Hard water...

[John R]

I have no luck with shave cream. Would love some Castle Forbs, but not till I can get creams to lather. My water is quite hard, to put it mildly. I can get soaps, hard or soft, to lather (even Williams). Tried everything from soft badger, synthetics and boar. The boar sort of worked. My "lather" goes from pastey to watery with no stop in between. One or two drops seem to do it.

Watched a ton of videos, wikis, etc. Looks really easy, but after 3 different makes of creams, I'm looking for help! What am I doing wrong, besides trying....
Should I go back to my MWF?

 

[Lightcs1776]

I have heard of folks that have really hard water using distilled water to lather. It might be worth a try.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[John R]

Won't hurt to try.
Thanks.

 

[Invicta]

I find you have to use more cream to get it to a decent lather with hard water. Also using distilled water is an option but here are two other solutions to the problem you may wish to experiment with;

Unbelievable HARD WATER SOLUTION(Changed my LIFE!!!!)

Gentlemen of B&B (This 1st paragraph is just me rambling on and on cause I got too excited. Skip paragraph to below for the METHOD) If there is 1 thing that this cursed COVID Pandemic is good for is the discovery I'm about to tell you(Hopefully you'll agree). Ever since joining the traditional...

www.badgerandblade.com

Citric Acid for Hard Water Suffering Brits

After much searching and reading, followed by this evening’s experiment, I have to say a big THANK YOU to Grant @ShavingByTheNumbers, Eric @MaineYooper, and Joel @Johnnynroy. Where I live in the UK the water is disgustingly hard (stand a spoon up in the sink hard [nearly]). While shaving I...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[germanshepherd]

read putting some glycerin in with it will help it lather well for hard water. it's cheap enough to give it a shot.

 

[germanshepherd]

also can buy some bottled water should be softer than your tap water.

 

[Geordon]

I'm with you as far as the hard water goes. A couple of years ago, I called the water board to ask what the hardness was for the water in my section of the city, and I was told that it's like 23 grains. Once I learned that, I realized that I need to ues s LOT more soap than I thought. I need to use a very wet brush and load a lot of soap or cream if I want to get a decent lather.

 

[Black Adder]

You could add a little 20 Mule Team Borax to your water, too. I don't have any exact measurements, but use whatever you need to get the results you want. It'd be a pretty cheap fix; you could use it with your laundry, too.

 

[ajkel64]

I would probably try the distilled water approach first. See how you go and then maybe start mixing in some chemicals or similar. Other than that I have nothing.

 

[John R]

Sounds like hard water is my problem. Ours is out of a deep well with about 17+ grains of calcium. Probably a little iron and sulphur as well. My better half has some distilled water around. I'll give that a try first. Citric acid ( vitamin C?) might be worth a shot as well as glycerine would be worth a try. Sounds like the only real cure otherwise is to use lots of product.
Thanks for all the good advice.

 

[ask4Edge]

But the same (well) water has no negative impact on your MWF?

Which creams are giving you trouble?

Creams the likes of AdP v3, T&H, etcetera lather more easily, vs MWF, ime.

 

[SterFry]

The are certain soaps designed with hard water in mind, too. Barrister and Mann Reserve and Haslinger soaps should perform nicely.

 

[John R]

But the same (well) water has no negative impact on your MWF?

Which creams are giving you trouble?

Creams the likes of AdP v3, T&H, etcetera lather more easily, vs MWF, ime.

Strangly enough MWF is one of my favorites, one it soaks up some water. Cella works well too but glycerine soaps not so well. Tried several creams, both cheap (Walmart) and semi artisan without sucess. Maybe it's the water, maybe me missing something. That's been known to happen...

 

[ask4Edge]

Tried several creams, both cheap (Walmart) and semi artisan without sucess.

Any of those brushless-style, by any chance?

 

[John R]

Tried one of those once and didn't care for it. Thought it would be great for travel. Worked well enough, though.
Didn't think to try a brush on it.

 

[Old Hippie]

Our water comes straight out of a 160-foot deep well. Some hardness and a little bit of iron. A 5-micron filter handles most of the iron. Otherwise we don't treat it. I don't have much problem with Proraso Green, though I admit I tend to really load up the brush. I also make my own hard shave soap, and it is buffered so it lathers well.

We have enough hardness that if we don't do something the dishwasher puts out chalky dishes. The solution for us is a teaspoon of citric acid powder tossed in at the same time we put in the soap. (After the first immediate rinse which otherwise is just a waste of soap...)

Point being: a few crystals -- a tiny pinch -- into your lather bowl would likely buffer that hardness. Hardness is basic, not acidic, so it can be balanced with acid. Look for citric acid powder at health-food stores. People use it in the sprouting process to keep the mould at bay.

Our water makes really excellent pale ales and stouts -- classic beer styles for hard-water locations.

O.H.

 

[Ridgeback]

A water softener is great investment...Makes your plumbing, fixtures and appliances last so much longer...It allows for less laundry soap,dish soap etc...Not to mention if you have radium in the water it will remove that.

 

[ShaverAZ]

Distilled or DI water:
99¢ per gallon at Walmart
30¢ per gallon at Water & Ice stores

 

[Roy]

I've the hardest water in uk! Never had a problem, even MWF. Use pkenty of water and product.i get superb lather.

 

[FireDragon76]

Stick with one brush type. Badger, boar, and synthetic all have their nuances. For cream, I would use a synthetic as they are easiest. Start with a barely wet, relatively small synthetic brush (shake it out once or twice), a large, almond-sized amount of cream, and add water slowly, a few drops at a time.