I've been giving Williams Mug Shaving Soap some use lately, and I just can't seem to get it to lather like the other soaps or creams. What I end up with is a sudsy, bubbly lather that disappears on my face after I'm done with one side. It feels slick and all, but I just can't get it to be rich and peaky. Thought if come to the experts and see what tips you have. And as a disclaimer, yes I have been toying with amount of water and product as usual. Maybe I'm just don't have the secret procedures. Lol. Thanks and Semper Fi.
Williams can be tough to get decent lather. I have not used it in many moons, but I am certain someone with more recent experience and Williams skill will chime in.
I use it to wash my face now. I gave up on using after a while, particularly since I have plenty of other options in my cabinet.
Wells, Hard Corps. Williams is a bit of an enigma. The old stuff is a very good soap, the new is a different animal. I use a lot of water and a lot of soap and get a decent lather from it but not great, however, my shaves with Williams are always good. It's very slick and that's an important virtue for me when it comes to straight razor shaving. There is a good tutorial on SRP on how to lather it (I can't remember who did it). Just to give you an idea, a puck only lasts me 12-14 days. Good luck.
I find that I need to do two things to get modern Williams to work well. First, grate the puck into a container and tamp it done with as smidgeon of water. This will give you a larger surface to build lather on. Second, use a damp, not soaking wet, brush to start with. Add water as needed. Doing this I get a fine, long lasting, creamy lather that is just dandy. Oh, I have very soft water so I'm sure that has an impact as well
I have the puck sitting in a coffee mug, it is Mug Shaving Soap after all. And I use a damp boar brush. I load for what seems like forever and then move to a bowl to try and get a solid lather, but suds and invisible slickness are all I seem to get.
Williams seems to need alot of water to work "at least for me" or you could just make up some Van der Williams(grate the Williams,nuke some VDH Delux and mix the two together...They work wonderfully together and you'll wind up with twice as much soap for cheap...
Is the VDH Deluxe the pink soap that came in the kit with the green bowl and cheap boar brush? Or the one that is sold separately and white in color?
I soak Williams with HOT water inside my mug for a few minutes before dumping out the water. This seems to soften up Williams enough to get a good amount on my brush.
Yes I believe Delux is the pink puck(its been so long I just don't remember), but you could mix the Williams with any soap you wanted...Just remember its "ABSOLUTELY" critical you "DON'T" nuke the "NON"-melt and pour soaps or boil the melt and pour soaps..... Most recently I grated up both some Williams and some Arko and mixed those together with very good results..I've mixed VDH with other mix and pour soaps like ColConk,Rays of Colorado and Pyrates Cove soaps, the results were always "at the least" acceptable...
Please, please, please - don't ruin a great puck of VDH just to try and save a dollar puck of Williams.
You can easily melt and pour glycerin soaps. Williams has tallow; tallow must be grated as it will not melt in the microwave. If you are ever unsure, please ask here before trying to melt any puck of soap in the microwave. Folks 'round here always glad to help.
As Steve said ask around here or just email the seller he/she should know whether the soap is melt and pour or not....As a rule soaps refered to as glycerine soaps are melt and pour..Tallow or milled soaps are not...
I've always gotten a very nice thick lather from Williams. I'll fill the soap mug (with the Williams puck already in it obviously) with hot tap water and let my brush soak in the same while I prep, usually just a couple of minutes or so (though I don't imagine longer would be a problem). Empty the mug and give the brush a fairly firm shake (I don't want the brush dripping wet but some water is good), then load the brush. The soap will be a bit soft from the hot water and I find I get plenty of product from a 20-30 second load, but you may have to experiment with this a bit and find what works best for you. I bowl lather so then it's over to the suribachi with the loaded brush and I'll add some water at this point, probably a tablespoon or so. Hard to say as I just cup the palm of one hand and eyeball the water. The important thing IMO is to balance the water with the soap, so if you've loaded up with more product you'll probably have to add more water. This gives me plenty of lather, but as ever, YMMV. Start slowly with the brush as the water will splash everywhere at first, but within 15 or 20 seconds the water will begun to incorporate and I can dig in a bit more with the brush. Another 15 or 20 seconds (I'm just ballparking it here - I've never timed this of course) and the sudsy water begins to look like a thin lather. Keep going at this point, re-incorporating the lather as it climbs up the sides of the bowl. It's usually at about this point where the lather can "explode" and start increasing in volume dramatically, which for me is a sign of too much air getting into the lather. If that happens I just slow down the pace a bit and try to re-incorporate as much of the lather as I can, but basically just keep up the whipping. Usually after a minute, maybe 90 seconds at the outside, I've got the lather I want. My guess is if you're only getting a sudsy kind of lather from the Williams then you probably just need to whip it up for a longer period of time with your brush. But don't be shy about playing around with load times and how much water or how fast to whip/ how much air either. Half the fun is in figuring out what works best for you. Good luck and Enjoy! FWIW I've got fairly hard water at about 130 ppm, and it's not a problem.
I do exactly the same thing with exactly the same results as you. In fact, I have used modern Williams the last four days in a row just because I like it so much, which is unusual because I generally use a different soap each day. I agree that soft water has a big impact on the results.
