Thread: Recommended soaps/creams for hard water

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Tim , really any well made soap will work with hard water. Some better than others it just takes getting the water ratio right and in my experience a great soap just makes hard water a non issue. The area in southeast New Mexico has some of the worst water I've ever dealt with, even some of the crap we had in the Middle East. I used bottled water in the beginning but I just threw all my soaps out and started using MDC. And Castle Forbes face lathered, no issues whatsoever. It's all in the soap. Tc

+1
This is my view as well.
I have conducted approximately five experiments with hard water from a few different areas of the world and I have found no issues loading my soap once I simply modified my technique of loading and working the soap for a bit longer.

Most soaps are formulated to work in all water conditions. Generally, the closer you get to pure soap the more issues you will have with hard water. Most grocers sell a "natural" type soap for laundry and it's really meant for folks who have water softeners in hard water areas. Otherwise that soap doesn't work with hard water.

If you try using a "pure" soap with hard water the result ain't pretty.

For our purposes in shaving applications I think most soaps are general purpose and has been said it may make things more challenging not impossible.

It doesn’t matter really. Get an old spice mug, a puck of Tabac soap, a nice Thater brush and it’ll work either way.

Originally Posted by evnpar

Use distilled water and whatever soap you want.

Tried that today, works a treat, thank you Richard!

Very good idea ! Sure you could also heat a little bowl of distilled water in a mic to get warm lather aswell!
I’m in a relatively hard water area but not come across any issues. I use TOOBS or currently am liking captains choice bay rum (good lather and smell is amazing) .
Not tried Castle forbes which a lot seem to be raving about - am I going to like it???

Most modern shaving soaps are designed to accommodate hard water. If your water is so hard that it won't work with modern soaps, I suspect that is may not be fit to drink, either.

While a whole-house water softener or RO unit may be beyond your budget, you can purchase a small RO unit designed to produce enough water for drinking purposes. They have a small pressure tank that holds around 1 gallon of RO water, but can make up to 50 gallons per day. Those units can be purchased for around $150. I have one of these units hooked up to the water/ice dispenser on my refrigerator. The water used for cooking, drinking, and making tea and coffee tastes much better that way. This type of unit would easily produce enough water for your daily shave as well.

Mitchell's is one of my favorites. Some folks have trouble with it in hard water. My boar brush takes care of that issue.

I have a bunch of PAA, Asylum/Bullgoose, West Coast Shaving, Chiseled Face, (etc.) soaps, and they all lather excellently regardless of the brush.

Haslinger is one I use my boar brush on, but I'm not sure it needs it. It lathers very easily and has such a great post shave feel. I love the slickness during the shave as well.

I do use that technique where you lather the soap upside down initially. I let the first suds drip out. They are usually full of bubbles and aren't useful later into a shave. As you keep lathering the thicker suds gather on the brush, and you can add water from there as needed. There are very few soaps I've had trouble with using this method, even in hard water.