I've had this puck of Williams Tonsorial Shaving Soap around for awhile and decided it was time to use it. The Tonsorial Shaving Soap came in rolls of 8 pucks and were meant for barbers to use. Since it came out of the Cranford N.J. plant that would put it's production sometime after 1960. I grated it into a Ziploc container, it was still so soft that it grated in large pieces like cheese. A little water on my fingers and I was able to smoosh it together into the container. Vintage Williams is my favorite and this stuff is just flat out awesome!
Does it have the citronella scent? Or has it faded as did the scent of my vintage Colgate Barber's soap?
Wow. Looks good, how well did it lather? Or have you not used it yet. I have a couple of the Williams Shaving Soap pucks. The color of the one you have seems different from the stark white that the ones I have is.
No citronella scent, just a very faint soap scent. I don't think the older soaps like Williams and Colgate had a lot of scent originally. It lathers superbly.
Is it possible the color might be the soap aging? I picked up an older puck of Willams that was white towards the center, but the edges were turning a similar color. Tom, was that an Ebay find?
Very nice, Tom. Vintage Williams is without doubt some of the best stuff you can use. I grated a puck or two and made a stick out of it. I hope yours gives you a thousand wonderful shaves.
No, it didn't come from eBay. I definitely think they can change color as they age, probably how and where they where stored has something to do with it as well. That is why I like to grate it up and mix the different layers together, sometimes the outer part is a little drier than the inside.
If I come across any vintage Williams in my travels I will definitely scoop it up. When did they change the formula?
Combe Incorporated bought the J.B.Williams Company in 2004 and shortly after that in 2005, tallow became the second ingredient listed on the box, and potassium stearate was the first. There have been some other changes through the years, coconut oil and isopropyl cresols, whatever that is, was listed up until Beecham started distributing Williams. Prior to the early 60's or so, they didn't list the ingredients on the boxes, or at least I haven't seen any.
I will keep my eye open for some as well. It seems to be going for about $10 per puck plus shipping on EBAY. Not sure I could stomach that for a 50 year old puck of Williams. Is this mostly a nostalgia thing, or is this a puck that is worth $10 for the lather?
I wouldn't pay that much, but I've been lucky enough to find a ton of vintage soaps at antique stores for $4-5 a puck over the years so I haven't had to pay that much. I got 10 from a guy locally on Craigslist a couple years ago for $40. I just really like the lather that the old Williams, Colgate, Old Spice, Palmolive and a few other less well known soaps that are no longer made produce.
Nice find. I've always wanted to try vintage Williams. Do you know if the Tonsorial pucks are the same formula and size (50 grams) as the consumer pucks of the day, or was is it just Williams that was packaged in bulk for the barber trade?
Don't know for sure about the formula, I've never seen the ingredients list for the tonsorial, but it appeared to be the same size as the pucks sold in stores.
Vintage Williams is a great soap! I gave mine to my son. I still have got a puck of Williams New, but I can't for the life in me get a decent lather out of it. Every now & then I try again, though. Anyway I will be able to use it for many years this way!
I have a puck of vintage Williams Barber's Bar. It is the same ąs the tonsorial in that it came in a roll of six and was marketed to Barber's. I never grated it, just test lathered a couple of times and now is it in rotation. It is a great soap. My Williams new also gives me great lather.