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Beginnings....hard water vs. soft water

Hi all.
This forum is an amazing resource with so many great experiences shared.
I recently moved from the inner city to the outlying burbs and from a harder, mineral-laden, tough whisker water to a softer, more laid back country variety. I immediately noticed two things: soap takes longer to rinse off and my shaves suck. I used to shave daily WTG using goop in a can and a gillette and be reasonably free of stuble until the evening. But here in the sticks I'm getting a salt 'n pepper chin by 2 PM which is very frustrating. The only way to get a close shave is to shave ATG daily but my face won't tolorate that long without a rebellion. Which led me to research wetshaving and here. Unfortunately my Merkur was defective upon arrival and I will have to exchange it before I can take the DE plunge but I'm already getting a better shave using a brush and good lather. Thanks for all the great advice so far and thank you Leisureguy for a brilliantly informative blog.
 
Soft water should give you (if your using real soap) much more lather, easier lather, and better quality lather. Also its better for your skin. The business of the soap taking more time to rinse off is really an illusion. Soft water makes your skin feel more slippery so you think you still have soap on when you really don't its the effect of the water causing that sensation.
 
Your face is probably absorbing more water because of the softer water -- if you're using REALLY hot water, the problem is compounded. Maybe decrease the temperature of the water that you're washing your face with beforehand.
 
Thanks, and I'm glad the blog was helpful.

I've lived in hard-water areas and soft-water areas, and I finally discovered that with soft water the soap rinses off immediately but my skin still feels "slick," so I was assuming that I still had soap on me. Not so: wet skin IS slick. With hard water, when you rinse the soap off, you get a thin film of soap scum stuck to your skin, so your skin isn't slick.
 
Thanks all for the replies. Perhaps the rinse effect IS just an illusion of the water but I can't deny that using the exact same routine, I get a closer shave with hard water. I've noticed that going on 20 years now.
 
I am sorry to hear about the hard water/soft water problems. I love the soft water so much I have added water softeners to my last two homes. I couldn't imagine shaving any other way on a daily basis. I do stay in hotels around the country from time to time for work and will land in ones with hard water and always seem to get a poor shave compared to my soft water at home shaves.
 
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