I thought I'd post an update on how I was getting on with MWF and my hard water. Having read through all the posts here, I kind of took a piece of everyones advice and applied it to my shave this morning. From Waynes advice I hydrated the soap, although I only covered it with water for a day, rather than two. From Pauls post, I only left a teaspoon of water on the soap when i showered. From Nicks video, I loaded the brush for two minutes, and again from Pauls post, I lathered for almost 6 minutes, slowly adding more water as recommended by several people. I also had a damp brush, not squeezing the water out as I usually do.
I had an absolute tonne of lather, way more than my small bowl could hold, and the lather seemed much lighter than what I thought was a good lather, tho there wasn't many bubbles and there was a great sheen to it. As soon as I applied it to my face, I knew this was better.
After the first pass, it felt like I had just put moisturiser on my face. The lather was excellent and remained great for the three passes, and I easily had enough for another three. I've been wet shaving for about 8 months and this was easily the best shave I have had. I passed my alum block over my face to see if I had much irritation and there was none. My face is so soft now, definitely no need for any balm. Tomorrow I think I'll load for a minute and a half, just because of all the lather I had left over, apart from that I will repeat everything.
Thanks for all the advice lads, I'm so happy I got it to work, and so fantastically!!
(In case anyone was wondering, I've been using the Semogue Owners Club 2 Band and had a Timor blade today in an Edwin Jagger DE89)
I have hard water in my area, and I soak my puck. I hit it with a medium damp brush and boom, lather explosion.
