William's Mug Soap Again

I decided to give the williams mug soap a try again today and I noticed something that bugs me.

The first pass wasn't TOO bad. I was able to shave a little over half my face before reapplying the lather. I had to relather the chin and lip a 2nd time.

The 2nd pass was AWEFUL. It seems that once I've gotten the big burrs of whiskers off the moisture in the soap EVAPORATES much FASTER. I got about 3 strokes against the grain and had to relather. I relathered about 7 times during the 2nd pass. That's plain crazy.

I know I'm "hot" ;). but I'm not so hot that I'm causing the moisture on my face to evaporate that fast :p.

My guess is something in the soap is acting as an evaporating agent similar to rubbing alcohol.

Anyone else experience this with Williams? I'm still looking for a local store that has Arko so I can try it.

I can't wait for my soaps to finish curing. I'm ready for a nice soap :p

Williams just seems to take a *lot* of water for me, maybe half again as much as a normal lye soap. I have trouble getting a wet enough lather from williams unless I lather in a separate bowl where I can control the mix better.

I've got a batch of lye soap curing as well, that I made up in early may. It should be ready by now, maybe I'll test it this weekend.

FUD, maybe you're just more careful on the 2nd+ passes, and thus, it takes longer.
btw, I currently make the lather more watery for each subsequent pass. On the last pass it is almost like soapy water (well, not quite ;))
Getting some good results this way.

Redwoood

FUD,

For some reason the Williams works great for me.
I use to use it exclusively back in the days when
I shaved with the Gillette multi blades.


Terry

Yeah, but the cartridge razors shave much more quickly, so the soap doesn't get much of a chance to dry out. It does work well, though...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mparker762

Yeah, but the cartridge razors shave much more quickly, so the soap doesn't get much of a chance to dry out. It does work well, though...

---

No doubt the cartride shave is quicker. But it still does
just fine even with a straight. I use it every couple of
weeks just to remind myself that if I ever get destitute
I could fall back on it. But damn I would miss the Taylor's
cream and Tabac soap.


Terry

Believe it or not, I actually shave faster going against the grain than I do going with the grain. Don't ask me why it just seems to go quicker on the 2nd pass. I pay careful attention both passes. Maybe I got a bad puck. Who knows.

Glen F

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FUD

Believe it or not, I actually shave faster going against the grain than I do going with the grain. Don't ask me why it just seems to go quicker on the 2nd pass. I pay careful attention both passes. Maybe I got a bad puck. Who knows.

Glen F

---

Glen,

Definately avoid Colgate soap. I could get ok shaves
but it definately would dry out during the pass.

Hope that you have good luck with your shaving soap.


Terry

I used the williams until I convinced myself to spring the $$$ for the english soaps. Don't use it daily anymore, but I've got a puck in a little aluminum tin that I take on trips.

I took a two day road trip to Kings Island in Ohio
last week. I took along my DE and a tube of
Palmolive lather cream. This stuff is nice.

Another trip to the norther part of the state (WV)
back in the spring I took Proraso soap. The plastic
tub it comes in is great for travel.


Terry

i couldnt get the Williams to work well either, the Proraso soap works much better. lathers better and stays longer....

-micah

Try adding 2-3 drops of hair conditioner on top of the Williams. That should make a bit of difference.

RT

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rtaylor61

Try adding 2-3 drops of hair conditioner on top of the Williams. That should make a bit of difference.

RT

---

I'll have to try that. Thanks.

My brother in law adds water and micros it for 20 seconds. I worry about it changing the composition of the soap so I haven't tried it.

If the conditioner works and If I can get it to melt in the bowl just keeping boiling water in the skuttle I may try adding several drops of conditioner and mixing it.

Hard soaps don't react well to the microwave, although if there's enough water in the cup that may protect it. They kind of bubble and boil without actually melting, it's kind of wierd.

Hey FUD, what'd'you expect for a buck-fifty? ;) Just kidding. I love the smell of the Williams and keep a puck around for when I want a change. I agree that it dries kinda fast, though. The Proraso tub is not much more (~$4) and stays nice and lubricated.

I've never used a pre-shave oil or cream like the Proraso, but maybe that will help. (?)

Yea, I've looked for proraso around here. Haven't found it yet. I'm still calling all the target stores in the county. None of the pharmacy stores seem to carry it either.

Glen F

I tried the conditioner recommendation. I blobbed a few drops into the bowl while it was sitting there absorbing heat from the first water in the cup. I pulled the bowl out of the cup, refilled with fresh hot water, charged my brush really good with hot water and worked up the lather. Man did it work up a much thicker lather much faster! It did a bit better on the drying out too, though I still had to do touch ups here and there during each pass it wasn't AS bad as the soap alone. I loved the combined smell of the Williams soap with the coconut conditioner I used too. Awesome smell.

I still like Van Der Hagen best as far as store bought soaps though. My soap comes in first of course ;).

Do yourself a favor and get a quality soap. It may cost a few bucks more but it will last for months of shaving. When I started straight shaving I went through this phase of trying all the store soaps. You name em and I tried em. I hate to tell you how many pucks of soap I trashed. Now I use mainly trumpers or haslinger. For me they are the best.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Do yourself a favor and get a quality soap.

---

Are you suggestiong my own soaps aren't quality? :p.

I happen to love my own soaps quite well thank you :p.

You know, after reading this thread I have to wonder whether water quality plays into this. I love Williams myself. It is my favorite soap and works well for me. I love the scent or Proraso but to me IT drys out before Williams does, go figure.
I know when I travel I notice a big difference in water from place to place. Taste and effectiveness with soaps. here in Baltimore the water tastes great and soap lathers and rinses off well. When at the beach here in Maryland though the water tastes flat and I never feel like I can rinse the soap off of me in the shower. First thing I do when I get back home is take a shower with REAL water <g>.

Maybe this is what accounts for all the variations we experiece with soaps.

Tony

Tony,

Water plays a huge factor. If you have trouble creating lather, buy a gallon of DISTILLED water (not just bottled water), and give it a try. Soft water makes creating lather easier. Hard water makes the job more difficult and will lead to quicker buildup on your brush. I like Williams, although I seldom use it anymore. It was about the only thing I had for the first three months that I started using a brush. And I think that is key as to why you and I can get great results with it. We know how to use it.

RT

I'd have to agree with the water factor. Soaps that contain high coconut oil content will lather decently in most any water, even ocean water, but tend to dry out the skin.

Our water is "City" water but still has a lime and calcium problem. We filter the drinking water but not the bath, toilet, etc.

There's one thing I would point out, based on the water 'hardness' variable, in addition to what's already been said:

If a soap lathers well and maintains moisture well in 'hard' water it should do even better with filtered or distilled water. If a soap performs well in my unfiltered sink water I think I have a good soap that will do quite well when I travel with it.

Actually most soaps in general be them hand soaps or laundry detergents are a collection of chemicals and are designed to lather well in hard water. If you have truly hard water try a really pure soap product and you'll see that you get very little lather for your effort.

Out here in the S.W our water is as hard as nails and really pure soaps perform very poorly. The old water softner salesman trick is to take some green soap and put it into untreated water and all you get is a bluish scum type mixture but do the same with softened water and with little soap you get a glass that looks like a beer with a head of foam.

So with shaving soap it depends on the composition of the soap and your water quality. I would imagine the store brands like williams contain a mixture designed for general water types as opposed to a custom type soap which is purer and may not fare as well in hard water.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FUD

Are you suggestiong my own soaps aren't quality? :p.

I happen to love my own soaps quite well thank you :p.

---

I think that you should use whatever you like and that if you love your soaps I am very happy for you.