For the last month or so none of my soaps have any slickness after a pass with the razor. NONE. I've tried 4 different soaps and they are all the same. In the past, the slickness seemed to build with each pass but not now. I've added more soap, added water, worked the lather longer and it's still not slick. The only thing I can figure is the county changed the water at the treatment plant. I don't know what to try other than using a pitcher of filtered water and see if that's it. What do you think and what else should I try???
Get a water test kit and see what your hardness is. If you have any distilled water in the house (we use it for ironing and the clothes steamer) you can try that. If you know someone who has a water softener you might borrow a gallon from them. Contact your water provider and see if there’s been any changes.
Said the main things I was going to say. I'd also try regular bottled water to see if there is much difference there. But while you are changing water variables, you should stick to the same brush and soap the entire time, that way you can truly determine if there is a difference.
All good ideas and I'll put them to the test. Now that I've been thinking on it, something has had to of changed in the county water. I've had dry, itchy "winter" skin the last couple of months. It's well past time for that though. I'll ask at the water office tomorrow to find out whats going on. I could see maybe a change on into summer with the irrigation wells running and the water levels changing but they haven't started pumping fields yet. Oh well, I'll get it sorted or I'll start using the Cremo again. That stuff is as slick as eel shi-. Well, it's slick.
I thought they did a hard water vs. soft water comparison in a big Mitchell's Wool Fat thread over on B&B a few years ago, and came to the conclusion that hard and soft water both produced excellent shaving lather, the biggest variable being the individual making the lather. Edit: Found it. https://www.badgerandblade.com/foru...ool-fat-water-sensitive-answer-inside.458599/
Ha! That dude’s water isn’t very hard, and he’s from the U.K. so maybe he’s biased. From my own experience with very hard water, Mitchell’s is difficult but not impossible to lather. Helps to use a boar brush and to have patience, or use distilled water instead.
I've very hard water. Actually, 330mg/L. (33°fH) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water No problems. Just the standard method: 1. Soak few minutes the brush in warm water 2. Start with almost no water in the brush 3. Load the soap to have the center of the brush full 4. Lather few minutes, adding a little water time by time Circular motion to build the lather. Lateral motion to apply uniformly the lather. That's all. With difficult soaps, I find more effective the synths. Specially from Gen4, as Cashmere or G4.