So I have a love for Williams I think its a great soap just wish I could get it here in the UK with out the silly markup.... so what other gems are you hiding
Well, if you think Williams is a gem... over here it has a few diehard devotees, and a large contingent that think it is the equivalent of a urinal cake... But - as I heard somewhere 6 or 8 or a 1000 times - "It's your shave, enjoy it your way!"
I've sent Williams soap to friends of mine all over the world. I actually love the scent of it, but it's no good to me as a shaving soap.
I have to agree...the scent is amazing, but I'll be honest I haven't tried it yet. I do have a puck though....maybe one day...maybe...
Van der Hagen, The Body Shop Maca Root shave cream, Mama Bear's, and American Football. But seriously, the UK has way better access to shaving stuff than we do.
Like several varieties of moustache wax that I want to try but thanks to the GBP to CDN rate, I'm hesitant to order lol.
Howdy! Williams Shaving Soap seems to work best for me if I add 2-3 drops of glycerin to the scuttle. I get great warm lather with every shave. However, YMMV as they say. I remember when I was about 16, I did not understand enough about how to really lather a soap for shaving. It really was a bit thin back then. Now, I take some time to make the lather the way I want it to be. Hope this helps! Those who live in foreign countries might try eBay for Williams Shaving Soap. Always, Gene
With My wife being from Canada I understand about the rate, but I still think somethings come out a little cheaper. On our last trip back to CA I ran out of blades (we came via LA) and I looked all around Port Hope trying in vain to find some so I made 2 blades last me 3 weeks (I'll never do that again)
Got no real beef with Williams myself. Works reliably as long as it isn't whipped too thick and dry. That matches what my father taught me way back when and that soap was probably Williams too come to think of it. It's useless to me when too thick. The biggest reason I keep using it tho is it seems utterly unirritating to my skin and that isn't as easy to find as I would like. Some really nice shave soaps can be real irritating, which takes the fun right out of them. It's just no good to hurry a shave because the soap is causing a burning sensation before you even come to the moment of truth when the aftershave goes on!
Man i hateit when the nice smelling soap burns on application! Thanks to this thread, I was thinking of using my TOBS cream tomorrow but I'll whip out the Williams and see how it goes.
FWIW: If it functions properly for you, the advice on throwing in a little glycerine is very valid and it makes a fair base for superlather too if you like that. I've just been using mine plain while doing some strop testing for Hammertime. Can't have a lot of variables changing while doing that. Other soaps are undeniably nicer in multiple ways, like Cella(almond) and most anything by Godrej(both Cella and Godrej seem mild to skin), but the stuff has some basic function in an antiquish way. Question remains tho, what else are we hiding over here? I've been pondering that and have come up almost empty handed. Pretty fond of Master Blue AS myself, which is like a slap you in the face version of Aqua Velva. Slap you in the nose may be more like it. Not sure if that's the sort of thing the OP is after. Definitely a vintage barbershop scent here or was when I was a kid. As a sidenote, the Williams I have been seeing out here seems a lot lighter in color than the fossilized looking yellowish pucks I was seeing about a year ago. I contacted the manufacturer to enquire and they said the formula is the same, so I presume there was a change in feedstock for the soap itself. SOmething changed or they ran out of Korean War vintage product.
Love the smell of Williams, but living in the UK, where I hear pucks of Mitchell's Wool Fat show up free in the post, I can't imagine why you'd want/need anything else. Of course, you could be allergic to lanolin...which would be a really good reason to not use MWF.
