Thread: Williams mug soap

Yes, you can get better soap by paying more, but I consider being able to lather with Williams a badge of honor.

Don't let your Puck dry our completely. If you don't use it daily find a bowl with a lid.

Warm water on the puck at least 5 minutes before shaving. Six drops of glycerin, and keep adding water until the lather explodes.

P.S.
Enjoy the scent!

I use Williams fairly often and it does take a bit more to lather than other soaps. I actually find that it performs best when one adds more water than normally used with other soaps and when paired with a really stiff boar brush. It's a cheap soap that likes to be used with a cheap brush.

At the risk of being accused of promoting someone's business, which is not my intention, I will tell you where I get soap that was created to be like Williams.

Prairie Creations

I am the one who initiated the thread about re-creating vintage Williams. I wanted to do it but didn't have the knowhow. Krissy at Prairie Creations took it as a challenge and made a soap with the ingredients copied off a box of vintage Williams, back in the day when you didn't have to work to get a great lasting lather. She has been selling it ever since. The referenced thread shows my face lathered with VINTAGE Williams. My first effort with her soap I didn't add enough water and the lather was too thick, but I have since learned to add more water and it does work like VINTAGE Williams and it comes in various scents and custom scents on request.

Notice though that she charges $8.00 a puck. One store where I live carries MODERN Williams and the price is 99 cents a puck. Obviously when push came to shove, the owners of the J.B. Williams Company had to make a choice between maintaining a low price point to keep it in stores 50 years after the canned goo replaced the mug and brush method of lathering up and maintaining a great soap at the cost associated with it.

I exchanged messages with Al of Al's Shaving Products about this very subject. He was approached by a store who wanted to carry his shaving cream, but only at a price point that was less than the actual cost in producing it. We more or less concluded that although the Williams ingredients were similar (big difference is that tallow is now the second ingredient now), they changed in proportion so that they could keep selling it for a low price. Al didn't want to compromise his product.

That's why I lost interest in making Williams work, because they made the wrong choice for me. I have used VINTAGE Williams and MODERN Williams is decidedly inferior in comparison. If they had maintained a product that works like the VINTAGE Williams works, I would have gladly paid the $5 to $10 a puck because I wanted to associated with a traditional American product that has been around for the majority of my country's existence. Sometimes I get tired of everything being imported because American businesses won't provide it, or they will provide it overseas and not domestically.

I always use Williams to face lather. I go right from the puck (in a cup) to my face. If your trying to build lather in a bowl or scuttle, Uber'ing is the answer. You'd need some Kiss my Face shave cream and Glycerin.

Your probably better off buying a better soap.