Soft As A Cloud (1955)

Have you ever stopped to think what rain means [music] to you? If you're a farmer, you have [music] And if you're a weatherman, you are. When you're thinking about rain, you're not thinking how important [music] it is to you. It's easy for all of us to forget that rain is so important. That rain is water. And without water, [music] nothing could live. our entire lives revolve around water. The water we drink. Oh, Joey. Mother said to wash your hands and face. [music] Yes. The water we wash with. The water we wash our clothes with. The water we cook with, the water we clean with, the water we all just take for granted. Yet, the time has come when we should stop taking it for granted. We're not getting the most out of our water these days. We're not getting the most out of it because the water we're using is old-fashioned. Water old-fashioned? What in the world do you mean? Look around you. Look at your home. Modern as tomorrow. all these appliances to save you time and work. Yet, you're ignoring the most basic time waster and work maker of all. You're using old-fashioned water that streaks your glasses. Water that spots and stains your sink and leaves a ring around your bathtub. Water that won't get your clothes really clean or even give you a decent bath. Water that makes your hands rough and clogs your pores. It sticks to your hair and makes it dull and hard to manage. Why the What are you talking about? I'm talking about old-fashioned water. Hard water. Oh, hard water. You had me scared for a minute. Our water is not hard. Oh, but really it is. But then most water is hard. Some's just harder than others, that's all. Look, I'll show you what I mean. [music] The only time water is really soft in nature is here in the clouds when it's water vapor. When it falls as rain, it begins to absorb gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen from the air. Yet, when it first reaches the ground, rain water is still soft and easy to use. In fact, for years, folks collected it in barrels and sistns to wash with instead of using the hard water from their wells. Because as soon as the rain hits the ground, it begins to pick up minerals both as it runs over the surface and beneath the surface. Among the minerals in the ground are the two principal elements that make water hard, calcium and magnesium. And as they dissolve in the water, they become tiny particles called ions. Thus, when the water reaches your home through your well or through your city water supply, it contains these hardness ions. If it contained just a few, your water would be almost as soft and as easy to use as rainwater. But when it contains more hardness ions, as yours does, it's hard, difficult to use, inconvenient, old-fashioned. Now, you can't tell that water's hard by looking at it, but the chemist can tell by analyzing it. If his measurements indicate that in 7,000 gallons of water, only one pound of hardness minerals is present, he says the water has a hardness of one grain per gallon, or it's one grain hard. Completely soft water has no grains of hardness. But since water up to 3 and 1/2 grains is relatively easy to use in the home, most chemists agree that it can be called soft, and they call water containing more than 3 and 1/2 grains hard. But to you, the important thing is, does the hardness in your water affect you? And since soap and water are just natural goto togethers around the house, here's a test to show you just how hardness minerals and water react with soap. First, put a small amount of pure soap in the bottle of soft water and shake it. suds, right? Suds because there are no hardness minerals in the water to prevent the soap from forming suds. And see how clear and clean the water beneath the suds is too. That's important. Now the other bottle. Use the same amount of soap. That's right. Now, shake it. Well, what do you know? Is that the way hard water acts with soap? Yep, that's it. See how milky the water is? That's because the soap has combined with the hardness minerals to form a soap curd. And since the Kurd makes dirt stick to everything, you can imagine how much harder it is to get clothes or yourself really clean. I guess it would be hard to get almost anything clean with that. Do your clothes get clean when you wash them? Well, of course they do. I have a brand new automatic washing machine and it just works. I'm afraid you're not giving your new washer a chance to do its best job for you. What do you mean? The bottle labeled hard water was filled from your faucet. The very same water you thought was soft. You're kidding. No, I'm not kidding. But don't be so upset. Most people use water that acts the same way. In fact, the water in 85% of this country is hard. In many places, it's harder than yours. And those people are battling Kurd all the time. They can't help but know they have a problem. Especially today when people are using more water than ever before. Why? In many places, entire cities have installed municipal hardness reduction plants. Yet, this is only a start in the right direction. You see, hardness reduction plants just can't completely soften all the water a city uses economically. So, usually they merely reduce the hardness of the water to about 5 to eight grains. And that's a big help in areas where the water is naturally 20, 30, or even more grains hard. But five to eight grain [music] water in your home is still hard enough to rob you of the benefits of truly soft water. Even though an entire industry has been [music] developed to provide you with modern washing compounds that make suds in hard water. Yet in spite of these modern compounds, you're cheating yourself by using old-fashioned water. Cheating myself? Exactly. Let's take a look at your washing machine. As long as you're about to wash these clothes anyway, I can show you what I mean. I think that's enough for our demonstration. Now, put in the soap. Well, you mean detergent, don't you? I can't use soap in this machine. The man plainly said that. You see, that's one way you're cheating yourself. It's not your machine. It's your water that soap won't work in. Yet, many home economists agree that soap is one of the best and least expensive cleaning agents there is. And it's easy on clothes and on your hands, too. You have to use synthetic detergents, syninds, usually just called detergents. Yet, if you had soft water, you could use soap or detergents. Well, let's suppose you have soft water in your washer. When you put soap in, the tiny particles go to work on the dirty fabrics immediately. They break up the dirt, surround it, and float it away. Then the fresh soft rinse water washes all the particles away, leaving your clothes fresh and really clean. And since detergents work well in soft water, you can use soap or detergents depending on your personal preference. But suppose you put soap in your hard water. Look what happens. The soap particles immediately join the hardness minerals instead of going to work on the dirt in the clothes. And so what happens is the soap must soften the water instead of washing the clothes. It forms a sticky curd, that milky substance you saw in the bottle test. The soap and hardness particles clean to the sides of the tub or still worse, stick to the cloth. The kurd can't remove dirt. In fact, it actually holds dirt in the clothes. So you have to add more soap. It's only after all the hardness ions have been dealt with that the extra soap can start to wash. But by now, the sticky curd is all over everything. And furthermore, your rinse water is hard, too. So, it reacts with the soap that's left in the clothes and tub and forms more hardness curd. The rinsing action flushes out the suspended particles, but much of the kurd stays behind on the tub, or more important, spread all over your clothes. Besides, kurd can keep your starch from penetrating evenly, and the kurd can cause annoying irritations when it comes in contact with tender skin. Did your little boy ever have a diaper rash when he was a baby? Well, yes, he did. You don't suppose it might have been. In water as hard as yours, you'd never get clothes really clean. Oh, now I remember. That must be the reason this came with a washing machine. Yes, softeners do a good job of softening wash water, but remember, it's pretty inconvenient to soften rinse water in automatic washers. And a soft water rinse is just as important to a really clean wash as soft wash water. Well, then let's get back to my detergent. It doesn't give me any trouble. That's right. It doesn't. Because detergents were developed for hard water, and they do a good job, but hard water won't let them do as much as they're capable of doing. Here, I'll show you. Detergents aren't bothered by water hardness at first. They go right to work on the dirt, breaking it up and floating it away. But hardness ions in the water interfere with these tiny particles and cause some of the dirt to be redeposited on the fabric. Although the hard rinse water can carry away the floating particles, it can't budge the redeposited dirt. Detergents, too, would work better if you weren't using that old-fashioned water. It eventually causes white clothes to discolor even though most detergents contain artificial whiteners. And it causes colored fabrics to lose their brilliance. But you're cheating yourself in other ways by using old-fashioned water. It makes bathing a chore for every member of your family. Soap won't lather when you want it to, and the curd is hard to rinse off. And of course, there's the old bathtub ring. You have to scour it off and that doesn't help the glazed finish on your tub. And if all that sticky film stays on the tub, think of your skin [music] when you wash your face and think of your hair. Even though the kurd is minimized by some lotions, shampoos, and soaps, it just [music] won't rinse off completely as long as you're using hard water. It's the same with glasswware and dishes, pots and pans, silverware, and baby's bottles. The deposits won't rinse off them easily. Actually, kurd can be a breeding place for bacteria and eventually hard water deposits can clog up automatic dishwashers besides making hand dishwashing really unpleasant. Some vegetables are shriveled, toughened. They actually act as water softeners, absorbing the hardness minerals right out of the water. And do you know hard water can change the good flavor of coffee? and tea. But hard water causes other hidden problems. Look what it's done to the inside of your tea kettle. Well, for goodness sake. And I thought our water was soft. It's too bad more people can't see inside their tea kettles. Then they'd understand what's happening in their water pipes, especially their hot water pipes. This pipe, for example, had to be replaced after only a few years use in an area of moderately hard water, just about the same as yours. Now, imagine what your water heater looks like inside. Well, that's not good for the heater, is it? It sure isn't. Hard water scales ruined lots of heaters. [music] And besides that, it costs more to heat [music] the water through all the scale. Why, I had no idea that soft water was so important in so many ways. Well, that's just it. Most people don't. But then, how could you? You've never had the chance to enjoy really soft water. If you had, you'd know. Soft water is a dream. A dream. [music] [music] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. [music] [music] [music] It doesn't [music] have to be just a dream. It doesn't. Not anymore. There's a way to take the hardness minerals right out of the water in your home with these tiny beads of highcapacity resin. Already at work in hundreds of city hardness reduction plants, high-capacity resins are now available for home water softening equipment. A home water softener is simply a resin filled container connected in your plumbing system. The resin works on a phenomenon of nature called ion exchange to completely remove the hardness from your home water supply. These tiny beads are the secret. Each fairly bristles with ions of sodium, and sodium isn't a hardness element. When hard water flows through the resin, the beads have a stronger attraction for the hardness ions than for their own sodium ions. So presto, the ions trade places with each other. It's as simple as that. The hardness ions calcium and magnesium become attached to the beads and in exchange the harmless sodium ions take their place. So they call it ion exchange. Periodically the beads are rinsed with salt water to give them a fresh supply of sodium ions and to flush the accumulated hardness ions down the drain. That's all it takes to keep the beads at work. High-capacity resins have made home water softeners so efficient and economical that they take their place with other modern home appliances as practical necessities. You can buy a home water softener, rent it, or subscribe to a softwater service. Well, this certainly has been an education. I just wish my husband had been here to Oh, excuse me. There he is now. Honey, I've just been hearing about the [laughter] You lucky man. You You've just had a soft water rinse. [laughter]