I guess I'm lucky with the water I have, when I use MWF, or Tabac, I just soak my brush a few minutes in lukewarm water, shake the brush out some and load it up, start face lathering, add a little water as needed. Both lather up great for me. Did take some dialing in to figure each one out. Like Ryan82 my MWF has some surface cracking also. I did find using the cooler water helped me with both the MWF and Tabac.