How important is distilled water vs. tap water?

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I'm currently using bottled distilled water but I wonder how really important that is. I'm here in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles where we get our drinking water from the High Sierra mountains 300 miles north of us, and it is all snowmelt that flows here via aqueducts. Our water is arguably some of the best municipal water in the nation, and is so good I can hardly tell the difference between it and bottled drinking water. (Other parts of LA get water from wells and from the Sacramento Delta and is not as good a water, but we Valleyites get only the good stuff.) Our water is neither hard nor soft as far as I know and few houses even bother with any kind of conditioning.

So what do you think? Can I skip the distilled water and use our fine tap water, or do you think it's important to use the bottled stuff?

I'll be interested in hearing what you all use for your water.
 
I've heard that distilled water is used to eliminate the soap dust on the outside of the soap that forms due to the chemicals in tap water. I'm not sure whether there is any other side effects. Try it and see!

I use distilled water.

Kristin
 
Hi There,
I use distilled water but I know of another who uses tap water. Their water is very good as well and when mixed with the lye- doesn't cause any buildup (gooky stuff on top due to high mineral content).

I've heard of people using snow and rain water as well. I'd be interested in hearing others opinions as well.
 
As others have suggested - it really does depend on your tap water. I only have one recipe that I use water in and I use distilled for it. However - I have run out of distilled and used the tap with no problems whatsoever. But if my water supply should change for some reason and ruin several batches of soap - I would be upset. So I stick to distilled when I can.

ETA - we have soft water in most of the house. I will only use tap water from sinks not hooked to the softener. Soft water made a pretty big mess one time for me. Not at all sure why and haven't felt like experimenting further with it.
 
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