location of Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and more in the water that comes out of your particular shower.
So, if you move from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and your hair looks fabulous, enjoy it, but don’t think that you have found the “secret” ingredient in the water of Abu Dhabi.
Similarly, if you go the other way and notice a change in your skin or hair, don’t despair. Investigate your new shower.
We put so much thought into what shampoos, conditioners, body washes, moisturisers and hair treatments to use.
But there is one thing we tend to overlook in our daily ritual that is part of almost every step of the way.
Water
It is the first thing that hits our hair as soon as we step into the bathroom, and the last thing to leave our skin as we finish our morning ritual.
Therefore, we need to understand our shower water
Dubai water is not better than Abu Dhabi water
Not all our skin and hair issues are a result of water,
It is part of the daily routine, just like the rest.
That is why at H2O PureBlue we believe it is important to bring more awareness to the often unspoken part of our hygiene.
No scare-mongering, no empty promises, just an honest look at the water we use everyday and ways we can improve our experience with it, and in turn improve the health of our skin and hair.
