Experiment #4 with hard water and Mystic Water soap

Honestly, I think more and more folks are catching on to how to lather these soaps. Many seem to be coming into the forums that couldn't lather MW but now can. There have been great videos as well as awesome methods and to me, the biggest deal is the proliferation of synthetic brushes. Synthetics are the best way to start with MW soaps period. I'm happy with the Mystic Waters formula, its a great soap.

While what you say is true, as I am one of the folks catching on to how to lather this soap, it still remains significantly more time consuming and requires more troubleshooting than any of the other major artisan soaps in my den. Right there is the rub. With the other major artisans willing to listen to their customers & tweak their formulae to make it as easy as possible for the widest spectrum of customers to use, MW's refusal to do anything for several years now to tweak the well-known lathering issues with her soap is a bit bothersome to me. I hate to say this, because when I get it working and I have the time for it, MW soaps are magnificent, but there is no way, at this stage, that MW is unaware of the lathering issues quite a few people have with her soaps as compared to the other artisans. Unfortunately, her ongoing refusal to do anything about it, particularly now when the other major artisans can and are tweaking with great success, tends to drive a perception that she does not care enuf to do anything about it, which, whether true or not, is a rather unfortunate brand turn-off.

Having said all of that, MW is up on my rotation for this weekend

LegalEagle1, I hope to change your mind. The timing on this is funny, but I just finished trials and I'm going to be adding a chelating agent to my soap in future batches. There will be some other changes that I think will meet with everyone's approval as well.

That would be a fantastic development & I applaud you for Doing that.

It also means I must totally walk back and eat crow on my earlier post, which, given the quality of your soap, I am very glad to do!

Great news Mystic Water! This really highlights the point I have made elsewhere - the best artisans are responsive to criticism (instead of trying to shut it down). Critique only helps to improve a product.

I'm looking forward to trying the version with the chelating agent. In my review of this soap, the lathering issue was my only point of criticism.

Well I reckon I'll have to try out the new formula once it hits. Hopefully its still slick with a fantastic post shave and we are in business.

While what you say is true, as I am one of the folks catching on to how to lather this soap, it still remains significantly more time consuming and requires more troubleshooting than any of the other major artisan soaps in my den. Right there is the rub. With the other major artisans willing to listen to their customers & tweak their formulae to make it as easy as possible for the widest spectrum of customers to use, MW's refusal to do anything for several years now to tweak the well-known lathering issues with her soap is a bit bothersome to me. I hate to say this, because when I get it working and I have the time for it, MW soaps are magnificent, but there is no way, at this stage, that MW is unaware of the lathering issues quite a few people have with her soaps as compared to the other artisans. Unfortunately, her ongoing refusal to do anything about it, particularly now when the other major artisans can and are tweaking with great success, tends to drive a perception that she does not care enuf to do anything about it, which, whether true or not, is a rather unfortunate brand turn-off.

Having said all of that, MW is up on my rotation for this weekend

Really? It's not that hard to work with. It only takes maybe an extra minute to get a great lather out of. You don't really have to go to the extent that Merkur Man does in his video. That just shows how good it can get upon working it some more. I feel you have given some undue harsh criticism there.

I hate to disagree wyze0ne, but I simply couldn't permanently solve the lathering issues when I had hard water. I tried many technique alterations and kept at it for quite some time, and yet it would often dissipate or produce thin lather. Post-shave feel was always great though.

On the other hand, I can't criticism the brand for this - Mystic Water has been more than responsive. Ever since we discussed this issue elsewhere, Michelle was likely working on an update. She said she would experiment with a chelating agent, and evidently she has been true to her word.

I dunno, I don't want to start an argument but I've done well with Mystic Waters and they work great everytime. I wasn't open-minded to a formula change in the past but if its to be, then I'll let it be. Maybe it will rule. If you make MW very easy to lather for the masses plus its great post shave, great performance, unlimited Baskin Robbins amount of scents, it might be a huge deal.

To be clear, I've never said that everyone will have issues lathering this soap, but it's obvious that some people with very hard water regularly do. This is the one repeated criticism that I see leveled against Mystic Water on various forums. If Michelle was able to solve this issue while keeping intact the characteristically awesome post-shave feel, this has the chance to be as big of a hit as the Glissant update was for B&M. I for one am really looking forward to giving it a spin.