I remember from a thread about water consumption, you had ghost written an article fir a doctor and stated that you are a water scientist.

I have googled the question and have not found a true scientific factual answer. Seems like it’s water softener people trying to sell systems and others arguing with them. I’m looking for the real and actual reason why.

So my question is; when showering or washing hands with soft water, does it feel like the soap won’t go away?

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:

So my question is; when showering or washing hands with soft water, does it feel like the soap won’t go away?

^^^^ That is a yes... in my experience.
Reasons given to why, is the 'hard' particles are removed from the water making it slick.

It's the slick feeling which makes me dislike 'soft' water.

Makes sense if you think about it, remove the calcium/iron/sand/etc particles from the water and all you have left is water.
Like having sand paper with no sand.

Not a water scientist and haven’t even stayed in a holiday inn express this year. But softer water does take longer and feel more slippery. The minerals in harder water help the soap wash off faster as the soap has something to cling to

What is “less ionic bonding” Alex for a hundred?

Country boy here and I prefer slick water.

You can tell a difference, depending on the hardness & the mineral content of your water.
We have iron in our water & I can tell if the softener has regular salt vs the iron-out salt. I have regular in now & I was just thinking a day or 2 ago that the shower felt nasty. Might also be the shit weather we're having.

I think it also depends a lot on the brand/type/condition of the softener. I've also been told that soft water makes soap work better, so you can use less - not see chemical proof, but it makes some sense.

I don't find ours to be 'bad' & now prefer it to straight well water for washing. My wife bitches when I let it run out of salt....
I HATED my grandparents soft water when I was a kid, it felt slippery. We lived nearby & didn't have a softener & I'd assume they had the cheapest softener they could buy.

yes to the slick feeling. Wife insisted on it in last house, I hated it. Now I can't stand not having it! Seems to help with shaving, but that could be me just being weird.

Snidera, shake a little Iron Out into your brine tank when you add the salt. It doesn't take very much.

You guys are all talking about soft water "slickness" in response to beancooker's opening query.
But no one has mentioned taste. ARGH! Yuk! Pew!

Give me quality well water (moderately hard) any day. Tastes great. And yes I'm fortunate to be on a fairly sizeable community well system.

And yes, a great hard water soap like Kirk's Castille will leave you feeling fresh and clean without any "scummy" film feeling!

I dunno, guys. We're on well water. It's moderately hard. (I do not recall the number.) We have a softener. Our water does not feel "slick," and soap doesn't seem any more reluctant to wash off than, say, at my gym, where they're on municipal water.

As for any taste or smell: We have a pair of Brita pitchers: One in the fridge and one on the counter--the latter being for coffee and the like. They take all taste and smell issues out of the water.

I like my water to taste like nothing Bald1 but I understand your sentiment. I prefer a little iron over too much chlorine in the city water. I dated a girl in high school whose well had so much sulphur in it I wouldn't even use an ice cube at her place. Nasty.

My Florida water has a ton of sulfur in it.

Without it being filtered it smells like rotten eggs.

Even with a filter if we are gone for a long time it takes a few days to get the water circulating and not smelling.

We have a whole house activated charcoal filter to remove the stuff in the water that works pretty well.

If you wash your hands and rinse with hard water it will feel squeaky clean, buttttt .. taste like the soap you used. If you have soft water it will feel slick, but rinses better and no soap taste.

Cleaning needs less detergent.

You taste your hands?

I know what you mean, but I can’t stand that slick feel of soft water.
Plus, it tastes „Dead“ to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
I like my water to taste like nothing Bald1 but I understand your sentiment. I prefer a little iron over too much chlorine in the city water. I dated a girl in high school whose well had so much sulphur in it I wouldn't even use an ice cube at her place. Nasty.

No sulphur here at all. I'd have to go find the latest annual water quality report for a list of minerals / elements and their quantities. Regardless the tap water is exceptional. I do use Brita filters to augment my rechargeable cat-ion espresso machine filter to safeguard the boiler.

And yes, I've traveled extensively in my day and have run up against foul treated city water too. Disgusting.