Chlorine in the water supply

Kat James

What comes to mind when you hear the word chlorine? High school chemistry class? The chemical in the swimming pool? A chemical cities put in the water supply? A poison used to kill many people during World War I? As nonsensical as it sounds, all of these things apply to chlorine.

I disliked having chlorinated water coming out of my tap and swimming in chlorinated water at the pool, but I guessed that it didn’t have a very large impact. It turns out that chlorine is terrible for your hair. I read this article by Kat James about chlorine absorption while showering and its effect on hair…

Chlorine can be absorbed into your body three different ways: 1) ingestion, 2) inhalation, and 3) absorption through the skin. Ingestion is probably the most common because all city water is chlorinated. Inhalation of chlorine is the mode through which many soldiers were maimed and killed during the first world war. It also occurs daily in many showers as people breath in hot shower fumes. Absorption through the skin lets the chlorine directly into the blood supply and is accelerated by the hot water opening your pores.

According to Kat researchers at Harvard and the Medical College of Wisconsin marked chlorine absorption from the water supply as being responsible for 9% of bladder cancers and 15% of rectal cancers in the US. Inhalation of chlorine can cause respiratory problems, sinus problems, allergies, and asthma.

The fact that chlorine is bad for you is not exactly breaking news, so I am surprised at the nonchalance of people when I bring up the subject. The most common logic seems to be that there is not that much chlorine in the water and if it was a problem the government wouldn’t put the chlorine in there. Of course most do not believe that the United States government was a world leader in compulsory sterilization.

Kat recommends buying a shower head chlorine filter with Kinetic Degradation Fluxion (KDF) technology. She says that this is the most cost effective way of improving your hair and skin. She recommends the Slimline Shower filter by Sprite Industries. If you use the information on her page you can get a 20% discount and free shipping on a filteration system.

I do not have a shower filter. I do not want to start using one now and disturb my no poo experiment, but I will start using one when my hair has reached steady state. Since I have not tried out chlorine filters I cannot determine the impact they will have, but I strongly recommend buying one.