Chil­dren Skin Care: the effects of hard or soft water

This article was created in coop­er­a­tion with Beat­rice Jansohn.

When it comes to your baby’s skin, it’s impor­tant to avoid using cosmetics or oint­ments as baby skin is very sensi­tive. Instead use normal bathing water and if needed, natural cosmetics (please always speak to your doctor before using any prod­ucts on your baby).

How do you care for a child’s skin?

First of all, it should be said that chil­dren's skin should never be cleaned daily with soaps or sham­poos. Clear water is usually suffi­cient here.

Of course, if your child loves the outdoors and is regu­larly playing in the mud or kicking a ball with friends then a soothing bath or cleansing shower is unavoid­able. The bath shouldn’t last too long so it prevents the skin from drying out. After the bath or shower, dry off the chil­dren well, dab them gently and avoid rubbing their skin.

It’s key to always mois­turize after a bath! A good mois­tur­izing cream is neces­sary so that the natural mois­ture content of a child’s deli­cate skin is retained. As mentioned previ­ously, prod­ucts should be tailored to your child’s skin, if in doubt please seek medical advice from a paedi­a­tri­cian or derma­tol­o­gist.

It’s also impor­tant to remember to take care of your child’s skin when they’re outside. Wearing sunscreen is essen­tial for all skin types and ages but partic­u­larly for young chil­dren as they may easily forget to apply when having fun outside. As a parent or guardian, it's best to always carry a small tube of sunscreen in your pocket or bag.

The effects of hard or soft­ened water on chil­dren's skin

One of the best ways to help ensure you protect your child’s skin is to check the level of water hard­ness in your area. You can easily check the hard­ness of water at home with a hard water test strip. The higher the propor­tion of hard­ening substances in the water, the harder it is. This means that the water contains a lot of limescale.

Hard water combined with soap or shower gel, can result in insol­uble salts remaining on the skin and hair. This has a nega­tive effect on the greasi­ness of the skin and makes it rougher. It’s espe­cially impor­tant to try and avoid this with your child’s skin.

This unpleasant effect is reduced with soft­ened water. Fortu­nately, even in regions with hard water, soft­ened water can flow out of the tap, through Water Soft­ener systems, like BWT’s Water Soft­ener range. They ensure hard water is trans­formed into silky-​soft Luxury Water through the ion exchange process.

Chil­dren's skin is defi­nitely bene­fits from soft­ened water. You no longer have to worry about skin feeling rough and dry. Soft­ened BWT Luxury Water can help your skin feel softer and smoother and as a result you end up using less prod­ucts on your child’s skin. Silky soft BWT Luxury Water is a real elixir of beauty and it’s not just for your little ones