Thread: What is a good soap for hard water?

I have a puck of Prorasso shaving soap that I bought in Australia because it was cheap. At my parents house in Australia it makes a great lather, but here in Bangkok it only barely makes a lather for a good shave. But shaving cream seems to lather up great. So I guess here in Bangkok we have hard water.

Now that I have a little extra money I want to buy some shaving soap. I want to find out before I buy if there are any soaps that work well with hard water. I don't want to buy some soap only to find out that it is only good for washing hands with Bangkok water.

So what soaps would you suggest?

Originally Posted by ndw76

I it makes a great lather, but here in Bangkok it only barely makes a lather for a good shave. But shaving cream seems to lather up great. So I guess here in Bangkok we have hard water.

You have the answer to your own question.... Since it is not the soap but the water....., work on the water. This way, any good soap would work. Without tackling the water issue, you are also correct, you need a product that requires less water. This is why creams work better for you.

1) Use hot (very) water to remove temporary hardness (carbonates).

2) Use distilled or deionized water to lather up.

3) if you know what (ions) make your water hard, there may be some specific solutions. Ion chelators can help but remember they also affect lather.

4) You may have to load more soap too.... And some people use uberlather as a solution to this problem (see, gssixgun posts about this).

Al raz.

Three soaps are at the top of my list living in the Boonies on well water..
mostly I use Uberlather but these three will stand alone...


SRD their stuff will lather...
On e-bay check out Honey Bee Spas, Sue's soaps will lather...
and Krissy's soaps from Prairie Creations will lather, make sure you check on her delivery dates before ordering she was a little off in the past...

Our well water is very hard and has heavy mineral deposits...

Also it is not exactly a soap or a cream but Alraz here on SRP makes "Da Bomb" and it will stand alone too...


That is what I have found so far...

If you can catch, store, and use rainwater - do it. It is just about the softest water on the planet.

The rain water here is mixed with the exhaust fumes, rubber particles from tires, ash from cooking and rubbish fires and general dust. Many Thais think if they get wet from rain water they will get sick.

I don't think it will make me sick, but I don't want to use Bangkok rain water for shaving.

You could Uber soaps, make "Uberlather" especially if you have hard water. Here's a link:
That's probably the easiest solution....

Making Ãœberlather - Straight Razor Place Wiki

ndw76,

Well with all those nasty contaminants in the air, you surely wouldn't want to breathe it either. You're definitely hung on the horns of dilemma.

+1 to glen. i live in wv, and i have hard well water, now i dont believe it is as hard as glens, but who knows, (Fe&S) i have taken to uberlathering to get around it, works well and i dont feel i am limited to the soaps and creams i have to use. i just have to be careful which ones to mix, cause for some reason ingram doenst mix well with a certain soap i have, waaaay to much menthol smell. although it has a warming affect on the skin, i will have to save that for winter use.

my 3 easiest soaps for hard water would be SRD soaps any scent, Tabac and then probably TGQ soaps

+1 on Tabac. Very easy to lather no matter how much water or the type of water used.

Palmolive soap is probably easy enough to lather in a hard water area too.