How To: Shave with Hard Water

Though I've been wet-shaving for probably a couple years now, I still consider myself a beginner. I knew going in that this would be a process, and though it can be frustrating, that just makes it all the more rewarding when you finally get something right.

Like many people, I live in an area with very hard water. This makes it quite difficult to get a good lather. Quality soap and glycerin can help, but only so much. The only solution I know of is to stop using it. I have a jug of distilled water I use for ironing, and I thought "Wouldn't it be great if I could shave with that?"

The primary difficulty in abandoning the tap is getting the water hot. You can use the microwave, and you can use the stove, but that's not exactly convenient when you want to shave. My solution? An electric kettle; a hot pot. It was surprisingly difficult for me to find one in a store, especially considering I live in a college town, but eventually I found one at Walmart for $6.

This morning was my first attempt at my new method. I commissioned a plastic cup and filled it with some distilled water. I dumped that into the hot pot and plugged it in. Once it boiled, I poured it back into the cup and hopped into the shower. By the time I was ready to shave, the water had cooled just enough. I submerged my brush, let it soak for a while, and then lathered as usual.

The results were astonishing. The lather was much thicker, the shave much smoother, and the result much closer than any shave I've managed so far. As a beginner, it's easy to blame yourself for poor results. I kept thinking I wasn't using enough soap, or speed, or water. Turns out, I just needed better water to help everything fall into place.

I know I'm not the only person who has hard water, and I'm sure there are others ways of dealing with it. How have you overcome this challenge?

My water is as hard as nails but I have a water softener. They sell small units for fish tanks but bottled water is the way to go. There are some soaps that perform much better with hard water and I'm sure some folks will chime in about them.

They also sell these coils you can just immerse in the water and they are pretty cheap too.

Here in Walla Walla WA USA I don’t have the problem of ‘hard water’!

However I do use the Microwave to warm my water!!! Perhaps my humble abode is much smaller than your living space so I don’t have to walk as many steps, but I simply put my water in for 50-60 seconds while I strop and then later up!

I don’t find it ‘inconvenient’ to do so! I actually find it ‘Very Convenient’!!

As usual, it’s ‘Different Strokes for Different Folks’!!! :shrug:

Enjoy your shaves!!! :tu

Out of curiosity, what water softener do you have?

Quality soap can go a long way. I started with ToBS soap and then cream. When that ran out, I grabbed a puck of Williams at the local super. I didn't even finish it before moving on to Mama Bear. Mama Bear has been the best by far, and I'll probably stick with that going forward. I did give Williams another try this morning with my new method. It was much better. Not as good as Mama Bear, but that's only after one shave. I feel like now I have something to work with, where as before, I had nothing.

'Convenience' is, as you say, a relative term. Perhaps I phrased that a bit too broadly. :) One advantage to using a microwave or stove is that you have better control over the temperature. My hot pot only has two modes: on and off. When it's on, it boils water. When it is off, it does not. It has a dial that goes from 'Warm' to 'Boil', but as far as I can tell, that just adjusts how frequently it cycles on and off. Still, it boils very quickly, so I can put it in a cup and let it cool while I shower.

I have a kenetico which I bought almost 30 years ago when they first came out and were more reasonable in price.

If you want to you could use a candle warmer