Tips for Hard Water?

[Rumblebuffin]

Hello! I just moved to a new house where I have to shave with very hard water. My lathering technique is all-of-a-sudden highly ineffective. Does anyone have any tips for how to make lather with hard water?

Edit: So far far I've tried a Sterling soap and one of the hard RazoRock soaps.

 

[brucered]

Use more product. Add room temp water slowly. Face lather.

Creams are soft soaps are much more hard water friendly in my experience.

 

[Old Hippie]

There are soaps that do better than others in hard water. Some options to consider, if you have a favourite soap that now isn't working for you...

1. Citric Acid. Citric acid is widely available and in low concentrations safe for skin (or consumption; it's in a lot of things). Get some crystals at the local health food store, and put a tiny pinch in your soaking cup. Use that water to soak your brush and also to build your lather. (Water hardness is often carbonates, which are basic. Adding a pinch of acid will neutralize the base and soften the water.)

2. Use a whole-house water softener. I hate these things. They use salt, and the water tastes like it. But it'll lather...

3. For the small amount of water you'll use for soaking your brush and building lather, it's probably worth buying reverse osmosis (R.O.) water.

4. ...and my solution: make your own soap (easy) and add some citric acid to buffer the water.

You'll need to try several things to find the best solution for you. "Use more soap" is also a good answer, as soaps often include buffering agents just for that reason.

O.H.

 

[Lightcs1776]

I know some with hard water use filtered water or bottled water for building their lather.

 

[sanookd]

Try distilled water and spray as needed from an atomizer bottle.

 

[KW Driver]

My well went hard. I did the distilled water for awhile. That was a pain too. Regularly filtered bottle water was easier to work with.

Just use more product. I keep more water in my brush when it comes out of a pre-shave soak. I load more soap. I get the same lather I used to with softer water. Just fiddle it until you get it right consistently. Loading and lathering is now sub-conscience for me. And I face lather for what it’s worth.

I never changed up my soaps, just got used to it.

 

[musicman1951]

Try distilled water and spray as needed from an atomizer bottle.

I have no personal experience, but often read that this is a viable solution. Distilled water is pretty cheap (I use it in my CPAP).

 

[BigJ]

I know some with hard water use filtered water or bottled water for building their lather.

+1! That‘s the easy answer!!

 

[brucered]

+1! That‘s the easy answer!!

But not the cheapest to add a water filtration system to your house. It takes up space and requires routine maintenance and parts etc.

As for bottled water. I have only used it to test a soap to see if it was user error or water/soap issue, if we had some on hand. I can't see ever adding bottled water or a spray bottle bottle to my personal bathroom shaving routine.

If a product only works with soft water and my water is moderately hard, I'll ditch it and find one of the many that do work with hard water. Luckily, there are many that don't discriminate with hard and soft water.

 

[BigJ]

But not the cheapest to add a water filtration system to your house. It takes up space and requires routine maintenance and parts etc.

As for bottled water. I have only used it to test a soap to see if it was user error or water/soap issue, if we had some on hand. I can't see ever adding bottled water or a spray bottle bottle to my personal bathroom shaving routine.

If a product only works with soft water and my water is moderately hard, I'll ditch it and find one of the many that do work with hard water. Luckily, there are many that don't discriminate with hard and soft water.

Good points (spoken from someone with soft water.)

 

[Merchant Seaman Z]

San Diego has hard water. And the wife doesn’t drink the “tap”water. So I was required to buy a water dispenser. I would use a small amount for the brush soak and getting my face wet, after the shower. Did this for awhile. Now, nope just got used to the tap. (AKA) avoiding the argument

 

[DrakeMegrim]

Really hard water where I am. We have to descale the kettle one every week or two. I'm too cheap to buy distilled water for lathering.

It took me a while to figure out how to get a decent lather. I just use a drier version of Marco's method and it works well. The brush is very wet but not dripping. If I try and dryload I never get a decent later unless it's a cream.

Good luck and let us know what works for you.

 

[Eben Stone]

IMO, you should either fix the water "problem" (use distilled water or install a water softener) or use different soaps. Your only realistic alternative is to keep practicing/experimenting using the soaps you have and maybe you can improve your lathering gymnastics and get them to work.

I live in So Cal desert and the water is 268 ppm here which I think is pretty bad. I chose to try different soaps, because I didn't want to use distilled water, and there isn't much room in our garage for a water softener (that's the only place it could logically go).

I've tried 49 brands of soaps, including almost all the soaps that have been recommended here in other threads over the years for hard water, and have found some real winners and real losers. The ones that work best for me are (in no particular order): MacDuffs, Boellis Panama, Barrister and Mann, The Sudsy Soapery (mango butter base), and Saponificio Varesino. IMO, can't go wrong with any of those.