Thread: Williams Soap?

I get it Roy,

Out on my shelf MDC and Williams along with C.O Bigelow, Cella, SRD Vanilla Bourbon, and AOS Sandalwood Cream. What can I say I like em all that's why they are there.

Originally Posted by pfries

Wet shaving on a budget.......

Yupper

Bob

I like Williams...

The old formula, the new formula, the new old formula, and the old new formula. It makes no difference to me. I've used it since the mid 70's, and it will always have a place here!

Nothing fancy about it ... It's soap ...

I dunno, personally I would take the stick from the 30s or the stick made in South Africa over what I bought today. After using the other two I do find them better.

Bob

I have a few other soaps that I paid WAAAAAY more for and still like the Williams better. In fact the one which I've heard good things about currently resides in my bedroom closet. To each his own I guess. But I like the smell and I think it's slicker'n pup $h!t

Mike

Williams is one of those rites of passage soaps that every wet shaver at least has to try at some point, along with MWF, Tabac, and some other iconic brands. You can't get any of the others at the corner store, though!

Originally Posted by BobH

Old thread but I have to say that I bought another Williams puck today and that is after throwing 2 previous pucks of Williams in the trash over the last couple of years. Surprise, surprise I finally got the damn thing to lather well. On a roll decided to do a 3 pass shave with my Muhle R41 to see if the lather was as good as I thought it was. Sure enough it was up to the job for a BBS shave. Seems I was not previously up to the job of lathering it. Definitely a usable soap but still at the bottom of the heap. I would not suggest it for a newbie to learn to lather on as it would be likely to aggravating and there is more than enough to aggravate you when starting out. OTH when you can lather the easier soaps well there is no reason not to try Williams. I am going to take back "most" of the unkind words I have said about Williams puck shave soap. I was sure wrong about that puppy.

Bob

I knew if you tried modern Williams again I would have to. Here's the great experiment, Part XXXXXXXXXX. I'm trying to be fair.

First I put my new puck in the mug and as I do with all puck soaps, create a "moat" of water around it:


I didn't soak the puck in advance because I don't have to do so with any other soaps I have. I also cold water shave, which isn't a problem with the other soaps.

I had to work three times as hard as other pucks I have to get a lather. Twice, I whipped up the lather to overflowing, but it was runny with big bubbles and I poured it out of the mug.

Finally I got the kind of lather I wanted. Here is my face for the first pass:


That lather didn't look like it would last on my face, and I saw that the lather in the mug had stiffened a bit, so I re-lathered before shaving the first pass:


The first pass was fine.

This is my lather for the second pass:


The lather began to dissipate as I was shaving the second pass, but there was ample time to finish before it vanished.

This is my lather for the third pass: I wet my brush again and whipped it up some more because it looked like it was drying.


Again, the lather began to dissipate before finishing the third pass, but I had ample time to finish.

Here's the lather left in the bowl after I finished:


After I cleaned up the mug, here's the puck:


What surprised me after finishing is that the raised lettering of the Williams logo had completely vanished. It led me to believe that I used a great deal of soap during the shave. Yes it is probably still the more economical option, but not as much as one might think.

Other than that, it did the job, but I didn't have to work so hard with vintage Williams and the other soaps that I used. Objectively speaking, my face was slightly irritated, although not enough to reject the soap on this point alone.

Conclusion: not my cup of tea.

Yea, not my cup of tea either but I did upgrade my opinion of it from POS to in a pinch it will work. You had the same experience in that it did make me work a lot harder to generate a lather then Arko or any other soap I have used.

Bob

I tried Williams a few years ago and it didn't lather well for me. Late last year I tried Williams again, after reading SRP posts on it at the time, and --surprise, surprise-- it lathered well for me. After experimenting with water and brushes on the soap, I realized that it worked this time around because of the way I stored it in its bowl. I store each soap in its own bowl by first grating the soap, then pressing the grated pieces into the bowl. This keeps the soap nice and tight in the bowl, gives the surface texture a rough feel, and allows me to get a good lather. Williams lathers like a champ for me now.

I now keep it in my shave soap rotation. I add a bit if glycerin to it when lathering to prevent it from drying while shaving.

While grocery shopping with my wife the other day, I noticed Wegmans sells Williams Mug Soap. I couldn't resist, so I bought 2 pucks. I used Williams the last few days and I have to say that I love it! It lathers every bit as well as MWF, Cella, etc. Plus, I really like the fact that it's available locally, American made and traditional in every sense of the term. Nice, clean, fresh soap smell, a hint of citronella I think. Plus, after the shave, my face felt actually felt smoother and softer than with some other "higher-end" soaps. It'll be a permanent fixture here.