Thread: How do you know if you have hard water

I've been having a hard time builing lather although I'm not ruling out techinque but I have tried several things from this forum and would like to rule out hard water (one less variable). So how do can I find out if the water is hard or not?

So whats happening or not happening? What are you doing and with what?

I soak the brush (the crabtree and evlyn that got high reviews) in the lather bowl (from straight razor designs) which is full of hot water and in a crock pot turned on. put a teaspoon of water on the soap. brush my teeth and take a shower. after the shower I jump out the later bowl, squezze the brush out. pour the water from the soap into th lather bowl. Then take the brush and run it on the soap until it starts getting heavy, and making a sound. I would then move to lather bowl and start building.

The other way

same as above except don't put water on the soap and just shake the brush once. Then go to the soup run the brush squeze it until it starts looking like lather on top of the soup. I then move to lather bowl. This seems to work a little better but still not as good as the descriptions say it should be.

If your water comes from your town (as opposed to well), you can call and find out. Because hard water can ruin appliances etc, many stores sell kits to test for hard water. I do not know if they still sell the kits but sears used to sell them. Unless you are going to install a water purification system, there is not much you can do with the knowledge. Perhaps you may want to focus on how to improve your lather regardless of the water you have. I do not know what soap you are using but perhaps changing to a different brand could make the difference. People say that Proraso foams in slat water (I have not tried this). Also, take a look at your technique, perhaps there is room there for improvements. And finally, you could help yourself by adding glycerin to your lather, or glycerin + shaving cream to create uberlather. I just posted pictures of a good lather so you can get an idea. There are also others in the wiki.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...-homemade.html

Al raz.

I just seem to get the thick well moisturized lather, it's eather to thin or to wattery

Aren't there cheap test kits you can get from a home supply store?

I have hard water. I always know when I'm staying over somewhere that has soft water because during a shower, the soap film with soft water never........ever.........ever.........and I mean.............EVER rinses off. Sorry soft water proponents, it's like nails on a chalkboard to me. A slippery film that won't rinse off? Mmmmmmm, slippery film.

"Jeez, Chris, why don't you tell us how you really feel?!"

I think I just did.

Chris L

I agree - there is a time and a place for a slippery film, and that time and place only occasionally includes in the shower!

But I digress. I have a little test strip kit I used for our hot tub that includes a pad for testing the hardness of the water. The test strips are very cheap. Perhaps you could pop by a pool and spa shop and grab some to test your tap water?

James.

Hard water really doesn't matter all that much, honestly.....
We have well water here at the ranch, that we fondly call "Chip a Tooth" hard....
I have found that starting with the hottest water I can possibly stand to use out of the tap, makes quite a difference in the lather...

I also use Uberlather to compensate, but that's just me...

Some soaps alone, just don't seem to want to lather here, I won't mention names because they lather for everyone else and I have used them when traveling in Colorado and they work just fine... In fact they now stay in my travel kit....
So I would say try a little hotter water, and try a different brand of soap.... and see what happens...

Originally Posted by errnest

I've been having a hard time builing lather although I'm not ruling out techinque but I have tried several things from this forum and would like to rule out hard water (one less variable). So how do can I find out if the water is hard or not?

I needed this info when I installed my dishwasher, so it knows how much salt to use. I found the information on my city's website! There may also be a phone number or website on your water bill.

Originally Posted by errnest

I've been having a hard time builing lather although I'm not ruling out techinque but I have tried several things from this forum and would like to rule out hard water (one less variable). So how do can I find out if the water is hard or not?

If you drop it on your foot and it HURTS, sorry I couldn't resist.