Water Cooler Moment

In Oregon, we have soft water, which means our water has a low mineral content. This enables us to get a nice frothy lather when we use soap and toothpaste. Conversely, Southern California has hard water, so getting a good lather is difficult. What does this all have to do with my post? Actually, very little, but it's still all within the same family of discussion.

Yesterday evening, I had 10 minutes to take a shower before dinner was ready. I aggressively took on this challenge and hopped into the shower. Usually I can quickly attain a nice soapy lather due to the soft Oregon water. This time however, it was difficult. When I attempt the quick shower, looking back it's always difficult to lather-up. Why?

I thought about this while showering and wondered what causes this phenomenon. Could it be that the body must absorb enough water for the soap to effectively lather? Does the body need to reach a certain temperature to react to the soaps chemical structure? Would using a liquid soap over a bar of soap remedy this? All these questions cascaded through my mind.

I then began breaking down what my process is when showering. The first thing I do when I step into the shower is an initial rinse off. This ensures that my body is wet and I can maintain the soapy lather. As you might of guessed, I do a lot of thinking in the shower, so I never rush to begin the actual washing. During this time, the water heats up considerably and I am more than adequately drenched before beginning.

When I take the quick shower, this process is dramatically shortened. I do the initial wet-down, before I do the lather-up, but because of the time constraint, I don't do an as thorough job within the wet-down stage. This leaves me to believe that the body needs to absorb enough water to begin lathering the soap. Yet, the water hasn't warmed to its highest temperature. I seem to remember a time when I took a stone cold shower during a summer month before we had air conditioning, and the soap didn't react.

So, what is it? Why didn't I get the lather? Is it the water temperature, or is it the body's water absorption level?