When I first started wetshaving I bought a puck of Williams at an ole timey local drugstore that carries it for $0.77 a piece. I loved the scent and the price and figured it ought to be good enough to learn with. I made several attempts at lathering it and just could not get the hang of it. I gave up on it and switched to VDH Deluxe which was much easier to produce lather with. That puck of Williams has been dormant in my medicine cabinet for several months now and this morning something hit me and I said, "What the hey, I'll give it another go...". Oh, how I had been wrong. For quite a while I have thought of Williams as a cheap, poor quality item, but my shave this morning made me eat my words. So, consider this a formal apology to all the Williams fans on here and to anyone that may in some way contribute to the manufacture of Williams shaving soap. I have come to the realization that when I first started wetshaving and made my feeble attempts at lathering the Williams, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. As I have sampled several soaps and creams and tried new techniques in these past three months, my skills have grown in the art of lather-building. I can now make mugs worth of perfect lather from my $0.77 puck of Williams and I am so glad that I gave it another shot. It is truly a great product and worth much more than seventy-seven cents.
Great price, I pay at least $1.09. Can't give Williams as much praise as you - but it's perfectly servicable for me. Glad you've found a great, super low cost product.
Another one has seen the light. This proves that it can be done, it just takes a slightly different technique than other soaps. Welcome to the williams way.
Years ago when i got curious about shave soap i picked up some williams and a burma shave brush in walmart. I had no clue what i was doing and tried to lather it in a cheap plastic cup filled with water. I of course tried to shave with soapy water and hurt myself. Even worse I was trying to use it to lubricate my face for an electric. I recently got curious about it again after learning alot more about wetshaving and proper lathering and bought a puck. I'll be sure to try it as soon as i finish my vdh.
Did he just say Williams Get the pitchforks and torches men and sieze him. I am always amazed at how much anger there is towords this and other products on forums. I say use and spend what you want and can. This is America dammit.
People around here seem to have a serious aversion to Williams and Williams related discussion. I guess its because its harder to work with but I have heard similar things about MWF being difficult to lather and that seems to have much more fan support?
I just started using a brush and shave soap (DE razor is still in the works). I bought a puck of Williams from a local supermarket for $0.96 which seems like a good deal to me (although I have yet to try it). In my browsing of these forums, it seems like everybody (almost) prefers the tallow based soaps. I get this impression from people being upset at soap re-formulations that remove tallow from the list of ingredients. For williams, tallow is listed as the second ingredient (I understand vintage williams had tallow listed first?). So my question is: Why is williams so disliked even though it still uses tallow as a main ingredient? Thanks, CZ
I just don't like the "skeeter-be-gone" scent. But that's me. Tallow, glycerin, cold pour, triple-milled... Doesn't make a difference to me, as long as it lathers well, smells nice (in my opinion) and it makes the shave comfortable.
On the rare occassions that I pick up my Williams puck, I use it like a shave stick and have no problems. Definitely serviceable, but I do like the vintage formulations better.
I get a great lather from all my soaps (William's, Mitchell's, Col. Conk's, Godrej, Arko). I'm convinced it's because I: store them all in airtight containers so they have absorbed some water & are slightly 'softer' (make it easier to get soap onto & into the brush) use only the water a damp boar brush holds after a light shake take time to load the brush , swirling, mashing & crushing any sloppy, big bubbled lather all in the container (although this never takes more than a minute, often closer to 30 secs.) face-lather with an omega boar brush, occasionally turning the brush in my hand so as not to favour one side. Experiment with one puck, maybe. I hope it works out for you. BTW some of these are all glycerine or vegetable soaps.
This thread has prompted me to go hunting for my puck of Williams. I, too, started out with a cheapo boar brush and Williams. And it did a decent job for quite a while until I decided that moe $ would yield a better $have. Tomorrow morning, it'll be Williams.
No doubt Williams soap is awesomely priced. But after my experience of using it for a week, that soap seriously dries out your skin. I lathers great but afterwards my face pays for it. Not that great of a product in my opinion and I guess you get what you pay for.
i didnt care for it when i first got it. took me a long to realize i just wasnt giving it enough time when whipping up the lather. it takes twice as long to stir it up as most other soap. once i realized that i was good to go.
