Issues with soap lather, Maybe hard water related?

[Not The Original Kermit]

Hi all,

I've been having issues lately with generating a lasting lather. I soak my brush for several minutes and work up a lather on the face, I usually get a nice dense lather for one pass and plenty left over on the brush, however after I complete one pass and go to my brush, the lather on the brush has completely dried up and there is no soap left and I find I have to go back to my puck for each pass after.
This seems to have started within the last month and wasn't an issue a few months back.

I'm wondering if my hard water (my city's water report is listing my water as moderately hard this month 160 mg/L CaCO3) has something to do with my lather drying up on the brush, or if there is something else affecting it (brush need cleaning etc)
Looking for advise from anyone who's experienced something similiar and what they found that worked for them.
Thanks
Gene.

 

[gaj90027]

My first thought is that you are not getting enough soap on the brush. Check out the "how to make lather from soaps" tutorial at the following link and let us know if you have questions:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=63824

Also, what soap are you using? The process can be different depending on the type of soap.

 

[Not The Original Kermit]

up to about a month ago I had no issues getting enough lather for 3+ passes but in the last 3 weeks that's changed even though my technique hasn't. I've been using speick and mama bear's soaps pretty much exclusively except for the occasional run with creams.

The cream works fine but the soap doesn't, I'm trying to figure out what variable has changed in the last 3-4 weeks that's been giving me this issue.

I'm going to pick up a jug of distilled water this weekend and see what happens.

 

[kingfisher]

Wash the brush and then see what happens. What's the downside. It takes about 10-15 minutes total.

 

[mdunn]

Wash the brush and then see what happens. What's the downside. It takes about 10-15 minutes total.

good idea - it really does make a huge difference