No posts here for 2 1/2 months? Has Williams fallen our of favor?? Does anybody use Williams anymore? Or has everyone finally come to the realization that... So Covid finally caught me. I'm fully vaccinated, and I believe that's the reason I barely noticed it. I've had colds worse than this that didn't keep me out of work. My positive test has me out for 10 days quarantine. I can return the 24th. Darn! I work in a school and our Winter Break starts the 24th! I don't go back to work until Jan 3rd! The worst of if has been a loss of taste and smell. So, rather than use my beloved scented soaps, of which I had just received three new pucks of TSD soaps (Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Desert Rose), I says to myself, "Self," I says, "why not use that Williams, since you can't smell it? Might as well use it up rather than use up those wonderfully scented soaps." Many of you know part of my dislike for Williams is the skeeter-be-gone smell. Another reason I dislike Williams is because it can be finicky to lather, AND the lather doesn't like to stick around for the entire shave. Woods of Windsor was another difficult soap to lather, but I tolerated it and helped it along with unscented KMF because I liked the smell of Woods of Windsor. So I've been using my Williams exclusively these past 5 days or so. For those wondering what I was doing with a puck of Williams in the first place, it was a new puck that had been in the back of the closet for the last 5-6 years. What can I say; I'm a packrat. The brushes I've been using have been badger, boar, and synthetic, all different sizes. This soap is still finicky, never achieving what I would call a good lather - it rates a 2 out of 5, with maybe, maybe a rare 3 out of 5. The lather still does a disappearing act half way through each pass. I will say today's lather was close to a 3. I used an Omega boar and a tad more water than usual. But here's my thing, with all the brushes I have, I'm not going to change my rotation just to make sure I'm using a boar when the Williams is up. I've been at this soap lathering thing for a long time. I lather all my soaps the same way, regardless of the brush in hand. I will not fuss with a soap that forces me to stop and say, "Hey, self, it's Williams today. Gotta change things up," then try to remember what I did last time to get Williams to lather up half way decent. @Primotenore gifted me a puck of vintage Williams. The stuff is great! Lathers easy, lasts through the shave. It's unscented, so I add a couple of scented EO I've picked up along the way. Winner! Let me finish up with this - these are strictly my opinions. To those who use and like Williams... It's your shave. Enjoy it your way. PS. Once my sense of smell returns, the puck of Williams will probably find the trash bin. But, then again, once a packrat, always a packrat. I just may use it out.
I use my vintage Williams on Wednesdays. Nothing really to add to this thread for me as I use the same combination of soap, pre-shave, and post-shave products.
Vintage Williams Mug Soap in Williams Pewter Mug Williams #403 20mm boar brush Williams Aqua Velva AS After that I had to cheat and use non-Williams gear: Sharp Star blade - I know there are Williams blades out there, I've seen the empty box, but I haven't been able to lay my hands on any. Karve SB-E razor
Not sure what you mean by a "birthdate" mug? As you can see from my photo, this is the bicentennial mug that was offered on the side of some of their soap boxes for $4.95. Edit: fixed price
Oh ok....it was hard to see it as a bicentennial mug. It has the same color and design as my birthdate mug.
