I found Williams in the grocery store for $1.19 love the smell but not the easiest to lather. Anyone have any suggestions?
Ummm, it makes a wonderful urinal cake! It is also an excellent mosquito repellant! Can also be used to keep moths out of your closet! Williams is useful for so many things. Not too sure what the manufacturer intends it for though - certainly not shaving... (yes, I know Williams lovers, MASSIVE flame! Go ahead and set him straight!)
I have a puck of Woods of Windsor that doesn't lather up so well, but I do like the scent. I keep a tube of Kiss My Face unscented shave cream in the cabinet; add a squirt to the lather bowl, then whip it up with your Williams-laden brush. The KMF will boost the lather without masking the scent. The KMF unscented is also handy for those times I happen to get a little too much water into the mix of any of my soaps. Again, a little squirt and my lather thickens up just right, no loss of scent.
Here are a few previous discussions that might help. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/video-how-i-lather-williams.34202/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/williams-shaving-soap.32587/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/whats-the-key-to-williams.33686/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/williams-mug-soap.29904/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/i-still-use-williams-mug-shaving-soap-who-is-with-me.28027/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/williams-mugg-soap-sucks.15995/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/williams-it-works.18401/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/williams-badger-how-to-make-it-work.17498/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/williams-forgive-me.20862/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/williams-mug-soap.24224/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/first-shave-ever-with-williams-mug-soap-wow.25864/
Nice. We should merge all of those threads and make a sticky. To summarize: We hate it, we love it, we use lots of water, we lather on the puck, we add something to it, we think you shouldn't have to add anything, we don't care because it's cheap. Disclaimer: I do use it, off and on, straight up off the puck.. You know what, I didn't mean to be snarky, especially to a new member who I probably didn't welcome properly in the first place. When it comes to getting the most out of Williams, there are nearly as many approaches as there are users. It suits me fine to use it straight, but Tom linked to several threads which will keep you entertained for a while and give you lots of experiments to conduct. And if I did miss you: Welcome!
I bowl lather Williams, the key seems to be to use more water than normal...I also did the "Van der Williams" experiment(mix grated Williams with melted VDH Delux) and it worked wonderfully for me....It was easy to make, made the Williams easier to lather and still kept most of the Williams smell...
I don't care what anyone says, Williams is good stuff. I bowl lather and use LOTS of water. It is a very thirsty soap.
I grabbed a puck at CVS a while back along with a white-handled VDH boar brush. I think I went through half the puck trying to make a decent lather with it and never could do it. Apparently hard water and Williams don't get along. The good news is it worked great for breaking in that boar brush.
I use Williams in a mug, with a boar hair brush. Before I hop in the shower, I fill the mug with hot water and let my brush and the puck soak. After my shower, I wet my face with hot water at the sink. Then, thoroughly massage an almond sized amount of Cremo Cream onto my face, as a pre-shave. I pour the water out of the mug, shake the excess water out of the brush and start lathering in the mug for about 30 seconds, then begin face lathering. The combination of Cremo Cream and Williams soap gives me a thick, rich lather, with plenty of slickness. I have also had good success by adding a dolop of Nivea Active-3 to my brush with the Williams. Williams, by itself, is useless!
I love the way Williams lathers for me. I use my boar brush, dripping , 1 shake only. I hold it over my cappicino mug and let the suds run in. Whip for just a few minutes and I have tons of lather. I dont love the smell but I dont hate it either. Dont know what Im doing different but Williams lathers effortlessly and easily for me.
I add a little canned goo atop my Williams in my shave cup, and the lather explodes even though I have hard water. I like it.
I have never understood the adding practice. To me thats like restoring a classic 68 mustang and putting a 2014 hybrid engine in it. Its kinda like giving up. Find a soap that performs for you or perfect your technique. To truly enjoy a nicely lathered puck, is to actually lather the puck. If you shoot aerosol chemicle goo on top of your puck then push a brush over it, are you getting the soap lather or the goo lather? If you cant make lather alone, my guess is you are spreading the goo on your face. Try another soap, use more water, less water, what ever. When you get it figured out, its worth it.
As I said earlier, I use Woods of Windsor because I like the scent. That being said, because WoW requires the help of an additive, a squirt of KMF, I will not be buying it again. I just did not want to toss the entire puck.
I understand adding scents and tweaking a product but I was talking about adding a ready made product (canned goo) to force useability. To me if a product does fail, it isnt worth adding another ready made product just to be able to use it. If it doesnt make lather, just add lather, doesnt make sense to me. I know its a preferance thing with no right or wrong awnser but it seems to me like any product should do at least its basic function. Soap is supposed to lather . If your puck will not produce with water and a brush and you add goo, you are using goo. Again, just my oinion though.
In general I agree with you CB. I tried mixing Williams and VDH Deluxe to make the Williams more usable but it didn't work at all. I would have been much better off using the VDH by itself. No offense to anyone who likes doing this though. Everyone has their preferences and I'm ok with that. More Williams for the guys who like it, right?
I hope you don't feel like you're getting piled on, but I wanted to add another couple of cents worth. I used to lather canned gel with a brush, and one thing I did like about it is the fact that a small amount of gel would explode under a brush. Rather like lathering a good cream, I suppose. All of which is to say that even if you're using only a small amount of canned stuff, it's probably accounting for most of the lather. But I suppose you probably know that. Again, I use Williams off and on, lathering directly on the puck, so I'm not a hater. I admit that I don't have hard water issues, though.
