Tricky question... Is it better to have hard water and moisturize your skin with an organic moisturizer when it gets dry and itchy, or to treat your water by putting stuff in it so that your skin doesn't get dry and itchy in the first place? This goes for drinking it, too. We have ridiculously hard water and my stepfather is thinking about getting it softened. That would be great, because we're constantly itching from the stuff, but I've heard softening it raises the sodium content of the water as well as putting other undesireable stuff in it. On the other hand, is there really any such thing as a natural moisturizer? Other than the hardness, our water has been deemed safe, both by a lab test and by a do-it-yourself kit (Dr. Paranoia wants another test before he'll drink it, but whatever).