Williams Shave Soap Old - New

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by redmed, Jul 12, 2019.

  1. redmed

    redmed Member

    I pressed it into a glass bowl and the puck was softer than I expected and the act of pressing caused the outer coating to break causing it to become a lighter shade. This did made it slightly thinner. I don't think being slightly thinner was the cause of the color change. I think there was a dark outer coating from age and by pressing the puck caused that outer coating to break away and get integrated into the puck. This caused it to lighten up some but still no where near white.
     
    Frijolero likes this.
  2. chevyguy

    chevyguy Well-Known Member

    I think once that puck soaks up a little water you should be able to just lather off of it without blooming it. The newer Williams is like that too. Remember back in the old day's we used the same soap daily until it was just a sliver in the mug. I would always put the remnants of the old puck on top of the new puck. I didn't waste anything.

    Clayton
     
    Frijolero likes this.
  3. chevyguy

    chevyguy Well-Known Member

    If it's a soft puck it's definitely a glycerine soap. and that's not a bad thing. I've used a lot of store brand glycerine soap for shaving and the only downside is that it has a short life in my shaving mug. They were inexpensive though, and they worked well.

    Clayton
     
    Frijolero and brit like this.
  4. Tallships

    Tallships Well-Known Member

    In a box of shaving gear i bought was an old Williams stick, I opened the box and it was powdery to the touch (very dried out,not usable) Shaved the powder into a bowl and re-hydrated it by slowly mixing warm water till it was well mixed and fairly solid, let sit for a few days. Used it this morning and what a wonderful lather it made, just like it did years ago when I first started shaving with the Williams puck. The new Williams is fairly good and have a dozen pucks of it, but I sure wish the old formula would make a come back. Wishful thinking I guess. But anyway I'm going to enjoy this old Williams to the last sliver.
    Denis
     
    Primotenore, Frijolero and brit like this.
  5. Weasel640

    Weasel640 Well-Known Member

    That would have been a perfect candidate to make Williams Shaving Powder. In the early 1900s Williams Shave Soap was available in Powder form as well. You would wet your brush, sprinkle the Powder on and start lathering. Colgate also made a Shaving Powder as well. Old time Barbers would use Shaving Powder a lot as it was thought to be easier and more sanitary than using a puck.

    On another forum there is a few discussions about how its made. But the short revision is that you shed up some hard shave soap, let it dry out even more, then grind it as fine as possible, lastly you mix in some Talc to prevent clumping.

    I recently came across a half filled can of the Williams Shaving Powder, not yet used it. I'll post here later to let you all know how I like it.

    Here are some old adverts for it:

    From 1913:
    [​IMG]

    From 1918:
    [​IMG]
     
    brit likes this.
  6. brit

    brit in a box

    very cool..
     
  7. Weasel640

    Weasel640 Well-Known Member

    brit likes this.
  8. Tallships

    Tallships Well-Known Member

    Yes, I had a can of Williams Powder. made a really good lather, have the empty can somewhere. I prefer a hard soap or a croap like Cella, I can work up a lather much faster than a powder. But it was nice to use a nostalgic soap. I've tried the Colgate powder, thought the Williams was better. Liked the Colgate puck though.
     
    brit likes this.

Share This Page