Thread: Soap and hard water!

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.

Originally Posted by Lemur

Is glycerin good for hard water?

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.

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

Originally Posted by griff199

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.

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.

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.