Best soaps with RESIDUAL SLICKNESS in HARD WATER.

[147_Grain]

I have hard water.

live in indiana. lime from all the limestone that is everywhere.

B & M, especially excelsior based!

camo

I recall in an interview that tolerance of very hard water was one of Will's design goals for Excelsior. If memory serves he tested the base during development with a wide range of waters, from distilled to very hard to sea water, to make sure it would lather in everything.

I'm 3017ing through a jar of Clusterfig in the Excelsior base currently, and it certainly is an excellent performer, though in my relatively soft water it's not clearly better than any of the other top-tier soaps in my den.

 

[camoloc]

agreed.

hard for me to comment anymore as hard water environments is all that I have.

either way I'm a big fan of B & M for this reason.

camo

 

[Njguy1977]

I think you should look at the other side of the coin, if you know you have hard water and all soaps do not give you the slickness you require, they why not change your water. Try shaving with distilled water and see what results you get from the same soaps.

Larry

 

[old_school]

I think you should look at the other side of the coin, if you know you have hard water and all soaps do not give you the slickness you require, they why not change your water. Try shaving with distilled water and see what results you get from the same soaps.

Larry

Same soaps new water. Bottom line is it technique or water? Dang wish I'd thought of that, perfect next step!

That sir is thinking out of the box, KUDOS!

 

[Njguy1977]

Same soaps new water. Bottom line is it technique or water? Dang wish I'd thought of that, perfect next step!

That sir is thinking out of the box, KUDOS!

My thought process is this, if its the water then the distilled water will yield good results. If technique is an issue then there would be no change in your results. I tend to bloom the harder soaps with hot water for 10min minimum and then load my brush heavy and face lather. But try the water trick first and go from there.

Larry

 

[chromedometone]

I would try Cold River Soap Works. It’s a product that is made right around the corner from me, and we have very hard water. CRSW works well.
That said, why are you taking so many strokes without lather? Many tires are adequate in the snow and will be adequate some if the time in snow, but eventually if you keep running them in the snow they will let you down. Nothing beats a proper snow tire. That is to say if you are shaving without lather, even the soaps that provide the best residual slickness are going to eventually leave you burned and/or cut.

 

[KW Driver]

I think your technique may be lacking as mentioned with the MWF and Tabac. hard water does make it harder.

my well went hard years ago and I found that regularly filtered bottled water worked a bit easier than distilled. then I started using tap water again and made it work. all hard water really needs is more soap loaded.

I have and sucessfully use:

MWF
Mike's Naturals
Speick
Hasslinger's
I Coloniali (discontinued)

B&M works amazingly well, if you can find a scent you like (I haven't, but it's a scent thing).

modern Williams is fickle until you learn to dial it in (similar to MWF). a light/full bloom helps immensely. it's slick enough, but a second tier soap to me, drying to the skin post shave, and I hate the scent.

 

[eyesofgrey]

Mike’s Natural is also a great performer for me.

 

[MuhleShaver]

Williams is the soap with the best residual slickness that I've tried. You may have trouble lathering it, but it was always "slicker than snot" for me even if it didn't lather well. Disclaimer: I've never tried snot.

 

[Chandu]

Hard water sucks for lather creation and slickness. We soften our water. I can tell if the salt ever runs out in the softener. All of a sudden soap doesn't lather well, it's it's no longer slick.

If I were you, I'd buy some distilled water and use that for your lather. Put some in a spritz bottle for when you need to moisten your face during shaving. I think this will be easier than using any traditional soap. If you don't go with the distilled water then I'd say look large shaving soap suppliers, some of which you have. They are far more likely to put additives in the soap to help it deal with hard water though it will never be as good as if you had better water.

Some of the modern brushless would probably be slicker if you don't tackle the problem from the water side. Dr. Carvers shave butter is excellent.

 

[Tallships]

I get very good residual slickness out of Cella Kilo, Tabac, Arko bowl pressed.

 

[gwsmallwood]

Barrister & Mann
Mystic Water
WSP Formula T
Stirling

 

[Zoost]

I live in Alaska, the water here is hard, and I mean HARD. the 5 best soaps slickness wise for me are, in this order:

1. Any Haslinger soaps - the Aloe Vera is the slickest
2. TOBS Jermyn St (hard puck)
3. Saponificio Varesino - only used the Felce Aromatica and Mana di Sicilia - both excellent.
4. TOBS Sandalwood Herbal (hard puck)
5. Martin de Candre

Out of these 5 soaps, the TOBS is my favorite as it is top in almost ever category that is important to me (lather, cushion, slickness, protection, scent, moisturizing and its traditional and British!)

 

[octoserge]

Mike’s Natural is also a great performer for me.

^ this!

 

[Ad Astra]

M&M has to be the king if residual slickness - and this matters.

When cleaning up any missed spots, it helps a lot. Can name a few that are dry-face at that time ...


AA

 

[old_school]

Williams is the soap with the best residual slickness that I've tried. You may have trouble lathering it, but it was always "slicker than snot" for me even if it didn't lather well. Disclaimer: I've never tried snot.

Live on hard well water most of the last 50 years no trouble making lather with Williams. It. Is. Slick. For a buck 95 worth a try.

Here's a thread might check out: Lathering Modern Williams

Don't tell me Williams won't lather.

Another soap to try is Black Tie Razor. No. 13 Unscented is a tallow soap. The shave reminds me of Tabac, great shave, slick. Might work for you.

I hope you are trying distilled water, that will be a real eye opener.