Thread: Very Hard Water Soaps/Creams

I was in Las Las Vegas last week and Prorasso single edge and The Art of Shaving citrus (got it at a a shop there) treated me well and they have quite hard water.

Originally Posted by rolodave

First I heard of that.

The citric acid in lemon juice serves as a chelating agent to combine with the calcium and magnesium ions in the hard water. Although the ions are still present, they are less available to react with the fatty acids of the soap.
Some shaving soaps contain citric acid to help with hard water tolerance.

Citric acid is often used in powered form when canning fruits and some vegetables to act as a preservative. You can purchase it in the canning section of stores. However, in this instance, the citric acid is not obtain from natural sources such as lemons and lime, but it derived as a byproduct of black mold consuming sugar. If you see citric acid listed as an ingredient in products (including foods), it will have been derived in this manner.

Citric Acid is also used to clean hard water deposits out of appliances. It works similar to vinegar.

Florida has such hard.water.you can plan on a water heater replacement every ten years if not sooner. It clogs the drain in my shower. I have never done anything to compensate for shaving soap but then maybe I just don't know any better. I do know that lemon juice works well to prevent and even help remedy kidney stones. Citric acid also works. Instead of spending money on distilled water I think I would first try a Brita filter pitcher. Quite sure it is cheaper than gallon jugs of distilled.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Florida has such hard.water.you can plan on a water heater replacement every ten years if not sooner. It clogs the drain in my shower. I have never done anything to compensate for shaving soap but then maybe I just don't know any better. I do know that lemon juice works well to prevent and even help remedy kidney stones. Citric acid also works. Instead of spending money on distilled water I think I would first try a Brita filter pitcher. Quite sure it is cheaper than gallon jugs of distilled.

It sounds like you need to install a whole house water softener.

Originally Posted by RayClem

It sounds like you need to install a whole house water softener.

I definitely should. Especially since both my son and I have had kidney stones more than once. He had one that was 9 mm and looked like a giant sand spur. They had to go get that one. Two years ago I had a kidney removed because of renal cell carcinoma. That was the same kidney that I kept getting the stones in. I asked the doctor if he thought that had anything to do with the cancer and he said it's hard to tell but probably not. We sort of jokingly talk about having a spare kidney but in reality that's kind of how it works. Both of them work but one of them typically carries more load than the other one. This according to the doctor not to me.
I actually have a faucet filter for all of the water that I ingest but a water softener system would probably pay for itself in wear an tear on appliances and cost of detergent and soaps. A pretty good percentage of the people in Florida do have whole house water filters. Florida has no bed rock. We sit on a giant sandbar which is mainly limestone. All our water filters through the limestone which actually keeps it pretty clean it's just hard as a rock.

Sounds like my water, Paul. So hard...ya gotta chew it before swallowing it. Mines also high in iron, so I gotta nice orange glow about my shower n toilet, each week.

Have to replace all the seals in the faucets, about every 5-6 years. Bunn coffee pots only last about a year or two, @ $100 each. And sure I'll be looking at another hot water tank, soon. Been about 10 years since I replaced it.! 600$. And that was with the whole house softener, @$40 or more a month, in softener salt and rust remover.

Took out the softener about 6 years ago, after the hard water ate it up and I woke up to a basement full if salt water. That, eventually ate the bottom out of my pressure tank. Been thinking about a demand softener to take its place, lack of funds keeps me from pulling the string, though.

Originally Posted by outback

Sounds like my water, Paul. So hard...ya gotta chew it before swallowing it. Mines also high in iron, so I gotta nice orange glow about my shower n toilet, each week.

Have to replace all the seals in the faucets, about every 5-6 years. Bunn coffee pots only last about a year or two, @ $100 each. And sure I'll be looking at another hot water tank, soon. Been about 10 years since I replaced it.! 600$. And that was with the whole house softener, @$40 or more a month, in softener salt and rust remover.

Took out the softener about 6 years ago, after the hard water ate it up and I woke up to a basement full if salt water. That, eventually ate the bottom out of my pressure tank. Been thinking about a demand softener to take its place, lack of funds keeps me from pulling the string, though.

I couldnt handle that at all!