Thread: Has anybody used Williams Mug?

I was out running errands this afternoon and spotted this next to the VDH soap in a HyVee grocery store.

I'm a doofus when it comes to lather. There's something of a mystery there that I just haven't been able to figure out. I know some guys have said they use VDH without a problem, so I'm not giving up on it. But this Williams Mug stuff was pretty cheap (cheaper than the VDH on the shelf next to it...but smaller too), so I thought I'd pick some up.

Has anybody used it? Any tips, opinions, love/hate relationships?

Thanks guys!

If you use cold water, work for it, and don't mind the citronella scent, it makes a passable lather.

Williams works good but is much harder to lather IMO then VDH Select or Deluxe. What I do with williams which makes it allitle easier to build lather with is grate it with a cheese grater then repack it in a mug. A nice stiff brush with alot of backbone will help also.

Every Day! It's the "working man's" soap! I like it! Heeeere we go!
(It's the perfect soap for F1/Park Lane guys! I am a Model A pickup/Sunbeam Tiger guy!)

Originally Posted by BigJim

I was out running errands this afternoon and spotted this next to the VDH soap in a HyVee grocery store.

I'm a doofus when it comes to lather. There's something of a mystery there that I just haven't been able to figure out. I know some guys have said they use VDH without a problem, so I'm not giving up on it. But this Williams Mug stuff was pretty cheap (cheaper than the VDH on the shelf next to it...but smaller too), so I thought I'd pick some up.

Has anybody used it? Any tips, opinions, love/hate relationships?

Thanks guys!

Yes there is a long love hate relationship with this classic product.
Some say that the old formulation was better (I cannot tell). There
are threads and threads on this soap.

Williams works...

It excels when uberlathered.
It excels in breaking in budget boar bristle brushes.
It excels in teaching "how to lather".
It excels in the cleaning and lathering of strop leather and canvas.

There are better soaps but for the price
it is hard to ignore.

Toss it in a clean empty cottage cheese tub
and use it.

I'm one of the guys that really enjoys the scent of Williams. I own much better soaps, but I use Williams as much, if not more than most of them.
I build a lather that's on the watery side and let it settle a bit before applying it. As Bkratchmer mentioned, it works even better when it's cold. (I don't like cold shaves, so the watery lather with settle time is the way I go).

If you do a search, you'll find quite a few threads about people that like Williams.
It's by no means the best soap out there, but for me, it's enjoyable enough that I never leave a puck sitting on the shelf at the drug store. (they usually only have 2-3 pucks at a time on the shelf)

I'd never seen the stuff before, but then again, six weeks ago shave soap was not on my radar at all. I might have walked right past it and not noticed. (Then again, I don't shop at the place I picked this up very often, especially not for shave stuff...it's a grocery store).

I openly admit that I SUCK at making lather. I can't seem to build a lather that has any staying power AND lube. Maybe I don't really know what I'm going for in the way of feel, but I'm going to keep playing around until I figure it out. Might have better luck with Willy's soap, than the VDH I've been trying. We'll see what tonight's experience brings.

I'm not taking the bait this time, guys

So, I just shaved with William's Mug Soap. I re-iterate, I'm a doofus when it comes to making Lather. But here's my experience tonight:

First off, the smell. It DOES smell like citronella. You might hate it. To me it smells like summer. Big bonus this time of year. +1 BTW I love the light almond scent of the VDH too.

For the sake of comparing my process with VDH and WMS I heated up a small mug with hot water, set it in a hot water bath and put the WMS in it, with a little hot water on top. This is exactly what I do with my VDH. I heat a second mug and set it in the hot water bath with my brush in it while I scrub my face and hot towel it. Dumped the water from the brush mug and shook out the VDH brush like I always do. Ran 10 circles over the WMS. Put the brush in the lather mug and lathered up. AMAZING! A nice foamy lather like seen and described in the lather vids/threads. Small bubbles, soft peaks. +1

Brushed the lather on my cheek. Poof! It's gone. -1

Hmm, rubbed in what residue was there, pumped the brush in the lather mug again and more great lather. Lather up...it stays. +0 (I can't get the VDH to lather like this, but I've never had it disappear)

Shave, feels good. Used a Gillette Fat Boy DE I picked up today b/c I don't have my straights back from honing. First DE shave, so not a lot I can say by way of comparison, but it seemed to provide a good lube for my shave.

I DID have to keep pumping the brush, but lather kept coming up. I didn't have to continually go back to the WMS like I've had to the VDH soap. +1

Did a 3 pass shave and right now feel good. We'll see how it feels after a few hours, but I won't blame WMS (and wouldn't blame the VDH) for that, as being my first DE shave I'll blame me first.

Right now though the WMS is up several points from the VDH. But I'll try the VDH again tomorrow and see if it was just me figuring out lather.

Thanks for the input guys.

Congrats Jim! I'm glad you got an enjoyable shave.

If I have time later I will make a video showing how I get decent lather from Williams.