I'll chronicle a few of my steps. Here's a shot of the puck I started to soak tonight. This is after about 2.5 hours. This was a partially grated puck but the grating wasn't going well so I set the rest of the intact puck amongst the shavings and topped it with water. Hopefully I'll post another shot in the morning after the overnight period.
My Williams sits in an uncovered mug and has long since lost the citronella scent. I don't remember my grandfather's having a strong odor either. Maybe he used Colgate more often than Williams, or maybe I just forgot over the years.
Here is Williams after an overnight soak. It s very congealed and starting to firm up. I'm going to let it continue to soak.
I let mine sit and soak for a few days. I also mash it up and mix it as well as I can after the first day then I let it dry up into a Proraso texture and cap it. I've always gotten the same lather from it as I do from Arko sticks.
I have a vintage puck of Williams that is the 'old' formula, supposedly far superior to what is currently available. I can't offer tips as I've not used this vintage puck as of yet— and I found the 'new' stuff to be poor performers and tossed them out many moons ago.
I did a test lather tonight with good results. I used a synthetic brush that was only slightly damp. The soap began to load pretty well. I added tiny amounts of water and kept loading and loading. Tiny bit of water, still loading. Several rotations of that and I ended up with nice lather in the brush. I then lathered in the palm of my hand. The dissipation was not bad. The lather was pretty thick and shiny. I've had worse lathers before. I'm intrigued! There may be hope! I'll shave with it sometime soon and report back.
I shaved with Williams today and got a really good result. The lather was slick, protective, and overall didn't dissipate. It was equivalent to the lathers that I can get from most of my other soaps. Williams has always evaporated once applied but today's lather did not. I started with a fairly dry synthetic brush. The Williams had been soaked for several days and then I closed the container once it was fairly soft, in the manner of DDuckyMark. I have added a few drops of water each night to keep the moisture level up. I added little bits of water as I loaded the brush and ended up with a really nice, creamy consistency that face lathered quite well. It was tremendously different than my previous Williams experiences. Thank you to everyone on here for their tips and insight. I'm going to use Williams some more to see if I can improve the lathers further.
Biggest thing for me was not rinsing my brush after my previous shave. Soap stays loaded deep which seems to give me a much better lather.
I'm sure this has been said over and over again but I fill the mug and soap with hot water, let it sit a few minutes, drain it and lather away.
I am a member of the Williams fan club. Always makes me laugh that some can not get a good lather. It is no harder then any other soap that I use. Here is what I do. First do not molest the Williams. That is a horrible thing to do when you go adding stuff or mixing stuff in with it. Plus you might have to register as a Williams molester and no one wants that. I use a boar or horse brush. No need to soak the cake of soap. Start with a fairly dry brush. Dip the tips of the brush in water as you go, Your looking for a paste so no need for a lot of water. Once I get the brush loaded I go for a good face lather. Dip just the tips of the brush in warm water as you go until it is just right. I have used soft and hard water and many different soaps with this method, it works for me. Williams is a wonderful product. Cheap effective and it has been around forever. Just takes solid technique.
The secret is... Shhh... Come closer... Soak it overnight.. And when it's soft enough to fall out of the bowl ... Toss it. Seriously you can get any number of better soaps for less than $10 bucks that won't give you tennis elbow trying to make lather. The Italian barber had Amici on sale for $2.99 the other day.
