How do you deal with hard water?

I'm trying to learn to DE shave, but I started on a business trip, and the hotel I'm in seems to have really hard water. I'm really struggling to get my razor to glide at all. Hard water seems to make my razor stick and not glide, it seems to make my lather not lather very well, and it seems like it generally makes my face dry quickly, and I need it to stay wet for a good shave.

I'm sure some people on these boards use hard water, so how do you deal with it? Do you just use different types of creams or soaps? Or is there something you can do to make things better for your current soap? I'm using TOBS Jermyn St and I don't really have the option to switch at the moment, but I'm just wondering how people deal with the hard water.

Use more product. You need enough to overcome the water hardness, plus the usual amount.

Product formulation makes a difference too. I find Arko works pretty much anywhere.

Thinking outside the aqueduct, you can buy distilled water and shave with that.

mblakele said:

Use more product. You need enough to overcome the water hardness, plus the usual amount.

Product formulation makes a difference too. I find Arko works pretty much anywhere.

Thinking outside the aqueduct, you can buy distilled water and shave with that.

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+1

Like mblakele said, use more product. Also look for products with some kind of chelating agent in the ingredients like Tetrasodium EDTA. These types of ingredients are there to overcome the effects of hard water.

I find creams work better in such situations.

I have very hard water at home, but am mostly a cream guy. I can agree that more product works too, as I've no issues with anything from Artisan soaps, vintage soaps, Williams etc..

when I lived in a particularly hard water area, I tended to regularly mix up an uber lather... I found the added glycerin helped.

mblakele said:

Use more product. You need enough to overcome the water hardness, plus the usual amount.

Product formulation makes a difference too. I find Arko works pretty much anywhere.

Thinking outside the aqueduct, you can buy distilled water and shave with that.

Click to expand...

+1 to this.

I have fairly hard water myself and use soaps almost exclusively. I get the best lather results with the soft soaps such as Arko, razorock, and B&M Latha with my boar brushes. I find face lathering to be far more effective than bowl lathering. Here is my method.

I start by letting some warm water sit on top of the soap while showering. I do not soak my brush. When I am ready to start making lather I just dunk my brush in water to wet it then gently squeeze most of the water out of it. Next I start loading the brush on the soap (using whatever water is still sitting on the puck). Once I get a decent amount of soap on the brush I spread this relatively thick and dry lather on my face. I then dunk the brush in water and again load the brush from the soap. After this second loading I start face lathering in earnest, dipping my brush in water occasionally to gradually build the lather up to the level of slickness that I like. This usually produces enough good lather for two passes. If I need to do a third pass I usually need to reload my brush with more soap.

I'm in the hard water club, and agree with the folks saying more product is needed. We have to adjust our style to meet the needs of our resources. Water coming from the tap doesn't know it's harder than we would like, the soap doesn't know it's not as slick as we need, I could go on. One of the biggest mistakes we can make, and I think we all do it to some extent, is to get set in our way and blame the products for not performing up to our high standards. We are the only thing that can change in these scenarios.
Having said all that, there will be products or situations where we will just have to suffer with a less than ideal shave, or take unusual measures to accommodate our desire for a more luxurious experience.
Now that I'm done sounding like a jerk, I travel a bit for work and a few of the hotels offer free bottled water at the desk. Even if they don't, it can usually be found fairly cheap, as long as you're able to look past the vending machines. If you don't have the time to experiment, or would just prefer not to, you could try heating some bottled water in a microwave and use that for your shaves rather than the water from the tap.

Everybody is right. But someone mentioned boar brush. I have hard water and only use soap pretty much and used a badger for a year. Bought a boar and holy cow it makes the difference again because of more product I'm sure and just the added umph.

mblakele said:

Use more product. You need enough to overcome the water hardness, plus the usual amount.

Product formulation makes a difference too. I find Arko works pretty much anywhere.

Thinking outside the aqueduct, you can buy distilled water and shave with that.

Click to expand...

By distilled water, do you mean a bottle of drinking water from a vending machine?

When I travel, I either use a soft shave stick or shaving cream to help with unexpected lathering problems.

California Cajun said:

By distilled water, do you mean a bottle of drinking water from a vending machine?

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Not quite: bottled water generally has some hardness. It seems to taste better that way. Even so it might help if it happens to be softer than what comes out of your tap.

But if you want to be certain that hard water is not an issue, try distilled water. The mineral content is very close to zero. A cheap store brand is fine, and should not cost more than a few dollars for a gallon.

I was on a weekend break in Dartmoor a couple of weeks ago - very very soft water area - I failed to compensate and the results were like a foam party - imagine "The Blob" breaking out of the cinema

At home I keep a gallon of distilled on hand for shaving, ironing and my fabric steamer. It really makes a difference. I don't use much for shaving, I keep a 16 oz water bottle (filled with distilled) under the sink. It has six or seven tiny holes punched in the lid and I squeeze it in the bowl. For my brush I have a cup that I fill and toss it in the microwave for a minute and soak while I shower. It's a lot easier than I may have described it. Costs under a dollar a gallon at the supermarket.

mblakele said:

Use more product. You need enough to overcome the water hardness, plus the usual amount.

Product formulation makes a difference too. I find Arko works pretty much anywhere.

Thinking outside the aqueduct, you can buy distilled water and shave with that.

Click to expand...

Lol, definitely hadn't thought of that. Good idea!

+1 for distilled water.

The water isn't particularly hard in my area, but I use distilled water anyhow. A medium sized coffee cup full, about 6-8 oz, heated in the microwave on high for 45-60 seconds, then soak my brush in it and use that water to make my lather. Simple, cheap and effective.

Interesting topic. I've lived in hard water/low-humidity spots for most of my shaving years, but haven't really had too difficult a time (likely because I'm used to it). I always shower before, rinse between passes, and use more product than I think I should. I get similar results from soaps and creams, synthetic or badger.

As as long as my face is moist when I lather and the product has sufficient water ratio - I seem to be ok.

Arkonaut said:

At home I keep a gallon of distilled on hand for shaving, ironing and my fabric steamer. It really makes a difference. I don't use much for shaving, I keep a 16 oz water bottle (filled with distilled) under the sink. It has six or seven tiny holes punched in the lid and I squeeze it in the bowl. For my brush I have a cup that I fill and toss it in the microwave for a minute and soak while I shower. It's a lot easier than I may have described it. Costs under a dollar a gallon at the supermarket.

Click to expand...

+1

Whats the effect of hard water on blades? Do mineral deposits build up every day? Theres always a warning not to wipe the blade. I keep thinking that the second edge although unused is getting duller after three or four days of hard water deposits. Any thoughts or microscope pictures about this to share?

Would a quick dip in a vinegar solution make sense? Or a rinse in distilled after each use? Palm stropping?