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Does anybody know anything about this?
Are there some soaps that are better with hard water than others?
How do I keep my soaps from getting all destroyed?
Any tricks how to get better lather with hard water?
I live on an island mainly made out of limestone, the water here is as hard as it gets!
Well, there are some out in the Western U.S who would say their water is hard as nails.
Water makes a big difference. Soft water lathers very easily while hard water can yield poor lather. if you have the wrong soap you'll never get a good lather. There are some soaps that work well with hard water but to tell you the truth you might be better off buying some bottled water and using that. A gallon jug would probably last for months.
I'm sure some guys will come along with their favorites for hardwater. Personally, I have a water softener.
Sorry to say our water is extremely good and anything lathers well. That said, since TBS gave a good alternative to changing soaps, I use Arko as a travel soap and so far it has not failed to produce a good lather wherever I have gone. It is so cheap it is worth a go and lathers much better than it's price suggests.
Bob
Here's my experience with my city tap water that ranges from 150-400ppm hardness:
1) My new out of the box Tweezerman brush did not perform as well until it lost the "animal" smell. Learning curve? Residual badger skin oil?
2) Firmer hand. I saw tutorials saying to use very light pressure in the cup/mug/bowl when lathering. What works for me is a bit of "pumping" the brush and a light but deliberate pressure. It's a Tweezerman brush, so at $10, I'm not too worried about a little rough treatment.
3) Soap+Cream. I find that a small bit (maybe 15s swirling) on the (hate it) VDH soap before using either the Proraso or TOBS cream (love them both) unleashes the lather for me. I guess that bit of cheap glycerin soap does the trick in my water.
I have had problems with lather too, and have hard water as well. I think all of the above have contributed to this issue being resolved. I think it can still get "better", but my lather is no longer a major problem.
Lather in a cup doesn't work well at all here but in my hand it's ok, it dies quickly thou.
The water also kills my soaps, they get hard and dry out, guess the lime neutralize the soap, now I cut the soap up in smaller pieces to use.
Is glycerin good for hard water?
I live out West, where the water is hard and the air is usually visible. :-D
Art of Shaving cream performs well for me, and so does William's mug soap. The main "trick" is to use enough soap - the "angel's share" lets the soap "clean" the water of minerals and the rest goes into making lather. Load the brush up real good and add water a little at a time as the lather builds.
I have hard water in my home town but I have never had trouble lathering the likes of Trumpers, Tabac, Creed and Martin de Candre soaps.
I'm not a soap technologist :) - but it has seemed to help for me, and also I think those "uberlather" guys are using a couple drops of glycerin straight. Would second also the note by JeffR.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Do you have any data on that water? If yours is worse than mine, I would think there would be other benefits from filtering/softening that water. Our city water here is such that I know a few people who have whole-house RO systems.
Yea, you could try making an uber lather by combining a brush loaded with soap and a dollop of shave cream in a bowl along with 4 to 6 drops of glycerine and 1 drop of lanolin. Add some water a little at a time and whip it up to the proper consistency for a good lather. It might be worth a go just to try.
Bob
I actually do have a RO filter for my frogs, but I don't want shave in cold water and it's to much work starting to heat RO water up.Quote:
Originally Posted by griff199
Go on you are a hardy Swede, try a cold water lather.:) Maybe just try the water to make a lather with and if it works then it really is a problem with the hardness.
Bob
If you are using too hot of water that could be counting against you too. I found that cooler water keeps my lather longer. Try adjusting the temperature, and I agree with TheBigSpendur that having some store bought water would probably be a good investment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
I have well water. not only hard water but mineral loaded water, there are a few soaps that I can use without anything but the soap and the brush.. I tend to use Uberlathers, I like them and they never fail even with our water...
I could rattle off a few soap names that work for me but honestly it really doesn't mean they will work for you :(
Uberlather, with glycerin?Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
The only glycerin I got right now is the nitro type and that can give you one helluva headache.
I'll go buy some glycerin tomorrow then.
It's not a really big problem with the water, it tastes good and works for shaving, but I know the lather can get so much better and that's annoying me.
The biggest thing is that it destroys my soaps!
I actually used to shave with cold water before but I guess I'm getting old and soft.Quote:
Originally Posted by BobH
Aren't we all though. Funny enough I just switched to using cold water for shaving 2 weeks ago. Let us know how the uber lather works for you you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Bob
I will!Quote:
Originally Posted by BobH
Checked with our "Water Technical Office", the hardness varies between 18-21°dH, if that's something anybody understands.
well, than it's not that bad... here I get water that ranges between 26° and 50° and it tends to stay more on the 50°...Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Proraso green, cella and volobra almond perform reasonably well, though it's a bit laborious to get a good lather. TOBS' shaving creams do not seem to like my water very much, proraso tends to dry faster than cella and valobra. Soaps from honey-bee spa performs pretty well with hard water.
Always nice to hear someone have it worse! ;)
Ahahah, true! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
I should use bottled water to get proper lather here, but I'm too lazy to do that every single day and I don't have that much space in bathroom to store the bottled water as well...
I live in an area with very hard water and to be honest, I've never had any trouble making a good lather, I've only used a few different soaps, Trumpers, Crabtree & Evelyn, Body shop, Palmolive.
The biggest downside to hard water is what it does to domestic appliances, but we're told it's healthier to drink than soft water. A lot of my neighbours have installed water softeners which use salt.
One of the old tricks softener salesmen use is first to take a piece of cloth you have in the house that has gone through the wash many many times and they put it in a bottle with soft water and after a few minutes and some shaking the bottle is full of soap. The other is to take a bottle of your hard tap water and apply a few drops of green liquid soap and shake it and nothing happens. Add a few more drops and nothing happens. Add a few more and the water develops this bluish scum with some weak suds. Now take a bottle of softened water and add a drop or two of soap and shake and you have clear water with a rich head of foam on it.
The moral of the story is with real hard water soap doesn't lather well and you use way more soap which stays in the fabric after the wash is done.