How is my water softner making my water better without brine?

My water was hard for about two weeks. The softerner was functioning but the water was still hard. When checking the float valve assembly, I broke the plug. So for four days, there was no fresh brine going into the resin tanks as there was no valve in the brine tank. Yet, the water is much better now four days later. How can this be?
Answers

STEVEN F

The resin removes impurities from the water. The brine cleans the resin. The brine actually has nothing to do with softening the water you actually use.