Mystic Water Soaps + Surrey, UK water

Hello, everyone. i hope you are all having a great day!
i thought it would be best to start a new thread on my experiment with Mystic Water Soaps (Lily of the Valley) and some "hard water" i received from my very good friend, David (optometrist), who lives in Surrey, UK. He has been having trouble lathering this soap and i suggested he send me some of his water, jokingly, as he was PIFing me his two tubs that he had ordered, but could not get a good and stable lather with them and to my surprise and intrigue, he sent it along! i love challenges and i was extremely eager to conduct this experiment as i have been using Mystic Water for almost two years, now, which is the time i have been traditionally wet-shaving, and i have never used this soap in an area that has "hard water" and have only used it, here, in Vancouver which has very "soft water". i am using quotations to describe the water as i have heard it depends on certain minerals being present in your water that can greatly affect lather and its stability and formation. i am no scientist and will keep this treatise as simple as i am able to, which should not be too difficult for me!

Please, note that i only used the Surrey water to soak the brushes, dip them in for more water while palm-lathering and to wet my palm to begin the lathering. i have shown a picture of how much water was left in the 500ml bottle after i finished the three lathers. It is the last pic.
Also, please, forgive me for the bad quality of the pics as it was very difficult to take them with one hand and not being able to focus very well as i had my Nikkon 50mm manual lens.

i started with my Frank Shaving synthetic 24/48mm.
The first pic shows 30 seconds of loading the brush and i believe this may be one issue with the soap disappearing or fading when you try to commence lathering with a boar or badger brush. i think you need to load badger and boar brushes for at least a minimum of 1 minute if you have hard water depending on how thick your brush knot is. The lather was a bit runny and thin while loading, initially, but i kept at it for 2 minutes of palm-lathering while adding water little by little. The resulting lather was thick, rich, creamy with good slickness.








The next brush i used was my oscar11 Brown/Amber + WSP Stubby 26mm knot which is very dense. i apologize for only having 3 pics of the finished lather, but the other ones did not turn out very well. i will try to update this at some point.
Again, i soaked the brush in the Surrey water and shook out a bit as i prefer to load my brushes a bit drier and add water little by little. Again, when i started loading the soap, the lather was a bit runny and watery, but i continued to load it for over one minute. i would say 1 minute and 45 seconds just to be sure i had enough soap as this was my first use with this soap and "hard water". i then commenced palm-lathering for over 2 minutes or so while adding water little by little. Again, the resulting lather was very creamy, thick, rich with good slickness. No issues, once again, as you can see in the pics.






The third bursh i used was my Chubby 2 Super which i had initially thought might be a big challenge to load in this experiment as the water was requiring a bit more effort than our Vancouver water. i soaked the Chubby 2 in the water sufficiently to get it wet and starting loading the soap. Once again, the initial lather while loading the soap was runny and thin, but i continued for well over 2 minutes adding water little by little. i would say i added water 3-4 times in the loading process of the soap. If you look closely at the third picture, here, you will notice 30 seconds of palm-lathering and the there is hardly any lather. i continued to add water little by little also when palm-lathering as i did with the first two brushes which is very important, i believe. Once again, after palm-lathering well over 3 minutes since the Chubby is so dense and takes much more time than the other two brushes, the lather was the same as the initial two lathers; rich, creamy, thick and with very good glide.











Well, i am not sure if this experiment will convince those who have difficulty lathering this soap that it can be done as i cannot guarantee that your water is similar to the one i used here. Also, since i have been using Mystic Water and Mike's soaps since i began this wonderful journey, it is possible that i just have more experience with them. i just don't know. What i do know is that this soap, along with Mike's and Jabonman's, is an incredible soap and Michelle, the artisan, is an incredible woman. i know her soaps have been the focus of quite a few threads on this forum and B&B with regards to folks having issues with her soap and i, truly, hope this simple write-up can help some of you who are having problems. i will, gladly, offer to any one who has problems lathering this soap with their water to send me a small bottle of it so that i can try it if you would like. i only wish i could post videos of my process, but it is really no secret as i know Bruce had no issues with his "hard water" lathering these soaps and a few other folks who also have "hard water" don't seem to have an issue. Therefore, it could just be a simple fact of different minerals in different waters that might be the problem, coupled along with "inexperience" loading with this soap. Once again, i offer anyone to send me a small sample of their water if they are having trouble lathering this magnificent soap and if any of you have any questions, please ask.
One more thing, i know that many of you do not know me personally and there might be some skepticism regarding the final results, but i can only assure you that i was completely honest in what i present to you and have nothing to gain from distorting things. i have no connection to Michelle other than speaking with her when ordering my soaps. i truly just want to offer this information as a means to help those who really like the scents of this soap and want to continue to use it, if possible. Thank you and i wish those with "hard water" much luck and many great shaves, my friends!