Something in the water...

First off, this is my first post... been frequenting here for almost a year I think, so, nice to meet you all, and hope I can contribute with some personal experiences since I haven't done a ton of research.

Anyway, I know this has been brought up before, but I think it's important- there's something not right about the water supply (at least where I live). Nearly all the men, and some women on my street have lost a lot of their hair, and no ones hair is in very good shape... well except for a few of course. There's 20-25ish people on my street. Now I know this may be a coincidence, but even the people who take better care of themselves have this as well. I personally notice that when I shower, my hair becomes pretty flat and lifeless, dry, brittle, kind of wirey, itchy scalp, and takes a long time to dry. This coming even AFTER I put in a shower filter and use organic shampoo. Before that I felt like my skin was going to dry up and fall off me, and I shed hairs just from moving my head it seemed like.

So my point here is... what's the deal? I know the filters take out chlorine, and there's a huge difference, I can tell. But flouride? I'm not too sure. Also my hair seems to be rougher and frizzier than any of my friends/relatives outside the immediate area. It doesn't play nicely with wind either. After I shower, I don't dare go outside until it's completely dry, otherwise it will practically stand up and frizz out (even being longer!). This never happens when I leave the area to visit relatives or someone.

Now, the drinking part- I was on a water-drinking craze during the summer, partly because there was nothing better to drink. (Milk or coke? Don't think so.) After 4-5 months of drinking half a gallon of water a day, Brita-filtered, I had serious issues. I stopped drinking water 2 months ago due to the side-effects. That's right, side effects from the water. My hair could be almost easily pulled out, was flat, thinning faster, ugly, I had spasms in most muscles of my body almost constantly, couldn't sleep well, saliva was almost pure water-consistency even upon waking. Since I've stopped, all the above have cleared up considerably!

I'm NW2ish. A friend of mine rarely showers, doesn't drink the water, but eats and drinks crap (not literally of course), has no hair loss except for some general mild thinning, based on diet and lifestyle I'd imagine.

On days I don't shower, my hair looks and feels better than if I did. Anyone else hate their water supply? (its public water by the way)
If it is flouride, this stuff can't be good at all topically for hair, I know thats no-brainer, but it may absorb through the skin and scalp. I got myself back on track with iodine, went through a nice detox from it, and have felt much better ever since I stopped drinking the water and showering every 2-3 days instead.

Is it the flouride? Oxidized copper piping? I do think water quality plays a role in hair loss via thyroid or something.

Thanks everyone, I'm here for you too!

If you're worried about water, forget the Brita filter and find a store that sells reverse osmosis water. You may want to add a few drops of minerals like Concentrace to it and that should provide a healthy source of drinking water. After you buy the 5 gallon bottle it's cheap too, my local store sells it for $0.40 a gallon as opposed to the $1+/gallon stuff at the store. Plus it uses less energy than trucking water all over the country, which is insane btw.

That's interesting, I've never seen that for sale. I'll do some looking around the area. I was planning to move out of the area at some point, so this is cheap enough to get by till then... 40 cents is great! I didn't know water sold for that cheap.

Another alternative was finding a natural spring in the area and just filling up a bunch of jugs, though I'm not sure of the clarity and bacterial state of the water, but it sounds delicious! I'm interested in seeing how my head feels after pouring some of that on it... infusing it with properly charged minerals.

I just re-read my post and think it may have been a little confusing. I get my RO water from a water store, not a supermarket or other store, and I bring in my own 5 gallon jug and fill it up at their faucet. Hence the cheaper price.

might depend where you live,but I can get RO water at any grocery locally 37-39 cents a gallon from the tap if you bring your own jug so you probably don't have to go to a water store. Spring water would be superior since reverse osmosis filters out minerals too.