Hard Water

Barry Giddens

Barry Giddens

Messages
2,890
Location
London
You gents are fantastic. I posted a question regarding after shave and the responses have enabled me to establish a regime that works for me, and makes DE shaving an even greater pleasure.
So my next question is....I live in a hard water area and the blogs I read and the videos I watched advised that I stick to shaving cream rather than soap. Which is fine. I have, after much trial and error, managed to work up a good lather. But I see so many lovely looking soaps on SOTD. Can I use these? Am I excluded from this world of exotic artisan soaps due to geography? Once again, thanks for any advice.
 
Barry Giddens said:
You gents are fantastic. I posted a question regarding after shave and the responses have enabled me to establish a regime that works for me, and makes DE shaving an even greater pleasure.
So my next question is....I live in a hard water area and the blogs I read and the videos I watched advised that I stick to shaving cream rather than soap. Which is fine. I have, after much trial and error, managed to work up a good lather. But I see so many lovely looking soaps on SOTD. Can I use these? Am I excluded from this world of exotic artisan soaps due to geography? Once again, thanks for any advice.
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Yes you can use soaps in a hard water area, you may need to load your brush more and it may take sightly more time to get a good lather but it's easy to do, give it a go and you may suprise yourself. :)
 
I too live in a hard water area so you need to choose your soaps carefully. Top of my list is OSP as this soap produces and abundance of lather easily. The one to avoid is Mitchell's Wool Fat soap, it's a superb product but is a pain to lather with hard water. The only way round this is to by some soft bottled mineral water. Also synthetic brushes generally produce more lather than their Badger/Boar counterparts.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 
Hourwerk said:
I too live in a hard water area so you need to choose your soaps carefully. Top of my list is OSP as this soap produces and abundance of lather easily. The one to avoid is Mitchell's Wool Fat soap, it's a superb product but is a pain to lather with hard water. The only way round this is to by some soft bottled mineral water. Also synthetic brushes generally produce more lather than their Badger/Boar counterparts.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
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Thanks for that Hourwerk
 
Hourwerk said:
I too live in a hard water area so you need to choose your soaps carefully. Top of my list is OSP as this soap produces and abundance of lather easily. The one to avoid is Mitchell's Wool Fat soap, it's a superb product but is a pain to lather with hard water. The only way round this is to by some soft bottled mineral water. Also synthetic brushes generally produce more lather than their Badger/Boar counterparts.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I have ultra-hard water and use MWF successfully. It is rather more demanding than other soaps, but I use the following technique, from a local to me sometime member here:
 
"Am I excluded from this world of exotic artisan soaps due to geography?"

In a word, no.
I live in a chalk valley, water here is about as mineral laden as it gets & I get a great lather. I almost only use hard soap, have a couple of creams. To be honest never really thought about it.

A while back someone here lathered wool fat with hard & soft water. The end result was pretty similar, for sure the soft water will have used less product.

Get some hard soaps & enjoy!
Ones I know & love (in no particular order)

P&B
OSP
Valobra
Palmolive stick

Are all great! Buy a Palmolive stick from tesco for 50p to literally test the water!
 
I have read elsewhere that some people put a pinch of citric acid in the basin when they fill it to soften the water. My water is on the softer side so I haven't tried it myself but perhaps it is worth having a go of. You can get it from Wilkinsons for £1 in the home brewing section.
 
nolisco said:
I have read elsewhere that some people put a pinch of citric acid in the basin when they fill it to soften the water. My water is on the softer side so I haven't tried it myself but perhaps it is worth having a go of. You can get it from Wilkinsons for £1 in the home brewing section.
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I've heard that, though I use (oddly enough for Trumper's creams given the OP's concerns regarding soaps) a third of a teaspoon of bicarbonate.
 
JayGee said:
"Am I excluded from this world of exotic artisan soaps due to geography?"

In a word, no.
I live in a chalk valley, water here is about as mineral laden as it gets & I get a great lather. I almost only use hard soap, have a couple of creams. To be honest never really thought about it.

A while back someone here lathered wool fat with hard & soft water. The end result was pretty similar, for sure the soft water will have used less product.

Get some hard soaps & enjoy!
Ones I know & love (in no particular order)

P&B
OSP
Valobra
Palmolive stick

Are all great! Buy a Palmolive stick from tesco for 50p to literally test the water!
Click to expand...
Cheers JayGee. Another new world of possibilities opens to me! (And more ways to spend money)
 
nolisco said:
I have read elsewhere that some people put a pinch of citric acid in the basin when they fill it to soften the water. My water is on the softer side so I haven't tried it myself but perhaps it is worth having a go of. You can get it from Wilkinsons for £1 in the home brewing section.
Click to expand...
Thanks nolisco. Its all a bit live and learn with me at the mo
 
Hourwerk said:
I too live in a hard water area so you need to choose your soaps carefully. Top of my list is OSP as this soap produces and abundance of lather easily. The one to avoid is Mitchell's Wool Fat soap, it's a superb product but is a pain to lather with hard water. The only way round this is to by some soft bottled mineral water. Also synthetic brushes generally produce more lather than their Badger/Boar counterparts.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

MWF lathers successfully regardless of water hardness.
A fella on here who lives in Yorkshire ( soft water ) lathers it easily & another fella lived in a hard water area sent him a bottle of his tap water to see if it made any difference. It lathered exactly the same.
 
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