DIY question on water distillation;

[nao57]

So one of the things I've been researching recently is water distillation. I've been doing this by comparing actual experimental results to what people and articles say. I've found that there's a lot of wrong information. Like it seems like many of the cons written about water distillation were actually propelled by companies selling water filters, which are an alternative to getting mechanical distillation units. So people would see the information and choose these ... temporary plastic filters that don't last long and have to have the parts changed often.

One of the ways you can tell this is propaganda is that you can look at non-English information for both developed and developing countries attitudes on water distillation. And you can see they have a vastly different attitude than we do. And they aren't prejudiced about it, in very educated societies. This indicates propaganda.

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So here's a question I ran into...

People claim that drinking distilled or purified water makes your skin look very clear. Its not hard find multiple sources that claim this. So when reading that, my thought was... what if your skin already has some damage and isn't clear? Would your skin improve by using better purified water, or would you instead just be maintaining the rate of clearness that you had gotten at? Meaning, can you reverse the skin wear already there, or at what point can you get back before?

I am sure others would be curious about this also to think about. We all want to improve our lives.

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I'm also curious how many other people are drinking and trying distilled water here?

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Thank you for reading and replying and for any other helpful thoughts you might have on this.

 

[Stravager]

That is a pretty interesting question, and I hope someone else chips in... Drinking water in general does purify the organs quite a bit - skin included. Most people don't drink enough water to see a difference in hydration and toxin flushing, so it would be interesting to see a study or something done on the same amount of water drunk daily but distilled vs regular tap water and see the before and after, if you'd see the same effect or not.
But speaking for myself as someone who has tried drinking distilled water, it does nothing to quench my thirst. It actually left more of a dry taste than water that has chlorine in it. I drink water that is filtered through charcoal, and I find that improves the taste of the water much more and also satisfies my thirst. The trace amounts of mineral in undistilled water makes a huge difference for me in the taste, so I prefer mine with a little flavoring.
Curious as to other folks experience....

 

[Sally PB]

People claim that drinking distilled or purified water makes your skin look very clear. Its not hard find multiple sources that claim this. So when reading that, my thought was... what if your skin already has some damage and isn't clear? Would your skin improve by using better purified water, or would you instead just be maintaining the rate of clearness that you had gotten at? Meaning, can you reverse the skin wear already there, or at what point can you get back before?

Clear, as in lack of acne, blackheads, pimples? Or lack of sun damage? When I have my physical, my doctor always tells me how good my skin looks, "clear, no sun damage."

There are many things we do to our bodies that affect how skin looks. Sun exposure, the foods we eat, how much alcohol you drink, if you smoke, and yes, how much water you drink.

I'm also curious how many other people are drinking and trying distilled water here?

I'm a big fan of reverse osmosis water. We have a filter on our kitchen sink, and to me it tastes better than any other water. Our well water is ... eww.

 

[Stravager]

I'm a big fan of reverse osmosis water. We have a filter on our kitchen sink, and to me it tastes better than any other water. Our well water is ... eww.

Some well water is hardly potable...depends on the groundwater source. I know someone who lives on a farm and their well water leaves red iron stains on everything despite them trying to filter it at one point. Pretty sure they gave up on that after a while. They bring in 5 gallon jugs of spring water to drink. I knew someone else that had really beautiful clear well water and you didn't need to do anything to it.

 

[nao57]

Some well water is hardly potable...depends on the groundwater source. I know someone who lives on a farm and their well water leaves red iron stains on everything despite them trying to filter it at one point. Pretty sure they gave up on that after a while. They bring in 5 gallon jugs of spring water to drink. I knew someone else that had really beautiful clear well water and you didn't need to do anything to it.

Often if its bad, there's like 2 main groups. Like mountain, hill, or higher altitude water from wells and ground often is high mineral content like iron, etc. And if its lowland like by water for some reason people say it tastes sulfury. It seems to mostly fall into these 2 camps(?)

 

[nao57]

That is a pretty interesting question, and I hope someone else chips in... Drinking water in general does purify the organs quite a bit - skin included. Most people don't drink enough water to see a difference in hydration and toxin flushing, so it would be interesting to see a study or something done on the same amount of water drunk daily but distilled vs regular tap water and see the before and after, if you'd see the same effect or not.
But speaking for myself as someone who has tried drinking distilled water, it does nothing to quench my thirst. It actually left more of a dry taste than water that has chlorine in it. I drink water that is filtered through charcoal, and I find that improves the taste of the water much more and also satisfies my thirst. The trace amounts of mineral in undistilled water makes a huge difference for me in the taste, so I prefer mine with a little flavoring.
Curious as to other folks experience....

Wow. Interesting. Thanks.

How do people filter it with charcoal anyway? That sounds interesting. I've heard a few people associate charcoal with water filtering processes, but hadn't gotten a chance to be able to ask someone about this.

Its really fun to learn from DIY people.

 

[Stravager]

Wow. Interesting. Thanks.

How do people filter it with charcoal anyway? That sounds interesting. I've heard a few people associate charcoal with water filtering processes, but hadn't gotten a chance to be able to ask someone about this.

Its really fun to learn from DIY people.

This is a pretty decent breakdown of how to do it:
https://www.primalsurvivor.net/diy-charcoal-water-filter/
Here's a link to a site that explains how to make your own activated charcoal:
https://thefrugalchicken.com/charcoal-chickens-healthy-backyard-flock/
Basically, you take very fine activated charcoal and as the water slowly seeps through it takes out a lot of the impurities. The more charcoal you have the better, and it's best to replace it often since you can't really measure when the charcoal is "full". Charcoal has been used for many years for survival and is also typically one of the first filters you'll see for any system (aquarium*, fridge dispensers, tap purifiers, etc.) because it actually does something. (*aquarium is really only useful if you're trying to remove medication from the water.)
I use the Berkey water filter system, which is basically just compressed charcoal filters that the water seeps through. I bought the Berkey because I wanted a nice-looking water filter that could hold a few gallons at a time. I use it primarily for chlorine (and it makes a huge difference), since I don't believe their hype about it removing viruses/bacteria/99% of everything under the sun and their fluoride filters leach aluminum pretty badly. You can basically make your own Berkey filters that work exactly the same for much less using the same principle of activated charcoal.

 

[Annetti]

I've delved into water distillation too, uncovering misleading info. Noticed biased cons from water filter sellers. Exploring non-English sources, cultural attitudes differ. Now, onto skin clarity – can purified water reverse damage or only maintain?