Hi guys! I'm Joey and I'm new. I just recently ordered williams mug and was wondering a few things. 1. What is the scent? 2. How can I store it, I don't have a bowl or a scuttle or dedicated mug. 3. Is it a good beginners soap? how long does it last? Thanks!
Man, are you going to get some mixed reviews! I hate the stuff, others love it. 1 - smells like those skeeter repelling candles, citronella 2 - I keep my soaps in small glass bowls, 3-for-a-buck at the dollar store 3 - Many people find it a difficult soap to lather, and then the lather disappears rather quickly, so, NO, not a good beginners soap - MY OPINION. As I said, others love it. We had a week dedicated to using Williams. You can read about it here.
Howdy. I like Williams, but mostly for sentimental reasons. It is a good soap, but like Steve said not the easiest to lather. With a little practice, you can get a nice slick lather from it. It is what I used when I learned to shave a couple decades ago. I have mine in an Old Spice mug, but any coffee mug or small plastic container will work just as well. There are a few locally available options that might be a little easier to learn with: CO Bigelow shave cream is available at Bath and Body works. The large tube is 5.2 oz and is normally $10. It is a lightly mentholated eucalyptus scented shaving cream made by proraso. Good stuff if you like the scent. Another option is VDH (van der hagen). It is a glycerin based soap that runs between $2 and $3 and is available at many drug/grocery/box stores. A third option is the double concentrated shave cream by The Real Shaving company. It is $5 for a tube, available at Rite Aid, and made by Creightons in the UK. Kiss My Face is another locally available shave cream that people tend to like. I haven't tried it myself, but it might be worth a look. Happy Shaves.
Glad to see there are some expierienced people. I have heard that Williams is hard but then the videos of youtube make it very easy, I guess it is all just practice. I'm sure I will increase my collection as I see fit. I work in a mall with bath and body works so I will probably stop by and pick up the tube, Another member reccomended that to me as well.
If you have a Body Shop in your mall, look for their Maca Root shave cream. It's really good stuff, made in the UK, apparently by the same company that makes Trumper's. It's a little more expensive than the other ones people have thrown out but you can catch it on sale sometimes. I tried to give Williams a chance but just couldn't get a decent lather with it even after trying lots of different stuff to make it work. I really didn't like the scent and it also dried my skin out. You can find it for under $2 so give it a try if you want. You won't be out much if it doesn't work for you but there's plenty of other good stuff out there if you don't like it.
Van Der Hagen Deluxe is another soap that is cheap (usually around $2), easy to use, and available at Wal Mart, Walgreen's, and many other grocery stores and pharmacies.
Williams was my first shave soap and I still use it from time to time. I've always got a comfortable shave from it but I find it a bit drying. As others have mentioned it is a bit finicky and maybe not the best soap for a newbie.
I use Williams often and like it. A good trick to help get a great lather from it is to grate the puck into a mug/bowl and tamp it down using a bit of water to bind it. This gives you a larger surface area to work with. Works for me just great
I'm a fan of Williams myself.. BUT it does have a steeper learning curve than most soaps I've tried, so I wouldn't start with it. The scent has been liked to urinal cakes, but I like it... Get some Van der Hagan Delux or C.O. Bigalow to start with, both are good soaps, available locally, fairly easy to lather and work well, whether your a beginner or not. Don't get rid of the Williams however you'll want to revisit it after you have more practice at making lather. It's good soap once you get the hang of making lather with it. For storing all of your soaps I'd recommend the small Ziplock containers. They're not pretty or fancy,but they are cheap,stackable,sealable and locally available. I prefer to bowl lather, for now any coffee mug or small bowl you have at home will do. However if you really want a dedicated lather bowl many drug and grocery stores sell Van der Hagan boar brushes and nice little ceramic two tone green lather bowls. Again cheap, work ok and locally available. I still use my VDH bowl everyday...
I agree with FacialCarnage, you can't go wrong with C.O. Bigelow. It's very easy to lather and it only takes a small amount. I use Williams all the time but I've been using it for over thirty years. If you have hard water you will find it is very difficult to make a lather. If this is your case you can alway put a dab of Bigelow in you mixing bowl and mix it with the Williams. You'll get a super lather. As mentioned by PanChango, Rite Aid carries The Real Shaving Company cream. I use it and find it lathers VERY easily. Best of luck with your new shaving adventure.
Try dropping a handful on your foot. If it bruises your foot, it's hard. Sorry: couldn't resist . . . Here's a link about a quick way to tell: http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-You-Have-Hard-Water Really, all this tells you, though, is that you can determine whether your water is hard by how easy it is to form lather with soap. But that means that you'll have to have some sort of control: either a soap that you trust to lather or water that you know is soft. You can also buy test kits. If you live in a municipal area, you may be able to get information on water hardness from your city water service or a vendor of water softeners. For example, I did a Google search and found what purports to be information showing that Minneapolis water (where I live) is moderately hard. I'm not surprised, given my experience with residues left from water. And, for what it's worth, I've used Williams shaving soap for years. I have never found it a real problem to use. Now I tend to sink my shaving mug in a basin of hot water while I shave. Then I pour the excess water out of the mug and lather up. I find the Proraso (or C.O. Bigelow) and Art of Shaving creams and soaps very easy to lather up. The Proraso products are very reasonably priced.
I use Williams frequently,I must have good water,it lathers quite easily.Grate it into a cup or small bowl with a little water to bind it together and mush it down as poppi suggested.What really works well for me with Williams or regular Van Der Hagen (which for me doesn't produce lather as quickly) is to add a couple of ounces of scalding hot tap water on top of it and let it sit half a minute while you do something else,then pour out all the water and hit it with a damp brush and swirl rapidly.Only takes me a few seconds to load my brush with a rich,thick protective supply of lather.
Couldn't wait and I just shaved with the CO Bigelow, although I don't have a brush, I lathered in my hands and OH MY GOD. This things is amazing, my face feels like antartica and i'm not itching or burning. and that's with a multiblade! My birthday is today, who knows maybe I'll buy a DE razor, or win a good PIF. I'm hoping the second one, this new hobby will make me broke lol
Just got my williams shaving soap. It does smell like citronella. Not a horrible smell like urinal cakes, but now I have two soaps, this should last me awhile. Looking for a good DE razor, hoping to win one on here or find one for adecent price and then I just need to get a mug
I do the exact same thing except I don't grate the soap. I pour very hot water on the top of it and let it sit while I do my preshave thing. I only have well water here, very hard and has a lot of iron in it but with this method I can make a good lather every time. I think with a little practice anyone can make a good lather with it no matter what type of water they have.
