Thread: Very Hard Water Soaps/Creams

Hi I live in an area of England which has extremely hard water and would like to know what soaps/creams you guys
recommend for a good lather and slickness ?

I live in an area with extremely hard water as well and I've found that creams seem to lather much better than hard soaps. Creams that I use most of the time include Taylor of Old Bond Street, Prorasso, Palmolive and Arko. Castle Forbes works wonderfully as well. Hard soaps can be a little tricky to get good lather with hard water. A couple of drops of glycerin added to the bowl usually helps to whip up a good lather when using most soaps. Hope this helps.

Mine's so hard, I have to chew it before swallowing.

But " Fine accoutrements " is a great hard water, hard soap. Almost a top tier soap, so to say. I'd say it is, for a hard soap line-up. They also have matching aftershaves, to their soaps.

And the abovementioned soaps, by Theseus, work great, too.

Take the easy way out and get some distilled or RO water. A gallon is cheap and will last a long time for shave use. Then you don't have to do this hard water dance with soaps.

In these parts water runs around 12 grains of hardness and that's about as hard as it comes anywhere.

I know that Barrister Reserve soaps were specifically designed for hard water tolerance. However, I do not know the availability in England.

Originally Posted by RayClem

I know that Barrister Reserve soaps were specifically designed for hard water tolerance. However, I do not know the availability in England.

Just rub ur face and make it warm then shave it !

You could try adding some lemon juice to your shaving water.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

You could try adding some lemon juice to your shaving water.

Bob

First I heard of that.

Originally Posted by rolodave

First I heard of that.

A member from the UK mentioned that quite a few years ago. Never tried it having nice water locally but worth a try if you have hard water.

Bob

So, first make sure your hard water is the problem. Start by cleaning your brush, soaking in 50% solution of warm water and white vinegar. Shampoo with a dollop in your palm, lather, rinse well and make your lather with distilled water.

If your brush does not bloom fully, it may need another soak. It should bloom fully when dry.

It may just be your brush is loaded and not making lather. I lived with hard water and found a vinegar soak every few months resolved the issue for me. As said worst case, a gallon of Distilled Water is inexpensive and will make lot of lather for an easy solution to your problem.