Does water quality/hardness affect beard prep, too?

[delmonte]

I recently moved back to Los Angeles after living in Israel for two years. Only upon arriving have a started DE shaving with proper products, but I have noticed that it's a lot more difficult to soften my beard. When I was in Israel, just a hot shower and some extra hot water rinse and rubbing into my beard was usually enough to get my beard soft enough, and I could feel the difference and flexibility in my stubble with my hand. Here, if I just hot shower prep, it's not enough, and I'm still having a hard time finding my prep routine. (Yes, I've tried Kyle's prep... it worked really well the first time but not so great the subsequent times).

I'm also pretty sure it's not my technique or lather, because before I got my DE razor and shaving cream, I was using M3 and canned goo and got way more irritation/razor burn/nicks than I did in Israel with the same products.

I guess I should note that I'm not having a hard time making lather, though, so I'm not sure if it's the hardness of the water or what...

 

[luvmysuper]

It could be something in the water. Never rule out a possibility, but since your not having issues with lather that something may not be what is associated with "hard water".
Have you tried rubbing a little hair conditioner on your face during the shower? That helps me sometimes when I'm travelling and run across water issues.

 

[Deltaboy]

I grew up with Hard water in Eastern Arkansas and know for a fact you need a water softener to get good suds in the sink or a good lather for your beard. I would not think it would be an issue in LA CA.

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

 

[Monkeydad]

Hard water definitely affects any kind of soap or detergent's ability to lather or create suds.

I have a water softener now and see a huge difference.

 

[hyo]

It does. I don't use soaps for that reason. I can never build up a decent lather.

 

[dpmtherrien]

Yeah. The softer the water the better the lather.

 

[O.G.]

Yeah, water quality does play a role. The harder the water the more likely deposits from the water will interfere with your lather and the small amount of hardnes will become part of the damaged hair that you were looking to soften. Kinda like putting spacers in the damaged part, I think.

 

[BrianL]

Water plays a huge part, living in a hard water area I could not beleive the difference a softner makes. Eaiser shave and little clean up on the razor, no soap residue at all. LA is in a hard water area.

 

[bludman]

This has already been said a bunch of times but hard water is definitely harder to make decent lather with. I used to live in Israel (just north of Tel Aviv) and go back frequently to visit family. I find the water there much harder than the water here and I always get better lather here (with that said I don't bring my better products with me when I go to visit).