I've also found that loading the brush upside down makes it easier to face lather
I've also found that loading the brush upside down makes it easier to face lather
Interesting. I posted this way back in 2006:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ng-lather.html
Nope, nothing new.
Well, it may be a resurrection, but now it's got me thinking. I started out playing with WMS, but never got a lather I was really happy with. After trying out some other mid-grade soaps I never felt a need to go back. VDH is still my standard (about the same price and an easy lather IMHO), but I do like the WMS scent in the summer time; citronella gets me excited about spending time out doors (though I don't know that it works as a mosquito repellent). I'll have to pick up another puck and play around with it.
Peace,
Jim
I have used the Williams stick and it lathers just fine using cold water, like the scent too.
Bob
Current production Williams shave stick and refill bought in South Africa last fall. I thought I saw a North American vendor with some listed but damned if I can remember who.
Bob
I'd be interested to get a hold of some too.
Found this:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/archive.../t-161975.html
Interesting, it is 2 years on from the linked post and they are still selling the Kiwi Brands stuff. OTH may be the take over company saw it was a slow mover and decided not to continue to produce it. It does have a mild scent, won't make your eyes water, that is hard to describe but not objectionable. The last time I used it I got a very close and comfortable shave so it works well for me at least. Maybe a South African member can be persuaded to round some up for sampling?
Bob
I bought a puck of Williams yesterday to try out and see if it is different from the stick I have. This morning I dipped my Semogue 1350 boar brush in cold water and shook out the excess, loaded the brush on the puck and face lathered. The single loading gave me enough for a 3 pass shave and some touch ups.
No different technique from how I use my other much more expensive hard soaps. I can't believe the trouble some are having getting a lather from the Williams puck. It is not the best lather but far from useless. The other hard soaps cost 5 or more times as much and produce more and better lather for sure, at least twice as good but not 5 or more times as good. For what you pay for a Williams puck you do get what you pay for, a basic usable shave soap.
The scent is different between the puck and stick. I suspect the formula may be different too and the stick is a slightly better performer for me.
Bob
I just use my Surabachi . Scrap the dry puck on the sides and bottom. Soak the horse hair and make your lather. Never fails.
You are using a mortar bowl to scape the soap off in and then lather in the mortar bowl? Just want to make sure I have the right idea of what a Suribachi is. I am sure, well almost sure, you are not using the mountain on Iwo Jima. You never know how inventive shaving geeks can be. :D
Bob
Williams is good stuff and I enjoy using it. I face lather with either a boar or badger brush, and I shake most of the water our before I load the brush, so the first application on my face is pretty dry, but then I place the brush under the running water a few times as I continue to work the soap on my face, and in no time I have a wonderful, thick, slick, and creamy lather. Seems I always get a good shave with Williams. Before I ditched the cartridges, Williams was the only soap I used for about 10 years after inheriting my dad's boar brush. Didn't really know there was anything else.
Wow! I've been wet shaving since ~1957 and never paid attention to lather quality since I used a DE and you can dry shave with those if necessary. Since starting to try SR shaving again about a month ago (after researching SRP), I'm really getting into this. Anyway, some days were good, some not so good, which I assumed was the razor's fault or the strop's fault until I came to this thread. This morning I used your technique for lather prep and voila! My coconut triple-milled soap came alive; I almost achieved BBS with the first pass! Can't thank you guys enough for these excellent articles. I might have gone to my grave without ever discovering the importance of lather!
I shaved it with a cheese greater, mash it with glycirin and water let sit. Comes out looking like Praso, but tre monific
But is it going to look slick and shiny or micro bubbly? I can't seem to whip all the bubbles out.
After you lather Williams, let it sit for awhile, then whip it again. That's how you get the denser lather.
Tracked this post down rather than start a new one. When I started, the second soap I got was williams. I also had one of those terrible gift set boar brushes. Terrible results.
Not long after, I got MWF, proraso, AOS cream and Tabac and that was the end of the williams. I did try a few more shaves with it and it always made a wet later with large bubbles for me (I guess I was making it *too* wet).
Fast forward to about a month ago, and for some reason I pulled out the "burma shave" cup that I got in a gift set with the terrible boar brush and put the soap in the bottom of the mug and added less water and a wet brush, and what do you know? After about 5 shaves, I had gotten down exactly what it liked, and now it's as good as any other soap that I have for the most part, except that it does have a scent that could be called no more than weak and then instantly vanishing.
The other thing I do now that I didn't do before is that I don't wash out my brushes and haven't for several years now. Instead, I put a small magnet in the bottom of them (3 of them) and hang them from screws in the top of my cabinet so that the moisture stays in the brush and doesn't go toward the bottom of the knot to the handle). As with so many things, some familiarity and experimentation really yields fine rewards.
(if you're thinking that it's gross that I don't wash the soap out of my brushes, I actually leave the soap in because I used to have one brush and when I washed it out but it stayed fairly wet most of every day, it started to stink. Since adding a second and now third brush and leaving the soap in, no stink, and no gunk build up. Each shave pretty much frees the soap from the day before).
There's always something some people trouble with and others don't, I guess. I never had trouble at all with MWF - if anything, it makes so much later that it's all over the place, and I have found tabac a bit hard to lather if it's allowed to sit in mostly disuse. It takes more work than any other soap I have.
After about 2 weeks i finaly master the trick, the problem was that i put to much Water in my lathering bowl. Yesterday morning and this morning i got it right, the first Time that i used your trick it work well but after that it was so so. The lather was to airy but yesterday and today wow just like a cake frosting just a great great lather, it gives a great cushion great slickness and me i like the smell of that soap. There's probably better shaving soap on the market but for me and the price of it i can't go wrong.
I had no clue!! I have a cake of Williams that was driving me nuts, so I put it away. In fact I had my wife get a tube of Neutrogena Cream (to replace it) because it was suppose to be to "so good" but to be honest with you, that stuff is worse then what I thought the Williams to be. But nun-the-less thank you for the insight! I will try it on the next shave.
Rich
I am a face lathering cold water shaver and after reading this thread decided to try Williams yet again. This method works when using boar, badger or synthetic brushes for me.
Basically swirl the brush in water, give it a light shake onto the puck and load the brush for a fair bit. Then dip the tips in water and load some more for a fair bit. That should give you the beginnings of a lather. Now apply it to your face adding more water by dipping the tips as you go along. Keep doing this and you will get a decent slick lather that will not dry on your face. No other soap I have used is this much work to get going face lathering but it does work. Yes, it needs an insane amount of water compared to all other soaps I have used.
Can't say Williams will ever be a favourite soap for me to use but it is not as useless as I once believed it was. Turns out the operator was a bit on the useless side in not grasping what it really wanted, lots of water.
Bob
It strikes me that a lot of effort is required to make this soap work, i think that for what soaps cost (excluding the top shelf brands) why fight with a product.
There are plenty of good soaps for not much more cash.
Gee, I get a very good lather from Williams, and I'm a cold water lather and shaver. I put 3 or 4 drops of glycerin on the top of a wetted Williams puck and when ready to shave load the brush and face lather. Spend about as much time face lathering as I would building the lather in a scuttle.
I finally found a use for my Williams.
Attachment 191434
OP: Thanks for the tip. Maybe this works for MWF too, sometimes it also tends to "vanish". ;)
I like Williams Mug Shave soap. I grind it up and use for a base to make my own soap. Adding a few ingredients, (aloe vera, glycerin, Cremo, and other soaps) you can turn it into a decent shaving soap with rich slick lather. However, by itself, you really have to work at it to get a decent lather. Leave all ingredients out in the South Texas sun in a metal bowl for about 4 hours and it all melts down and combines. Mix it real well and when it solidifies, it produces a creamy type soap that produces tons of lather with just a small amount of soap and water. Just a thought for those of you who don't want to spend a ton of money on soap that doesn't work.
Yup, that is the trouble with modern Williams soap. You have to basically remake the soap to get an easy lathering soap that makes a nice slick lather. Adding Cremo is a real booster in performance. Me, I'll just take Arko if I want an excellent performing inexpensive shave soap and save all the extra work to get modern Williams to perform like it should out of the box.
Bob
I just use WIlliams Mug soap as a shower soap bar.... it works great.
As for shaving with Williams, I just use it like a shaving stick, rub it against the face, lots of water and I don't worry about making lather or using a brush. It works a treat for me, but it does run down my face, so this is not for shaving at the sink while dressed. In the shower, with a DE razor, it's perfectly fine. I would not suggest using a straight in the shower... too many things that could get lopped off if you slip and drop the razor, including severing a toe cleanly.
Regards
Christian
That's the lather I get whit modern Williams using only water Attachment 264099Attachment 264100