1. I just got a hot tub and tried test strips my water seems to be hard water.... Is this why sometimes my lathers come out amazing and other times I seem to fight it lol? ....
    Robyflexx and alfredus like this.
  2. Easy fix. Purchase distilled water for testing on the difficult ones.
    Then you will eliminate that as a variable.
  3. I don't know, but try shaving in the hot tub and let us know your results.

    ;-)
  4. I have hard water and have yet to have any problems, even with the "legendary MWF"
  5. For your reference;
    Water HardnessMap.png
  6. According to this I'm in the white zone lol
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  7. Mwf has strangely never been a problem for me lol
  8. To be fair I've only used my puck
    about 5 times though
  9. Jim99, Carbide Mike and ob1page like this.
  10. Soft water is preferable (no matter the soap/cream brand), but, a good soap should lather well, even in hard (within reason) water, IMO.
    IME, hard water affects (increases) soap scum, to a greater degree than (decreasing) latherability.

    Btb, when I used Kent/MWF, it consistently (and quickly) developed copious, billowy lather in my moderately hard water.
    Carbide Mike likes this.
  11. The calcium in hard water will precipitate out the saponified fatty acids so you need more soap to get the same results. (You use up the calcium in the water by precipitating it out with the soap.) If the water is very hard, you will need a lot.
    The problem people encounter is when they use a sodium salt water softener. Due to the collegative property of solutions, and that capturing one calcium ion releases two sodium ions in exchange, you run out of "room" in your solvent and cannot dissolve enough soap to make a good lather.
    Carbide Mike, RyX and targa88 like this.
  12. I'm on a well with very hard water. I do have a softner unit hooked into the system but the water is still pretty hard. I find that some soaps lather far better than others. The best are Stirling, Captain's Choice, and Cella. I'm still trying different soaps, so there are probably some others out there that work well with hard water.
    Carbide Mike, RyX and Robyflexx like this.
  13. In my area, the water is about 17 gpg, where anything above 10.5 gpg is considered very hard. I've had no problem with my tallow based soaps (MWF, Tabac, Stirling, etc), but have to work a bit harder with some vegetable/glycerine based soaps. But most, if they're decent soaps, will eventually yield a lather I can shave with.
    RaZorBurn123 and Carbide Mike like this.
  14. I live in Minnesota and have hard water. After doing some research, I found that using citric acid has been both cost effective and softens the water right up. Citric acid can be found in most health food stores. I fill my bathroom basin with hot water, the sprinkle a little citric acid in the sink and swish it around to dissolve it. Makes a world of difference in the quality of water, lather, soaking my boar brushes, keeping my skin hydrated, lack of hard water spots on razor blades, and makes my whole shaving experience more pleasurable. I also rinse my razors in cold water, then swirl them in 91-99% alcohol to ensure the blades are free of water spots.

    Please hit me with questions if you have any.
    RyX likes this.
  15. Looks like a drunken sailor put that map together.
    DChalfy and RyX like this.
  16. There's a link in this post.

    I have been marking links with BOLD to make them easier to see.