Williams mug soap being discontinued is confirmed

I also can lather Williams(use lots of water) and I kind of like it. I have some Van der Williams in my den, which I do like more. I just don't like either of them as much as my goto shave soap Arko. I think all shavers should look at Williams as a challenge or test. If you can lather Williams you can pretty much lather almost any soap.

I like and use "The Veg" regularly also.

 

Good riddance to it - it hasn't been good in years. Can't count how many times they "reformulated" it, and each time I hear it got worse.

 

I have been using Williams a lot lately and it has turned out to be a rather good soap. I have been simplifying my routine latley instead of rotating razors,soaps etc etc.

 

Since I got my brush from Stirling I've been revisiting some soaps that were just meh before but now I get great lather with. So naturally I thought "what about Williams?" Well I had a puck that had been sitting uncovered, unused for months. Unused because all I could coax out of it was thin, insipid, dissipating lather. I soaked the puck for about 5 minutes in hot water. Wet the Stirling and shook it out throughly then swirled for about 20 seconds. I switched over to a lather bowl and started working it up. A few dips of the tips into water and within 2 minutes I had a cloud of thick lather. Decent cushion, not the slickest, but not bad. I wouldn't cry if Williams went away, but if I were stranded on an island with it I could at least shave. At least as long as my Stirling brush was with me.

 

quoting 178bplatoon;

I think all shavers should look at Williams as a challenge or test. If you can lather Williams you can pretty much lather almost any soap.

Save Williams for a new Olympic sport, or maybe even a Shave Den Sport. More of a challenge than shaving balloon with a straight edge.

 

My shave time is my ME time. I don't want a challenge or test.

 

There are to many excellent soaps to waste time trying to get a good lather out of Williams ( imo). The only reason to keep it around, is a reminder of what a dip-stick I am for buying it in the first place

 

That is what I thought when I first started traditional wetshaving. I couldn't get Williams to lather worth a darn. A few years later, however, it lathered like a champ - same brush, same soap, but more experienced wetshaver. Love or hate Williams, we have plenty of alternatives.

Edit: Spelling

 

I picked up 5 today!

 

You have my sympathy

 

Corresponding Theme Song

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/corresponding-theme-song.46365/page-5#post-877383​

 

They likely discontinued it because it was unprofitable. What would they have to gain by dissing their customers? Bear in mind that they are a for-profit company, and would very much like to have wetshavers buy lots of Williams Mug Soap. If it became unprofitable, it was because of our buying habits.

Williams has far more competition than it did ten years ago. Prior to that time, it was Williams, Van Der Hagen (were they still called Surrey then?), and later Col. Conk. Fast forward to today, and they have a LOT more competition. There a a bazillion artisan soaps, of which 0.0001 percent are any good. That still adds up to many dozens of great artisan soaps. Much more importantly, people got clued into Van Der Hagen via the wetshaving forums. I used to see brick-and-mortar stores about evenly split between those selling Williams and those selling Van Der Hagen. Over the last few years it has become all Van Der Hagen, which is preferred by many.

It is not my very favorite soap, but I am still sorry to see it go. Cutting off our noses to spite our faces doesn't make any sense, though.

It might work. Writing them a letter will have more impact than not writing them a letter, and is even better than an email or phone call. Remember folks, be nice. We can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Not all the people at Combe will be terribly familiar with the online wetshaving community, so each one of us is an ambassador for our brand. Better yet, encourage others to write letters, too.

Combe Incorporated
1101 Westchester Ave
White Plains, NY, 10604

 

Careful, that's how I got stuck with this custom title.

 

Again I ask the question to those who do not like Williams - why are you sorry to see it go??? I don't get it. Regardless of how long it has been around, the current soap, in my opinion (emphasis on MY opinion), sucks. Why would I, or better, why should I, mourn the loss of a product I do not like?

 

I don't care what they fill the empty spot with, I'm just confused about the sentimentality expressed over the loss of a "less than" product.

 

"Instigator"... very appropriate!

 

Could you just hold off a little bit? I want to place my order first Kinda, sorta like "insider trading" no?

 

Nostalgia?
People disliking things that have been around for decades going away as its a potential indicator of other familiar brands/products disappearing.
Fear of the new/unknown/changes?

I've tried the soap once. Didn't care for it at all.
In the end we vote with our wallets - if there had been enough support amongst the consumers the soap would still be around.

Then again, just like this thread, I kinda doubt the soap will ever truly die