Monday, March 12, 2012

"There's something in the water"

http://www.ecoblog.co.za/
In the first book I read by Dr John Lee (An American gynaecologist who passed away in 2003) about Menopause, he mentioned briefly in one paragraph about the Chlorine levels in American tap water and also about how President William Clinton was planning to get rid of it at the time.

Only after finishing reading the book did I go back and think about it. If Chlorine in tap water influences our hormonal balance, then men can be affected too and so can babies, children, teenagers and the elderly. In other words, a message which was originally intended for menstruating and menopausal woman actually has relevance to everyone!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/
Last week, I needed to go through to Canal Walk at Century City (Cape Town), to fetch my repaired smartphone. While looking for the Vodacom shop I spotted the H2O store and decided to go in and chat with the guy there. They offer a number of purification systems so I asked questions about our water in Cape Town to find out what it might mean for all of us Capetonians.

He indicated that there are indeed traces of chemicals and metals in our water. He was able to do a Chlorine test for me right there and explained that each time he does this test it can show different results, indicating changes in the amount of Chlorine in our water. The result I saw was bright yellow, meaning we have a high level at the moment.

I must admit, as a hairstylist, I started to have conscious but unvocalised suspicions about our water last year as I began noticing increasing hair loss and related problems from a wide variety of my clients (of all ages, races and lifestyles).

Is there really "something in the water"?

I suspect that there is, and I suspect that it is having a remarkable impact on people. A dermatologist I had a consultation with last year, confirmed that prolonged exposure to water can lead to skin problems, sometimes even bizarre problems that doctors cannot account for (in other words they regularly misdiagnose and mistreat problems related to water exposure).

From reading Dr John Lee's book and researching on the internet, I have been led to believe that exposure to chemicals (xenoestrogens not poisons) through your skin can influence your body's chemistry more rapidly and with greater intensity/influence than consumption of chemicals (xenoestrogens).

So I looked into the purification systems at H2O. A filtration system for your whole household will set you back 15 - 25K ZAR. For your drinking water via your kitchen tap, it's about 2500 ZAR. For a shower head, it's about 500 ZAR. And there is also a unit I could use for my salon basin, also a few hundred rands.

Shucks, money down the drain or money well spent? I'm beginning to think that this is one of those times where "many a true word was spoken in jest" and there genuinely is 'something in the water'...

Did you know that over the last hundred years industrialisation and marketing has forced us to shampoo our hair and do it more and more frequently? Generations before us didn't wash their hair as often as us, and didn't experience nearly as much hair loss (especially as young as we are experiencing it) or oily scalps, and dry/itchy scalps, as much as this generation is.

I don't believe we are soooo much more stressed than they were or that our genetics have somehow changed. I suspect our bodies are being weakened by the chemical build-up in the environment through the last hundred years of industrialisation.

Here's some interesting info I found on "healthy water", particularly drinking water but it is also used for restoring health through bathing:

http://www.scientiaweb.com/
Wiki on mineral water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_water

Also wondering if carbonated water makes any difference?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effervescence_(chemistry)
I'm unsure about it. If you have any info, please let me know :)

Mineral waters of the world
http://www.mineralwaters.org/index.php

To create your own mineral water:
(1) Pour purified, filtered water into a glass bottle (Plastics can deteriorate and contaminate the water. Also, drinks taste better in glass don't they?! You can buy a glass bottle at the health store, specifically Wellness Warehouse sells brands of water in glass.)
(2) Add a few drops of concentrated minerals, also available from the health store. I've used ConcenTrace.

To create your own Ancient Sea Bathing experience:
(1) You can fill the bath water at any temperature you desire/require
(2) Add Ancient sea salts and enjoy a revitalising soak. I've used AIM Cell Welness Restorer (It literally prevented me from going into cardiac arrest thanks to my mother's care and expertise when I had overdosed on a product which made my blood pressure 'explode').
http://www.styles-guide.com/
Cold bath is good for fever. Hot/Warm bath is good for pains and insomnia. Bathing in sea minerals can also be used for stress, arthritis, Alzheimer's patients, autoimmune diseases, improve immune response and improve male reproductive function.

I hope this blog has been informative and helpful.
Cheers to enjoying more of the good healthy water and less of the 'bad' water!

http://www.flickr.com/

1 comment:

  1. A very interesting read. I'm glad we have a filter on our water dispensing/ice making fridge! Warren K.

    ReplyDelete