I've been experimenting lately with Uberlathers by matching various soaps to my regular creams. A trend has emerged that does not make sense to me so I'd love to get input.

All of my transparent soaps (Col Conk, SRD, QED, etc) result in lather that is best described as 'light and fluffy' compared to all of my opaque soaps (DR Harris, Muhle, Queen Charlotte, Trumper, etc) which give me a far more desirable 'thick and rich' lather. The transparent soap uberlather has many small bubbles that I can't seem to break down. The lather ends up on the dry side with very little 'slickness' like my opaque concoctions.

I've tried the transparent soap uberlathers with no extra glycerin, a little extra (1-2 drops), my regular (2-3 drops) and a lot (6 drops). I was never able to get acceptable results.

Am I doing something wrong or could it be the way my water interacts with soaps that have undergone the process necessary to make it transparent? I have big city water.

For the record, I make uberlather in a Dirty Bird scuttle using a variety of creams (three Castle Forbes scents, DR Harris Almond cream, Queen Charlotte Bay Rum cream, Salter Wild Rose, etc). No matter the combination, I get the same result if using transparent soaps.

Any thoughts?