The reason you have trouble getting a good lather.

[alpster]

I have read several threads about B&B members having a hard time getting a suitable lather from their soaps or creams and it has been bewildering to me. I use about a dozen different soaps and almost as many creams. I also have 8 different brushes, from silver tip soft to boar scritchy and my lather building experience is always the same. I give a couple or so twists in the soap cup and start whipping my brush in my lather mug and in about 5 or 10 seconds I have lather that looks like pie meringue. Every time, with every brush and every soap or cream. I think I have figured out why it always works better for me.

About 18 months ago I did a job for friend of a friend in the water treatment business. We bartered and in return for my work I received a water softening system. It has a big blue tank with all kinds of pumps & gizmos that comes on in the middle of the night and does some kind of magic and another tank that I fill with salt pellets every week. I wasn't wet shaving before the system was installed, so I can't make a comparison, but I know that my water is extremely soft. Almost all of the hard water minerals are being extracted by the system. I am convinced that for a lot of guys who are struggling to get rich lather, that it's the water's fault and not your technique, soap, brush, etc. Here's an article I read that helped convince me.

How Water Influences Lather

• Soap will lather less or perhaps not lather at all in hard water, which is water that contains dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium. The oils in the soap, which are acidic, react with the calcium and magnesium in the water, and this negatively affects the soap's lathering quality. Soft water does not contain a measurable amount of minerals and will produce a better lather. An automatic water softener can be installed on water supply pipes for home use. Automatic water softeners act to remove minerals from water and replace them with sodium, which does allow soap to lather.

Read more: Why Soap Lathers | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5206815_soap-lathers.html#ixzz2NulaUVaw

I hope this helpful to some of the members who having trouble.

Ronnie
​

 

[KCee]

The water does make a big difference. We have well water that's fairly hard without our softener. The softener stopped working recently and it was nearly a week before we could get it fixed. I noticed it was harder and harder to get lather in the shower or when shaving. Not impossible, but it took noticeably more soap and the lather just wasn't there. Once we got it fixed the lather was back.

 

[Sir Nicks A Lot]

Using distilled water is cheap and is a good alternative for those of us without a softener. My lather explodes now using distilled vs tap.

 

[Gary H]

Thanks for the info, I am running out to buy some distilled water and give it a shot. Who knows maybe I can get a good clean shave without having to use Noxzema after all?

 

[indytechnerd]

Just recently added a water softener and it is noticeable. I thought about distilled, but I shave in the shower, so that pretty much rules it out. Before the softener, whipping up a lather required a bit more work.

 

[TallyShave]

So 15 seconds total to load and lather any soap? Color me skeptical.

 

[sandtrout]

great post and answers. im going to try some distilled water to see if it makes a difference...distilled water would be a CHEAP fix!


QUOTE=KCee;4965649]The water does make a big difference. We have well water that's fairly hard without our softener. The softener stopped working recently and it was nearly a week before we could get it fixed. I noticed it was harder and harder to get lather in the shower or when shaving. Not impossible, but it took noticeably more soap and the lather just wasn't there. Once we got it fixed the lather was back.[/QUOTE]

 

[Mad Man]

Melbourne has famously soft water and it's incredible how easy it is to load and lather some commonly troublesome soaps (MWF I'm looking at YOU). When I travel for work I see instantly how much longer it takes to do the same in Sydney or, worst of all, Adelaide. You can swirl that Chubby till your wrist hurts and all you'll get is thin drool.

 

[goatee]

So 15 seconds total to load and lather any soap? Color me skeptical.

i think i can lather any soap with my tap water. (detroit area, so i have great water) LMK what you want me to lather and i will video tape it, and post my results here.

 

[TallyShave]

i think i can lather any soap with my tap water. (detroit area, so i have great water) LMK what you want me to lather and i will video tape it, and post my results here.

I lather all my soaps with tap water, but I take more than 15 seconds just to load much less make a proper lather. More shaving as sport I guess.

 

[brucered]

I agree with Tally, 15sec is not realistic. actually the opening post says 5-10. i'd love to see a video on that from start to finish.

I have never had to use any softeners or distilled water anywhere I lather (home, vacation, travel etc). Tap water wherever I am and about a 2min from start to finish with most soaps (loading and bowl lathering time). 45sec to 1 minute for creams and bowl lathering. less time with face....but no where near 5-10 sec for bowl lathering.

More product and practice is the key to good lather and don't make it a race.

 

[Flatlander]

I made a move in the middle of my wet-shaving learning curve from an area with very high quality, fairly soft water to an area with water that comes with ready-made stalactites, and I had to almost double the amount of loading and swirling time to get a good lather. I agree, water definitely makes a difference. It also changed which creams and soaps worked best for me...my lanolin containing creams do not work as well with my new hard water.

 

[alpster]

I agree with Tally, 15sec is not realistic. actually the opening post says 5-10. i'd love to see a video on that from start to finish.

I have never had to use any softeners or distilled water anywhere I lather (home, vacation, travel etc). Tap water wherever I am and about a 2min from start to finish with most soaps (loading and bowl lathering time). 45sec to 1 minute for creams and bowl lathering. less time with face....but no where near 5-10 sec for bowl lathering.

More product and practice is the key to good lather and don't make it a race.

I wasn't really claiming to hold the world indoor record for making lather and yep, 10 seconds is somewhat allegorical. I will however time myself the next shave and correct the record. My point, in case it was missed, was that my very soft water keeps me from spending several minutes twisting and loading and several more trying to pound it into lather and then still being dissatisfied with the results. I will choose my words more carefully in the future. Please forgive me.

Ronnie

 

[menghai]

I'm anxious to try out some distilled water. Have I been only limping along all this time, and it's been so much easier than I knew?

 

[brucered]

No need to apologize Ronnie, if it works for you great and glad you were able to figure out a fix.

I think our water is quite hard but luckily I've had no issues making lather with it and never had to resort to a water softener or distiller water. I'm sure what I'd do if I had to purchase water to shave with. So are people soaking their brushes in the water as that is where 95% of the water in lather comes from, and if so are you just using it room temp?

I've shaved in a few hotels that had soft water and never noticed a difference in my lather quality.

 

[jb4647]

I live in Houston, TX and our water is hard. Since I live in a condo a water softner is not an option (have to turn off water to whole section of building for plumbing work).

I shave in the shower so distilled water isn't an option. Thus, I installed one of these shower filters and it has helped. I notice even my body soap lathers better. Filter is supposed to last 6 months. I installed in January and its still working.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sprite-S...ter-in-Chrome-SL2-CM-R/202386562#.UUe2I4y9KK0

Uses these filters:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sprite-Showers-Slim-Line-Filter-Cartridge-SLC/100169070#.UUe3woy9KK0

 

[goatee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSrfz3fR0zY

this was from about a year ago. i only made it for this site. it is not found in any searches on you tube.
out of the 1.50 time, only about 7 seconds for loading. it's a little sloppy but i str8 shave so,,, plus it thickens a bit when you start rubbing it on the face. maybe has a lathering effect from the whiskers? IDK...with a little more effort i could have made a great lather.
point is,,,, the loading time. it was parker sandlewood/shea butter, and a TGN finest 22mm.

while im thinking of it... can anyone explain how to post a video here instead of the link to the video?

 

[brucered]

while im thinking of it... can anyone explain how to post a video here instead of the link to the video?

hit the SHARE button on YT, then copy that link into the "VIDEO" thumbnail in the editing toolbar on here (the little film strip one) and you'll be good to go.

 

[California Cajun]

I grated an artisan soap that I couldn't get to lather in cold water (worked fine in hot water) and that solved the problem.

 

[goatee]

oh i thought we were talking about loading time.