I'm looking for some advice on brushes, and after browsing around on this forum, I'm pretty sure I've come to the right place.

I have a really nice silvertip brush, but have been finding that it doesn't transfer the lather to my face so well. Is it retaining too much water, or is it my technique? I've watched tons of tutorials and even though I can get a pretty decent lather in a bowl or on my hand, it just stays on the brush.

In case it matters, here's some background information: My current brush has a 22mm knot, 49mm loft. It feels great, but is pretty floppy. I've discovered that the painting technique works way better than the swirl, but I feel like it's still inefficient.

It took me a while to get a decent lather when I switched to wet shaving, and after a bit of research I realized that the water is probably a factor (it turns out I live an area with hard water at 7.5 grains), so I did some experimenting, and here are the results: With cream I can get a good lather if I use about 3x the suggested almond sized amount, but with distilled water I can get a better lather with only the suggested amount. With a soap it's pretty much impossible to get a decent lather, and I think that's partly because of the water and partly because of the brush, because even with distilled water it's tough. In all cases, the lather still doesn't get onto my face properly.

So if it's technique, I welcome any advice. If I need a new brush, suggestions are welcome (I'm thinking maybe I need a stiffer boar or pure badger brush with a thick knot, around 25mm, and maybe a shorter loft), however budget is a definite limitation.

Thanks!!
Joel

P.S. If anyone knows of places to get good shaving gear at a reasonable price in Montreal, please let me know. I'm finding all the local stores are way overpriced compared to online sellers, however I hate having to pay $10 shipping for a $20 item.