Williams shaving soap

This soap is different from pretty much every other one I have used to date. The smell and packaging are both really basic. Soap. Lathering it can be a trick, mostly because the approach is quite different to most other modern soaps/creams. I soak the puck in a mug with my boar brush while I'm in the shower to give it plenty of time to soften up. After that I lather right in the mug with the soap and only lightly lather on my face. Once the first pass is done I squeeze the remaining soap from the brush and run my finger around in the mug to get lather for the second (and final) pass. It performs well, even though the lather looks lighter than I would like from other soaps. Even with this amount of work the lather I get makes this soap worth using, especially at the ridiculously low price it comes at. The only downside is that it dries my face out, but that's easily fixed by some decent aftershave.

I had a difficult time raising a decent lather with my badger brush, however was able to create tons of lather with a stiffer, cheaper boar bristle that I had. As soon as the lather is on my face it starts to dry out. Post shave my skin feels tight and dry. Not recommended unless you are on a budget.--
Following up after learning more about proper lathering techniques. It's still drying and I definitely need a moisturizer after shaving with this. On the positive side, it's not bad for the price. It's cheaper and better than the VDH line and the ideal soap for budget minded shavers.

9.5 rounded up to 10 for awesomeness.

Williams was the second shaving product I've tried and its performance has set a high bar for slickness.

I will concede that it can be tricky to figure out how to bring together the required product and water to get a great lather. If you take a little product, add lots of water and work it well you can end up with a lot of pretty but useless lather.

However start with a well pre-soaked puck, take a wet brush and make a runny, soupy proto-lather on the puck then move to a bowl or your face and work in a little more water.

You are rewarded with a slick wonderful lather and a great shave. It will be a little thin and not mounds of meringue. I find the more volume I produce the less slick the lather will be.

I wish I could smell like Williams all day but that may be a personal problem.

What's not perfect? It comes in a cardboard box, it used to be even better supposedly, there are products that moisturize better and I have heard there are some high end soaps that have the slickness AND meringue like lather AND are easy to use AND smell more decadent.

I'll stick with Williams and buy fancy beer instead.