Advice for getting proper lather from soap with hard water?

[jamesspo]

The first line of attack with hard water is more soap. You might try soap sticks and face lathering. It's easier to get more soap involved that way. if you don't have something in stick form, just rub the puck right on your face (soften it with water first if it's a really hard soap). Some soaps contain EDTA, which helps with hard water by binding up the metal ions in the water. Arko has this, and I'm sure quite a few others do. Just check the label.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edta

 

[Chrisarelli]

I have hard water as well and what really helped for me was simply loading way more soap onto the brush than I thought I needed. I started with a soaked brush that had been shaken fairly dry. I loaded slowly at first making sure I had soap and not just foam on the brush and then when it was sticky and covered with soap I face lathered. I always add water as I go. A few drops at a time and can now get really good lathers with all my soaps. It's fun to experiment and I hope you can find the perfect soap that works for you. I found that haslingers and pannacrema soaps worked amazing for me.

 

[Chrisarelli]

The first line of attack with hard water is more soap. You might try soap sticks and face lathering. It's easier to get more soap involved that way. if you don't have something in stick form, just rub the puck right on your face (soften it with water first if it's a really hard soap). Some soaps contain EDTA, which helps with hard water by binding up the metal ions in the water. Arko has this, and I'm sure quite a few others do. Just check the label.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edta

+1 on this as well!! Shave sticks are great at finding that soap/water balance

 

[MichiganRob]

My water is as hard as it can be and still be a liquid. I just load the heck out of my soaps and get good results. I go through more product than someone with softer water but I don't mind.

 

[k9ted]

What brush are you using? I have hard water and had a hard time getting good lather. A good brush solved my problem.

 

[muhleskinner]

I decided last night to do some more experimenting with the advice given here to load up with more soap and that seemed to help quite a bit.

I usually let my brush soak in the sink while showering, but last night I just held it under warm running water for about 20 seconds and shook it a couple of times before loading my brush for another 20-30 seconds with the Proraso tub. I then moved to a bowl and worked up a pretty good lather; the best I've made in awhile, anyway.

It seems that with our water, I just need to use a lot more product. I'm thinking the Proraso cream in a tube might work better for me so I'm looking forward to trying that out along with the Arko stick.

Thanks for the advice on trying more product, guys.

 

[Chrisarelli]

I decided last night to do some more experimenting with the advice given here to load up with more soap and that seemed to help quite a bit.

I usually let my brush soak in the sink while showering, but last night I just held it under warm running water for about 20 seconds and shook it a couple of times before loading my brush for another 20-30 seconds with the Proraso tub. I then moved to a bowl and worked up a pretty good lather; the best I've made in awhile, anyway.

It seems that with our water, I just need to use a lot more product. I'm thinking the Proraso cream in a tube might work better for me so I'm looking forward to trying that out along with the Arko stick.

Thanks for the advice on trying more product, guys.

good news!! Good call on Proraso green cream. You'll love it!!

 

[Boti2634]

Greetings all!

I live in Cincinnati, and when I switched from tap to distilled (or filtered) water I saw better results immediately. However, when I switched to a brush with more backbone, my results got better still. Just an observation.

Have a great day!

 

[lmill999]

I have pretty hard well water at my house. Some products take a little more work than others but I've found that really loading the heck out of my brush solved everything. Load it so much that it looks like you could shave 2 or 3 times(you can always cut back the amount once you know how much you really need.) This gives me enough for a shave and I'm not limited on what soaps I can use.

 

[davylloyd]

Don't settle with soap that does better with hard water. Just get a some bottled water and use it for shaving purposes. A gallon will last quite a few shaves then you can use any soap you want.

^^this. If a soap works well with hard water, it contains a lot of nasty foaming agents like SLS or SLES, which are thoroughly nasty chemicals and not what you want to put on your skin. Bear in mind that with bath soap, it's only on your skin for 20 or 30 seconds before you rinse it off, whereas shave soap can be on your skin for 15 or 20 mins.

If you buy bottled water, look for the glacial ones like Aqua Pura - they have a very low mineral content and make lathering a breeze.