Thread: Williams Shaving Soap 40 years Later

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

Back in the bad old days when I was a Bic disposable shaving moron I tried a badger brush and Williams soap. I always assumed the soap was terrible because it was cheap and lathered poorly. I now have pause to wonder if it was I, and not the puck, that lathered poorly. Still cheap. I'll try some again just for S&Gs.

You know, when you were a kid and you grabbed for something off the hot stove and someone said, "don't do that or you'll get a burned". Well if you did it now the same thing will still happen. You're earlier assessment was dead on.

You'll have to excuse Jimmy. He hasn't been himself lately. Someone told me they saw him going into a drug store and buying a whole display of Gillette cartridge razors and then the incident when he was caught drinking a bottle of Lilac Vegital.

We just need to humor him in these difficult times.

I am a Williams fan, and I have some great soaps and creams, and for me, Williams is just as good. I get a great lather from Williams, and I don't add anything but water and the use of my brush, and I don't put any water on the puck. I face lather, and keep adding water to the brush as I build an awesome lather on my face that does not dry and gives me a good shave with a straight. Williams is good stuff.

Now, we are blessed in that our water comes straight from the snow melt of the Sierras, and as far as I can tell, it is not hard, but good and pure. Pixelfixed, you should have the same water, unless they do something different in Roseville.

Originally Posted by IamSt8ght

I am a Williams fan, and I have some great soaps and creams, and for me, Williams is just as good. I get a great lather from Williams, and I don't add anything but water and the use of my brush, and I don't put any water on the puck. I face lather, and keep adding water to the brush as I build an awesome lather on my face that does not dry and gives me a good shave with a straight. Williams is good stuff.

Now, we are blessed in that our water comes straight from the snow melt of the Sierras, and as far as I can tell, it is not hard, but good and pure. Pixelfixed, you should have the same water, unless they do something different in Roseville.

What snow?? in all fairness, the old williams was great stuff,very high tallow content.
Think I may pick up a puck of the new just for grins.

Y'know I was expecting to be disappointed. Instead I was pleasantly surprised. So this morning I googled the ingredients. The first listed is potassium stearate, an emulsifier among other things. Next, in order of volume, sodium tallowate, the famous 'animal fat' ingredient that many of the celebrated British soaps stopped using years ago. To the detriment of the product as far as many are concerned. Still a big part of the current Williams.

Next comes sodium chocoate, a derivative of coconut oil widely used in making soap. Next is water and would you believe it ......... glycerine. I won't bore you with the rest because I got tired of googling/linking and I don't think it matters that much.

I will say that in the spirit of my avatar, I'm just telling it like it is for me. The fact that some folks enjoy Williams while others can't get a decent lather with it just shows the YMMV nature of our sport.

Mo Glycerine, Mo Betta! I love to Uber other soaps (particularly Proraso!) with the stuff! It lives in my mug!

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

...You're earlier assessment was dead on.

You'll have to excuse Jimmy. He hasn't been himself lately.

Maybe. Maybe not.

A few days ago at Lowe's Grocery Store - $1.49/puck in the familiar, pathetically old fashioned white and blue cardboard box.

Stuck the puck in a 6 oz. Krispy Kreme coffee mug and commenced to scour with a Semogue boar; nothing. Very slow to react. I recalled the sorry transparent glop I used to slather on my face preceding butchery by Bic. I added a little more water and kept on. Something like whipped cream began rising to the rim and, a little more water later, I had some very nice, rich lather. I am astounded. I shaved two passes with a Solingen straight and did touch ups with a re-lather and a Rolls Razor. Results 3x were excellent.

OK, so the stuff wants to stick to the razor a bit; that's tallow is all. It's the look of quality at about $0.008 per shave.

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

OK, so the stuff wants to stick to the razor a bit; that's tallow is all.

I noticed that too. Instead of my usual rinsing under the tap between passes, I'm wiping on a folded piece of tissue. Kind of cool because you can really see those pesky whiskers in the lather on the tissue.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I noticed that too. Instead of my usual rinsing under the tap between passes, I'm wiping on a folded piece of tissue. Kind of cool because you can really see those pesky whiskers in the lather on the tissue.

Yes, that. Also, it brightens my towels and takes rust and watermarks off of old razors with regular use. Well, I think it does but I only went back to using it the day before yesterday. You have probably noticed these and other favorable effects more than I have.

Indeed, I use the wet hand-towel I use for my hot face towel folded 4 times on the side of the sink.
Gently stropping off the lather and hairs as needed. First WTG is loaded with long hairs, second ATG, some shorties. Nice to see nothing coming up on the 3rd pass.
Running water and rinsing is counterproductive and no fun!