Thread: Williams Mug Shaving Soap

Hello Gentlemen,
I was shopping with my Wife at our local supermarket and came across Williams Mug Shaving Soap. It smells just like Ivory soap of which I am a big fan, so I picked up a couple at .99, right next to it was the Col. Conk Bay Rum Shave Soap which smelled like a fresh haircut so I bought a couple of those also at $2.99. I am a noob, I don't know anything about the fine art of the Cut Throat Razor, and was hoping someone here could tell me a little more about what would be a good soap.

The Williams is about as basic as you can get and frankly at the bottom of the heap. The Conk is better but won't win any prizes.

We have a big thread on top tier soaps here so take a look and it will answer your question.

Welcome to the forum. If you wade through this long thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...ps-creams.html you will find more than enough good soap recommendations. Good luck making a final choice or two with so many good ones to pick from.

This might help you get the most out of the Williams http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...me-lather.html . Personally I am not a great fan of Williams.

Bob

There are a plethora of great shaving soaps to choose from, these days. We are, indeed, very fortunate.
Good luck in your journey trying most of them.

My feelings towards Williams has been, If you can get Williams to work reasonably well, then you will never have any trouble lathering any other soap. An education in lathering techniques in every puck. Many great soaps out there and its easy to get carried away with the variety. Williams will work if you work to make it work. Its OK basic shave soap if your curious about OTC easy to find soaps try VDH Luxury soap I think you may be surprised how decent that one is and inexpensive.

You will find that 99.99% of EVERYTING about using and maintaining a straight razor is PERSONAL PREFERENCE.

Back 6 years ago when I was a new newbie, I posted about finding how to buy Williams for about $0.85 per puck. While I've been introduced to other soaps I do still use it on occasion.

The responses to my post told me that it was a Love or Hate thing. I thought that I'd started a WAR.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...oap-users.html

I know for a fact that one of the MODS keeps Williams on hand to give to those who are starting out. It is true that the lather fades much quicker than some others but it's still a working man's soap!

I hope this has been of some help.

Both of those soaps are very usable .. nothing fancy, but they will get the job done!

I have a soft spot for Williams because I used it since about 1980, when I used up my Old Spice in the glass mug and couldn't find a refill other than Williams. I still use it from time to time, and still have good luck with it. That said, there are many better soaps out there, and you will find them, and probably a few that are worse, along your journey. But, there is nothing wrong with what you have bought. They don't have fancy names, or price tags, but they will get you started!

I use both of those soaps on occasion and they work fine. The Conk lathers up easily, the Williams is a bit finicky.

Williams was probably the fifth soap I tried and I do like its clean smell. It took me about 20 attempts to finally get a good lather out of it, but I've never had trouble making lather any other soap. And Williams lasts forever.

It's all about you and what works for you! Other people will tell what works for them. No matter what soap or cream that you use, Listen to what your face tells you. You won't go wrong from there.

Put a nice sized spoon of Williams in my bowl and lathered up a bunch of sweet, creamy, lemony lather.
Brushed it on my face.
Reached for my razor - and when I looked in the mirror again, the lather was completely gone.
Think I will use it later - for street hockey.