Hard H2O blues?

I hear this complaint a lot on the various forum and groups to which I belong, that their hard water makes lathering difficult. WHen I lived in Indiana and had a water softener soaps just performed like champons. Now I live in suburban Houston and my water is rock hard. Some of my soaps are impervious to the minerals. I'd like to hear if others share the experience and what soaps work for them. My latest expirament has been to take my worst performers and lather them by soaking my brush in a mug of warm distilled water. Wow, what a difference! This is a very  inexpensive solution to boost your poor  performers.

I was going to suggest distilled water, but it only needs to used for lathering (so I've heard). If you use a synthetic brush it doesn't require soaking. That means less distilled water used.

The other solution is to just use more product. Think croap or cream for easy loading.

San Diego has somewhat hard water but I've lived here so long that I really don't think twice about it. Eventually I will get the lather I want and need from all of my favorite products, be they croaps, soaps, or creams.

I've have hard water at my house, I have no problem making lather, but I have to say when I visit my brother in laws house for a visit he has soft filtered water and WOW the slicknes factor goes up big time. But that's what I noticed about the different water types. Stay Smooth

I've have hard water at my house, I have no problem making lather, but I have to say when I visit my brother in laws house for a visit he has soft filtered water and WOW the slicknes factor goes up big time. But that's what I noticed about the different water types. Stay Smooth

Same here. I was visiting a hotel a while back that had softened water and the soap performance was off the chart for me. It was almost night and day different. I'm hoping to someday own a home so I can put in a softener.

You can also try a bit of citric acid in the water before shaving. This requires you to fill up a bowl or sink w/ water, obviously.

You can also try a bit of citric acid in the water before shaving. This requires you to fill up a bowl or sink w/ water, obviously.

I sometimes add a half a teaspoon of Soda Crystals (Sodium Carbonate) to the water in the sink bowl. It does give the water a softer feel.
I think it makes a difference but not by much. My water is only slightly hard so maybe therefore the effect isn't much.
You could give it a try, it costs next to nothing in the supermarket (detergent section - washing crystals)

I actually had extremely hard water (Austrian mountain water), which is rich in minerals. So good for drinking, but not so good for shaving and even worse for you installations and pipes.
So this year I had a softener installed and wow it makes a HUGE difference.

I actually had extremely hard water (Austrian mountain water), which is rich in minerals. So good for drinking, but not so good for shaving and even worse for you installations and pipes.
So this year I had a softener installed and wow it makes a HUGE difference.

Our water here is hard, too, and the softener is a huge help.

We have very hard water here on the SW side of Austin and I have found that if I get a good load that lathering anything, even the reputed difficult soaps is a piece of cake. YMMV...