Another Williams thread. Great Stuff.

[SilverKarn]

I've been using Williams for a week now, tired of lathers that are VERY slick but runny i decided to try face lathering instead, and one other difference also.

Yesterday, at around 2 PM i started putting Tablespoons of water on the soap, which has been milled into a shaving bowl, every hour i would see if the water was absorbed yet, when it was, i would put another tablespoon of water on the soap.

I must have put about 6 tablespoons of water on the soap before it would not absorb anymore.

Tonights shave was awesome, Williams was more like a hard cream than a soap, in 30 seconds or less my C&E brush was fulled to the handle with soap, i started face lathering and it was SLICKER THAN TABAC. I did not do an ATG pass since i had a few ingrowns and i want them to grow out before i shave ATG again.

If i get lather like this every time, Williams has made itself an indispensable part of my shaving gear.

If anyone doubts me about the awesome lather i will post pics tomorrow when i shave with it again.

 

[brothers]

Fascinating. My local grocery store's selling it now for 99 cents. Maybe I'll try your experiment. What made you think of that?

 

[Ray Todd]

I love Williams. Luxurious it certainly is not. However, the protection it gives is fantastic. I tend to build later on my face more often than in a bowl, which may make a difference. Nice trick with adding the water. I'll have to give that a try.

 

[SilverKarn]

Fascinating. My local grocery store's selling it now for 99 cents. Maybe I'll try your experiment. What made you think of that?

All of the people here saying that its so hard to get good lather, the soap is so hard that it takes forever to load a brush up, ect....

right before my shave it had the consistency of Proraso Soap, at least the top layer did.

Before i did this it LOOKED like i shaved the soap up and pressed it into the bowl, after doing this it looks like a puck of melted soap in a bowl.

 

[masonjarjar]

You did a time-lapse of how Williams used to work for me. I used it every day and I left the puck wet in my mug. Over time the soap would turn softer, making it much easier to make lather with. I'd always get thin lather the first few days after buying a new puck, then it would start to soften up and the lather would get better.

-Mason

 

[Nadir M]

Before I became good at soap lathering, I especially stunk at generating lather with williams. I will now revisit the last puck of williams I have. This will show me if it was my technique back in the beginning. The first puck ended up being a great shower soap for me. No matter how I practiced lathering with it, it seemed to always dry out too soon on my face.

 

[SilverKarn]

These are two pictures of my C&E brush BEFORE i lather, i can assure you, after lathering on my face it becomes rich and creamy, (it looks rich and creamy already in the second pic). Sorry, i didn't think of taking a pic of the brush after lathering. I used a kitchen timer, this is EXACTLY 1 minute of swirling the brush on the Williams.

 

[mmack66]

I guess you need something like this to wet the Williams soap while at work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6IYz3a8_X8&feature=related

not a RickRoll

 

[SilverKarn]

I guess you need something like this to wet the Williams soap while at work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6IYz3a8_X8&feature=related

not a RickRoll

Or you could just throw a full 6 tablespoons of water on the puck after you mill it into the bowl, then wet it once more right before you shower so its soft by the time you shave.

I swear, people here are brainwashed into thinking that its impossible to get good lather with Williams, especially all of the new wetshavers. No wonder all the stores in my area phased out Williams.

 

[scagooch]

I always get a good shave with Williams.

 

[BroJohn]

It lathers fine, for me. I get a good shave with it, too. But it dries my face out something terrible. I quit using it.

If the stores stopped carrying it, it's probably because it doesn't sell. It probably doesn't sell because it's so drying and guys have other options like VDH or going to their favorite e-tailer or mall.

Makes a good superlather, though. Good bargain at 97¢ if you like it.

-- John Gehman

 

[brothers]

I've got a about half a puck sitting with about 3 tablespoons of water on it. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow morning, and maybe even shave with it.

 

[masonjarjar]

If the stores stopped carrying it, it's probably because it doesn't sell. It probably doesn't sell because it's so drying and guys have other options like VDH or going to their favorite e-tailer or mall.

Makes a good superlather, though. Good bargain at 97¢ if you like it.

-- John Gehman

I doubt it would lose much market to higher priced soaps or even VDH.

There still has to be a lot of guys like I used to be.

I used Williams exclusively. I liked it, it worked fine for me with a Burma Brush. I used it that way for years. Never even looked at the other products on the shelf. Really. For YEARS. I would walk up to the shaving section at the grocery or drug store. I would grab Williams. I swear, there could have been anything there also and I wouldn't have even noticed. Stacks of Mitchells Wool Fat or Proraso, wouldn't have even noticed and it wouldn't have mattered. If they didn't have Williams, they had Colgate. Mostly Williams though. I would buy a brush when mine wore out. NEVER EVEN CONSIDERED looking online for a better brush. Or fancy soaps or even shaving cream.. didn't really know much about them. Why would I? Part of my thing was the cost.. Williams and Brush were so much cheaper than Canned goo. And I got better shaves. That was it for me. That was my thing and I was kind of proud of it. I guess I had blinders on. Shaving wasn't a hobby all through those years. That's why Williams is still on the shelves in the stores. I just can't imagine that the higher end stuff makes much of a dent. Most guys are creatures of habit. They find something that works and stick with it.

-Mason

 

[SilverKarn]

I've got a about half a puck sitting with about 3 tablespoons of water on it. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow morning, and maybe even shave with it.

I would check the soap once before you go to bed, after its milled it sucks up water like dry sand.

If you did not grate the soap, i can't guarantee anything.

 

[brothers]

Actually, I didn't "officially" mill it up, what I did was take a spoon and grate off about half of it and mash it down into it's own bowl. At the time I wondered if maybe I should have just left it laying loosely in little bits, but I made an decision, maybe the wrong one, to mash it down. Do you think it's going to be a dud because of that? I can always just pour off the water and shred it up again and douse it.

 

[SilverKarn]

Actually, I didn't "officially" mill it up, what I did was take a spoon and grate off about half of it and mash it down into it's own bowl. At the time I wondered if maybe I should have just left it laying loosely in little bits, but I made an decision, maybe the wrong one, to mash it down. Do you think it's going to be a dud because of that? I can always just pour off the water and shred it up again and douse it.

Should be good, i mashed mine into the bowl as much as i possibly could. I could have probably grated 2 pucks of it into the bowl.

 

[nomed]

I use williiams as a bath soap because i like the way it smells, but for shaving, no thanx. i mean i can get a passable lather if i try long enough, but its nothing compared to the other soaps i use.

 

[SilverKarn]

I use williiams as a bath soap because i like the way it smells, but for shaving, no thanx. i mean i can get a passable lather if i try long enough, but its nothing compared to the other soaps i use.

well, that's your loss, Williams for me is on par with Tabac in slickness and moisturization.

 

[drumana]

Williams Mug SS is a great soap. For $1 everybody should give it a shot. Definitely give the puck a soak to soften it and just load up the brush like mad. You'll get a lather on par with the most expensive soaps out there.