Though I agree that water hardness/variations are definitely a factor I will admit that I coundn't get TGQ soaps to lather worth a damn at first either. I found that, when lathering directly on the face, it worked quite well, but seeing that I'm primarily a bowl latherer (if that's even a word ) it was very frustrating. I did find that if I work the sh%t out of the soap to load the brush I could make a decent lather in a bowl, and it did take a while to figure this out. I have some soaps that are way harder than Colleen's soaps (density) that seem to load up a lot quicker than her softer soap, so go figure.

Unfortunately when members have problems with a much beloved soap/cream the tendency is to blame the person's lathering skills right off the bat. Everyone has an opinion, and what works for one person may not work for another. For example, who can simply not tolerate the smell of Tabac?