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- #81
That's good. Still hoping Cremo had a puck, even if it did smell like Horsehair.
The Dreaded Modern Williams Mug Shave Soap Review
- Thread starter BigD
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Good to know. I actually have one and it is going to be replacing my Omega for videos coming up. Maybe as early as tomorrow's shave. I used it for a little while, but the knot fell out and it took me awhile to get back to epoxying the knot back in.
My knot fell out, too.
Williams just needs us to slow down a bit and use less pressure. It agitates easily with either too much pressure, or movements that are too quick. Ample water and soap are also a prerequisite.
I've had that happen with a few brushes, not just Cremo/Vie-Long.
So I bought some the other day.... A dollar and some change... Whats weird is i'm old school but always turned my nose up to Williams... Now that its hard to get in stores, I didn't know what I had till it was gone.
I wake up at 4:00 every morning and exercise... Before I started I let the puck soak in water for an hour or so. I then shower, shave my head (i use Headblade products for that).... Now its Williams time. It lathered unbelievable.
Its now tied for first with MWF, and Chiseled Face Pine tar... I have some other products by Chiseled Face I love, but I might sell them. Trying to simplify my life and Williams just might be the answer. But I don't think it could ever replace MWF.
I wake up at 4:00 every morning and exercise... Before I started I let the puck soak in water for an hour or so. I then shower, shave my head (i use Headblade products for that).... Now its Williams time. It lathered unbelievable.
Its now tied for first with MWF, and Chiseled Face Pine tar... I have some other products by Chiseled Face I love, but I might sell them. Trying to simplify my life and Williams just might be the answer. But I don't think it could ever replace MWF.
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- #87
Good stuff.
I see that a couple of Williams users know how to simply tame that Demon Williams - grating for stick use & face lathering is one way.
Back up and forget all that complicated blooming, chanting incantations, and whining about how difficult it is. Simply set out the dry puck, and swirl a damp brush over it several dozen times. Either face lather, or add water, a couple of drops at a time to a bowl and whip it up into a dense and slick lather.
Back up and forget all that complicated blooming, chanting incantations, and whining about how difficult it is. Simply set out the dry puck, and swirl a damp brush over it several dozen times. Either face lather, or add water, a couple of drops at a time to a bowl and whip it up into a dense and slick lather.
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Great review, thanks. Ordered from Ebay 10 minutes ago 
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- #90
When it comes to Modern Williams I don't have FOMO, I have FORO (Fear Of Running Out). I buy them 24 or 36 at a time. The boxes are staking up, but I don't care. They're so cheap and store so well I know if the world as we know it ends I know I can be clean shaven. I know, I'm weird.Great review, thanks. Ordered from Ebay 10 minutes ago
I have an order of 24 on the way.
I'm not 100% positive this will work or what the results would be like... but it might be possible to re-form this.
When I was a young teenager one of my neighbors used to mold little soaps for giving out as gifts. She used to slice up bars of cheap soap into thin flakes or shavings, then add some water and place in a double boiler. She put in coloring and scent too when it was melted and then poured it into little molds.
It then had to sit in the mold to dry out and harden, but I don't remember how long that took.
The resulting soaps were hard, not soft or mushy, and my wife used some and they worked just like a bar of soap from the store.
Various soaps are different and have a variety of ingredients, so I don't know whether or not Williams would lend itself to this treatment.
I grated part of a Williams puck with a cheese grater. I also grated a little black charcoal soap & mixed it in - looks like granite. It packed into a tube just fine & I put the rest into a little plastic bowl with snap-on lid. No need to heat it up.
I just shaved using this soap; found it in a local supermarket for $1.50 and figured... why not, let's give it a try. It is quite hard and has a lemony scent - like a dish detergent, but less intense. In any case, I decided to put it in a Parker ceramic mug and soak it in lukewarm water for 3-4 minutes. Instead of loading my brush, I decided to use it as a shave stick. Rubbed the puck on my face for 5 seconds (which is very easy to do, since the puck is small), then face lathered with a wet Parker silvertip badger brush.
You know what - I got great (!) lather, enough for two-three passes, slick, good face feel. I really have nothing bad to say about this soap. For 1.50... yeah, this is definitely usable. I think I will buy 5 boxes of this. It would make a great shave stick... they should think about it. Even with the small stick container it would be cheaper than amost anything that's readily available in stores. It's much, much better than I expected and if you use this method, it's extremely easy to use.
You know what - I got great (!) lather, enough for two-three passes, slick, good face feel. I really have nothing bad to say about this soap. For 1.50... yeah, this is definitely usable. I think I will buy 5 boxes of this. It would make a great shave stick... they should think about it. Even with the small stick container it would be cheaper than amost anything that's readily available in stores. It's much, much better than I expected and if you use this method, it's extremely easy to use.
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I bought a Williams soap recently from Walgreens. They don't have it in the store, but you can buy it online and have it delivered to your local store for free. (They also have a VDH shaving soap, so I got one of those too.)
The scent reminds me of the way Ivory soap smelled when I used to use it. It's been a long time since I bought any Ivory, so I don't know if it still smells like that. I do know that P&G changed Ivory at one point and it no longer floats.
If you're wondering why I no longer use Ivory, it's because my wife and I really like the Dr Bronner's liquid soaps, so we get those instead. (Both Dr. Bronner's and Kiss My Face have really good bar soap too.)
I haven't tried any of these bar soaps for shaving. Maybe someday I'll do that.
I have gone back to using Williams daily after playing around with numerous other soaps. I find that the lather performance is unbeatable on the second pass after the initial layer of slickness is down. I simply get my best shaves from it and it is mild enough to not aggravate my skin.
I recently acquired a puck from around 2005, so early Combe reformulation, and used it for this mornings shave. The scent is all but gone and the puck has taken on a tan coloration with time. The performance, however, is a noticeable improvement over the pucks I purchase locally. I can't help but wonder if there has been minor tweaks to the formula over the last 15 years or if aging the puck has an impact on latherability and the stability of said lather. Either way it preforms admirably and would likely only be bested by true "vintage" Williams (which I have never tried).
I recently acquired a puck from around 2005, so early Combe reformulation, and used it for this mornings shave. The scent is all but gone and the puck has taken on a tan coloration with time. The performance, however, is a noticeable improvement over the pucks I purchase locally. I can't help but wonder if there has been minor tweaks to the formula over the last 15 years or if aging the puck has an impact on latherability and the stability of said lather. Either way it preforms admirably and would likely only be bested by true "vintage" Williams (which I have never tried).
I found these plastic jewelry boxes in the hobby store, and they look like they were made to store Williams pucks. I've had some exceptional shaves with this using it is a shave stick. Lathers easily and provides great slickness. The lather is never very thick, but the texture is always good. I've used two razors with it, the open comb Parker 68S Stainless Steel with a Parker blade and a 1970 short Gillette Super Adjustable with a Gillette Silver Blue blade. Both provided very smooth, nick free shave. I will try a Parker shavette next.
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I completely agree! I have been using Williams for years. It is my go to soap, the one I always come back to. Never found anything better.
Quick update: I now lather this as intended - in a mug - using the new Simpson Trafalgar 3 synthetic brush. Basically, with this brush you can get a great lather in 30 seconds. No special method required - wet the tips, swirl around to pick up enough soap (you can bloom it for 2-3 minutes), lather on palm, face or in a mug, whatever. Great lather every time. I don't have a clue why some people say this is hard to lather.
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Stop trying to trick me again. Every couple years enough people claim it lathers great that I go buy another puck and try it again, and it's the same junk it's been for the past decade. There's too much better soap out there to use Modern Williams.
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