I live in an apartment in a "very hard water" area. Is there a way to
soften the water I use when washing my hair or bathing?

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Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 03 Jun 2005 19:13 PDT

There are various plumbing solutions: basically installing a
water-softener on the pipeline. Would you like links to a couple of
them? If you gave us your region, we might even be able to find where
you can find them in your area.

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Clarification of Question by arbie-ga on 03 Jun 2005 20:27 PDT

i live in a rented apartment and can not do anything to the plumbing. 
i was hoping there is something i can add to the water or some piece
of equipment i can attach to the shower head (much like a water filter
in the kitchen) that will soften the water.  Attaching anything to the
internal plumbing is not an option.

This site discusses the subject:

http://www.nsf.org/consumer/drinking_water/dw_treatment.asp?program=WaterTre

There seem to be point-of-use devices that might work.  If your
apartment has its own water heater, maybe a device could be installed
there with the permission of the apartment owner.  If so, you could
reduce the water temperature so that you used only or mostly water
from the heater.  Another unit might be installed on your washing
machine water connection, if that is a problem too.

what about this?

http://www.aquadoc.com/aquasana.htm