I just moved to a different city which has very hard water, they consider a squirt gun a dangerous weapon.
My question is; what are good skills for getting a
usable lather? I have a selection of soaps and creams to choose from.
Thank you!
~Richard
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I just moved to a different city which has very hard water, they consider a squirt gun a dangerous weapon.
My question is; what are good skills for getting a
usable lather? I have a selection of soaps and creams to choose from.
Thank you!
~Richard
Have you tried it to see what the difference would be? I would imagine it would dissolve slower so maybe a longer soak time. Perhaps the hard water will dull your edge Lol. Let us know what the difference in the lather is between hard and soft water. Good luck in your new home.
Don't know if a certain brush would be the answer but how about using distilled or bottled water? It doesn't take a lot so a bottle should go a long way. Just a crazy thought!
P-160 and Cella, so far, do not lather with double the amount I normally use. I am using a Thater badger brush at this time.
~Richard
I remember years ago someone suggested putting a little lemon juice/concentrate in the water to make it usable for lathering. Never had to try it but it's worth a shot.
Bob
I would suggest some epsom salt (used that when i was younger for hard water) though the ideal of shaving with salt water doesn't really sound appealing... otherwise a water softener is not a bad investment. Best short term solution though might be what bouschie said and just use bottled water or distilled if you have a good way of doing that. good luck!
Don't have any suggestions, my water is so hard, ya gots ta chew it before swallowing.
Best results consistently come from my badger brushes.
Have you considered using a Brita water jug to filter your water first, or using bottled water to making lather. I have used bottled water on road trips to counter very hard water. You can heat it up quite quickly in a mug in the microwave and use that for you brush soak and lather making.
Yes, I do have a Brita. And the steamer on my espresso machine to heat the water.
Please keep the possible solutions coming! Thanks.
~Richard
Most of the stores in the upper mid-west have Reverse Osmosis water for $0.39/gallon. We use it for coffee and tea. The house water is softened but it makes terrible coffee/tea.
I used a jug of distilled water during my synthetic knot trials and it wasn't a hindrance outside having a gallon of water loitering outside my bathroom door. If I was suffering through hard water issues for an indefinite time I would consider it a legitimate option.
Keep in mind that in dealing with hard water the two primary approaches is distillation/de-ionization and ion exchange. The first pair are used to remove impurities from the water, with de-ionized water being considered the more pure product. Water softeners rely on ion exchange in which calcium ions are replaced with sodium or potassium ions, which, in the concentrations we are usually talking about, are less damaging and troublesome than calcium. In any event the Brita filters and similar products use filtration through an activated carbon medium. This results in cleaner tasting water, particularly if your water is coming from a treated municipal source instead of a well, but effectively does nothing to remove the elements that cause hard water.
Another long term and cheaper approach is to experiment with some different soaps. I know that Fine advertised that their soaps were formulated to perform well with hard water (unverified by me personally). I've also had good luck with Sterling's Margaritas in the Arctic while staying with my in-laws and I am of the opinion that their water is so hard that it might be usable as a building material.
What GreenRipper said plus, unfortunately, you can now expect to have to clean your espresso
machine more frequently, to remove the minerals from the heating element.
We have highly mineralized, highly chlorinated municipal water here. We have to filter the water
to remove the awful taste and smell, and the coffee maker needs a cleaning with white vinegar
about once a month.
PITA
Welcome to my world Richard :)
I have found HEAT works, I have also weeded out the soaps that don't play well with my water and sent them to my BiL in Loveland
Also soaking the top of the soap with hot water while I am in the shower helps..
I don't have much of an issue with Creams because it is easier to adjust the amount of product to water ratio
To give you an idea our tap water is set at 145° on the hot side,, Yes I stuck my cooking Thermometer in there :)
Richard having to travel all over the world, I have encountered some rough water,, and the worst was SE New Mexico, I just use my bottled water and its just fine after that, I keep a bootle in the Bathroom for brushing my teeth and so it gets used for the shaving too,, easiest solution I have found. it is kinda a pain, but living in RV,s And Man camps with water that you don't know where it came form, bottled water is what I use for everything but showers and toilet water,, and even then I add bleach to the tanks,,
so I know you have an issue with your water , but believe me mine is worse and good ole, Ozarka bottled water to the rescue! Tc
My water is as hard as Chuck Norris!
You could install a water softener that will help in all your water appliances.
As mentioned hot water and soaking the top until it blooms a bit helps, I also find I need to load more product and spend more time building the lather on my face.
You could buy a water distiller (around $240) makes about 4 gallons a day which you could use for many things. Otherwise just buying a jug of RO water at wally World is your best bet.
The RO water for steam irons and friends is one good choice. You only need half a tumbler or so.
for the lather.
A pea size bit of Proraso on any hard soap, even Williams should lather nice enough.
It is worth the time to practice lathering again: too much water, too little, hotter, colder, more shave soap, less shave soap.
Clean your brush more often as needed.
Some hard water is marvelous drinking water.
How about rain water or melted snow? I usually don't pay attention to this but have never seen them mentioned.
How far are you off the river or lake?:hmmm:
You much have a much better nose than I or have a dirtier lake.;)
As far as making a good lather with our hard water goes, it does require extra effort.
For soaps, I add water to the soap container...just enough to cover the soap...and let it
soak while I'm in the shower. When ready to shave, just dip the brush in water, shake out
the excess, and use the water in the soap dish to make a thin lather. Spread the thin
lather on your beard and go back to the soap dish for more. Lather up the beard, adding
more soap or water as needed, until you get what you like.
For a cream, I take a finger-full and try to dissolve it in the lather bowl with about a
tablespoon of water. When its all dissolved, pick up the soapy water with the brush and
swirl the brush around the sidewall of the bowl. Push the thin lather down to the bottom
and repeat the swirl until the lather starts to thicken. Then squeeze everything out of
the brush, pick up the resulting thin lather, and again swirl the brush around again.
You may have to do this 2 or 3 times until you finally get some decent lather.
I never had this much trouble when using rain water...even with cold rain water.
Thanks folks!
Work around established.
Brita water, steam heated by espresso machine added to the puck. Brush soaked in the hot water of the container. Lather as usual.
Good shave accomplished.
~Richard
And people always scoffed at my comment of "proraso is my baseline", that's because it works in any water I have ever exposed it to in my travels throughout the U.S. Some creams and soaps just don't work with some waters no matter how good a "whip/lather master" you are. Distilled water is the answer, but you got that many posts ago.
We just installed a water softener here. Made a difference in the lathering for sure. Richard I can say creams work better in hard/mineral water. I used to go through at least 2 coffee pots a year. Watch your espresso machine my friend, things can get bad much quicker than you realize
Glad you got a good shave today though
Espresso has been Brita only for years.
I did have soft water at the house. Still used the Brita. ~Richard
Depending on the water, a Brita or even a Zero water didn't lengthen the life of my coffee pots by much.
We have a lot of lime in our water here. And I figured why buy all the filters for the jugs when a new coffee pot was only $20.
The filters cost more than that, so it was a no brainer here. But I also live on well water, so it could be very different.
It might not be a bad idea to have your water tested by a softner company just to find out where you're at
Scott you can make a lather with the Lease water that comes out of an oil well ! that proraso is some lathering animal,,i used that stuff for years before the internet ruined me on soaps. other than the acids peeling the skin off your face I could lather with our drilling fluids! Tc
We have a well out back. Installing a water softener system solved our hard water problem along with improving the life of our appliances and facilities.
1970's apartment buildings do not allow for soft water. I may later install a faucet mounted filter/de-mineralizer.
~Richard
[QUOTE=rolodave;1740806]My Bunn is 10 years old All I use is RO water Never had to clean the pot[/QUO
yea but RO water isn't really good for coffee. Good brewing needs some minerals in the water like a good filter or spring water.
Brita filter or other water filters will remove organics and other large solids. It will have negligeble effect on hardness (Defined by the amount of calcium and magnesium in the water)
Depending on the type of hardness you have you may see success by boiling or by adding some washing soda (Sodium carbonate). (Boil to drive off dissolved CO2 the temporary hardness will precipitate out. Pour water into another container leaving behind the precipitate.). Probably not worth the effort for every shave but perhaps worth trying once to understand what is causing the issue (Temp or perm hardness)
I have no idea how the washing soda will effect the shave.... this is just some knowledge picked up from my other hobby (brewing beer....)
You can find a wealth of info on this stuff at home brew forums. (Beer and coffee nuts spend a silly amount of time thinking about water)
You can also make an array of magnets (very strong ones) and run water through them. it won't soften the water but the water will act like it is soft for a short period of time.
It has been years since I first heard about that. Thank you for the reminder!
~Richard
I have some snake oil I can sell you that works very well for a beard prep.
Don't even need to lather!
Since I already have a blade in scales, that should do it.........right!
~Richard
With thanks to the member who posted "Proraso !"
I have found that old..pre UPC shave products do very well with hard water. The best , though, are the Central European creams and pucks. They are designed around hard water.
Thanks again!
~Richard
PS, let the soap absorb water for at least 2minutes!