Thread: The advantage of soft water

I live in London, UK, and the water here is incredibly hard. Most shave creams and soaps take more work to create a lather, the result being usually less than optimal -- a great cushion, but dries quickly. The state of the water is most noticeable with things like kettle elements furring up within a couple of boils -- I'd hate to see what it does to dishwashers and washing machines.

Anyway, I'm 'blessed' with this sort of water for shavng on a regular basis. Most of the time I just get on with it, not noticing. It's what I'm used to. But every year we go on a family vacation out of London. It doesn't matter where we go, the water is almost always guaranteed to be a lot softer there.

Right now we're in Cornwall/Devon borders, and the water supply is pumped up from the groundwater -- water that has come from rain (and boy has there been a lot recently!), filtered through the peat and moss on the moors, and pure as crystal. It makes a great cup of tea annd coffee, for sure.

Anyway, Day 3 of vacation was the first shave day. I took out my travel kit with my little TI Dandy 4/8. It's a good blade -- took me a little getting used to for honing (it's not stainless, but seemes harder than most CS blades). Stropped it. Left it on the side while I stepped into the shower. Came out and started to shave.

The difference was immediate. The soft water had made my whiskers almost silky soft compared to usual. And the blade just glided over my skin, scything down every last hair. I found I could adopt and extra light touch because of this and the result was not only BBS, but an incredibly smooth shave. The alum block test proved this -- not a single twinge or slight sting. It was as if I was passing a bar of soap over my face. (With a more harsh shave, the alum block can sting like a mutha.)

I've been shaving with a straight for 18 months now (so still a newb compared to many), but I've got pretty settled with technique (shaving and honing). I can honestly say that the water in this case was the only variable, since blade, technique, cream, prep etc. have been constants for some time now. My conclusion?

The softness or hardness of the water can make a big step-change in quality of shaves. Big enough to be shockingly palpable. I am convinced of this (Shaves 2 and 3 during this vacation have been just as smooth).

Anyone else notice this factor?

Mark, Collect some of that rain water. Keep it closed-lidded in the fridge until needed. It makes the Grandest Lather! Absolutely slick! We have very hard water here in the Hill Country of Texas. I built a cistern system for the landscaping and emergency water supply. I use rainwater for showering outside in the hot summer and I use rainwater for shaving. Be sure and dry the razor after using rainwater lather because even here the rainwater is slightly acidic. Man, it is tops for shaving. Please give it a try. Thank yall for having kept Sheffield for all those wonderful blades. That is where my beloved IXL and Pipe hail from. Good luck with a hometown shave. Robert

Now that's a damn fine idea, Robert! I am definitely giving that a go. I have a couple of water butts in my garden so there's a source anytime I want. Will report back if it makes the same difference.

Soft water makes a huge difference not only in shaving but everywhere else. hard water gunks up plumbing and appliances and is poison to hot water heaters. Showering with it leaves residue on your skin and hair. Gardening with it causes a buildup of alkali in the soil over time and drinking it just tastes terrible. We have water as hard as nails here in New Mexico. If you have it and can't collect rainwater for shaving just get some water at the store for shaving. A jug lasts a long time.

I had the reverse problem when I went to stay in London recently. The water here in south Wales is as soft as warm butter & I have no problem building lather & getting BBS. The first two shaves I had in London were not comfortable. I bought myself some C&E soap & was not overly impressed. In fact, I was disappointed, given C&E's reputation. I also picked up a puck of GFT but didn't test that until I got home. The results on that were amazing & it became my favourite. I retried the C&E & it was much better. It had not occured to me to factor in the water hardness to my assessment. Your idea has provided the missing variable. Thankyou

GREAT THREAD!!

I had same results, I'm talking about the softness of the skin, when I was shaving in the countryside where we have water supplied from a manual water-pump from a natural source...

Would it be a solution to boil the water before to shave with (with or without special salt)?

I will try it tomorrow as here in Warsaw we also have a quite hard water..

I also noticed a changement in the quality of my skin... It became more sensitive since I am living here..

I will post my impressions on the boiling solution as soon as I can....

Thanks again for this great thread!

If you are going to collect rainwater just for shaving be sure to wait 10-15 minutes after the rain starts before you start collecting, this will give the rain time to clean the impurities out of the air, once the air is clean then go ahead and collect. Unless you like the feel of acidic pollutants on your face.

I always discard the first few gallons of collected rainwater so that the roof has been rinsed of bird droppings, pollen, etc. The wait is important. Actually I never discard rainwater. The first few gallons are used in the gardens and are never co-mingled with the collected water. Thanks for the tip. This is good science.

I totally agree that hard water sucks.

But if you find a soap that works with hard water, you know you have found a special kind of gold.

Tobac, Floris, Trumpers Rose. I know they work with hard water. I use them with very hard water

The rest are a bit iffy. I also know that some reviews that sing the merits of the also ran soaps are undertaken with soft water.

Mind you, you had another variable. You were on holiday.

Cheers guys, some great suggestions here.

English -- there's one shave cream guaranteed to lather up like a dream in the hardest of water: Castle Forbes. Give it a go. You won't believe it!

Not sure if this is good science or not, but I might just have to run some basic comparisons now I've started this thread.

Rain
Boiled
Distilled
Mineral water
Guiness

Anything else to add to the list?