Difficulty lathering Dr Jon's?

...I have hard water, maybe that's the problem? I keep ending up with paste or soup (bowl lathering, my skin is irritated by face lathering).

When I brush it on it still works quite well, it's a very slick paste or soup.

Anyone have any suggestions?

...I have hard water, maybe that's the problem? I keep ending up with paste or soup (bowl lathering, my skin is irritated by face lathering).

When I brush it on it still works quite well, it's a very slick paste or soup.

Anyone have any suggestions?

do you bloom the soap before lathering on it? Can you share some pics?

I bloom basically every single soap I own unless the soap is VERY soft like Pure20 or razorock...I find that it makes it A LOT easier to get a good lather started.

I've found that when I'm lathering B&M Latha soaps (I bloom these too), it tends to be sticky after swirling on the soap for 20-30 seconds. Once it hits the face and a ton of water is incorporated, it's incredibly slick.

Dr. Jon's is arguably softer than Pure2O. It and TTFFC (tallow) are the softest soaps I've used. They really are "croaps". No need to bloom them. Then you'd really be starting with some soup. It sounds like you just need to dial in your water ratio. If it's too pasty, add some water a tiny bit at a time until you get the yogurty consistency you're looking for. If it's like soup then there's too much water.

I don't bloom it. It's basically a croap; of the other products I've used, it's actually closest in firmness to the Ginger's Garden cream.

I would add some more water. I find it takes quite a bit of water to break the Dr. Jon's lather. But I have very soft water so YMMV

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I think the hardness of the water must be an issue; perhaps with hard water there's fairly narrow success range. I'll try again next weekend, starting dry & gradually adding...

I think the hardness of the water must be an issue; perhaps with hard water there's fairly narrow success range. I'll try again next weekend, starting dry & gradually adding...

I've got quite hard water here in Austin but can't recall much issue lathering the Dr. J's.

I do bloom most soaps a bit other than the very soft and would definitely recommend the same if you don't already.

I'll pull some Classic out later this week and pay more specific attention to lathering, reporting back with anything helpful.

Best of luck!

I find Dr. Jon's takes a different approach for lathering. For me, since the soap is very soft, I find it almost impossible to load properly from the tins, especially the 2oz variant. I either end up with way too much soap, or way too little. To make sure I get the correct amount, I've started scooping just a tiny bit out of the tub with my finger, and just plopping it into the brush. This is especially easy if you bowl lather.

I did something similar last time--scooped some out & into the bowl. I think I drowned it that time, coming after the discovery that Sapone di Paolo & Wet Shaving Products Rustic both respond very well to lots of water. Just didn't re-calibrate my head properly.

Welcome to DFS Quadricwan! That is some good advice for using Dr. Jon's and is my approach as well. I just scoop a little out and put it in my Captain's Choice bowl to load my brush and then head to the face to finish building the lather.