- Thread starter
- #21
JCinPA
The Lather Maestro
Holy smokes! 
I thought I'd get a reaction to this, but not with all the emotional energy! lol
It never ceases to amaze me how much emotional energy some folks put into defending (attacking) shave product choices. I started out by stating I take Amazon ratings with a grain of salt, however, there will be some intelligence in them. And I'm not so sure there is a lot more intelligence in some of the ratings here
.
What made me laugh was the ridicule I took from some of the cognescenti here over Williams ten years back, and now some of them are in the Williams brotherhood. They discovered what I already knew for decades, I'm just tickled that they came around to it. Other of the more wizened (that means older) members here were always able to get a good shave with Williams, apparently, too, it was the newly initiated who had trouble with it, and then they became some of its biggest fans. That was what caused me to get a kick out of this state of affairs.
I will make a statement that may get me in trouble, though about YMMV. A product in widespread use cannot simultaneously be in both the top 10% of products and the bottom 10% of products. This, notwithstanding the fact that you may absolutely hate a very popular product. I wouldn't buy MdC if my life depended on it, but I won't argue that it's not a top-tier product, because I respect the informed opinion of others who are quite experienced.
I also won't put Williams in the top-tier of products even though some believe it should be. It's probably (performance-wise) a 4 out of 5, realistically. But if you cannot get it to lather or you think it's absolute garbage, well, that's not YMMV, that means you simply do not know what you are doing with it, pure and simple. A product with hundreds of users will fall in (about) at most 2 adjacent categories on a 5-point scale. I'd guess that based on the large number of users, Williams is probably in the 3-4 star ratings neighborhood, despite the fact that some individuals are gaga over it, and others think it is junk.
But it's been around long enough that if you can't lather it, that's on you, not Williams. Williams will be lathered the way it wants to be lathered, not the way you want to lather it, or the way you lather other products. If you put the puck in a mug, fill it with water while you shower, and soak the brush on top of it, then dump the water out, shake the brush gently a few times and go to town on a puck of Williams, you cannot help but make a great lather, it practically lathers itself. But, apparently, it does not respond well to the way other soaps lather. But if you cannot get a lather out of it, it's your fault, objectively, not YMMV. It's just not that hard. Watch a few vids. And you're not required to like it.
Anyway, I suspect I'll get a great shave from my Williams when it comes. I also suspect I won't join the Williams brotherhood. But this was just funny to me because it's a respectable shaving product that never got any ten years ago around here. Now it does. And people still feel the need to bash it. I'd love to do a Psychology dissertation on the shaving community, it would be fascinating.
I thought I'd get a reaction to this, but not with all the emotional energy! lolIt never ceases to amaze me how much emotional energy some folks put into defending (attacking) shave product choices. I started out by stating I take Amazon ratings with a grain of salt, however, there will be some intelligence in them. And I'm not so sure there is a lot more intelligence in some of the ratings here
.What made me laugh was the ridicule I took from some of the cognescenti here over Williams ten years back, and now some of them are in the Williams brotherhood. They discovered what I already knew for decades, I'm just tickled that they came around to it. Other of the more wizened (that means older) members here were always able to get a good shave with Williams, apparently, too, it was the newly initiated who had trouble with it, and then they became some of its biggest fans. That was what caused me to get a kick out of this state of affairs.
I will make a statement that may get me in trouble, though about YMMV. A product in widespread use cannot simultaneously be in both the top 10% of products and the bottom 10% of products. This, notwithstanding the fact that you may absolutely hate a very popular product. I wouldn't buy MdC if my life depended on it, but I won't argue that it's not a top-tier product, because I respect the informed opinion of others who are quite experienced.
I also won't put Williams in the top-tier of products even though some believe it should be. It's probably (performance-wise) a 4 out of 5, realistically. But if you cannot get it to lather or you think it's absolute garbage, well, that's not YMMV, that means you simply do not know what you are doing with it, pure and simple. A product with hundreds of users will fall in (about) at most 2 adjacent categories on a 5-point scale. I'd guess that based on the large number of users, Williams is probably in the 3-4 star ratings neighborhood, despite the fact that some individuals are gaga over it, and others think it is junk.
But it's been around long enough that if you can't lather it, that's on you, not Williams. Williams will be lathered the way it wants to be lathered, not the way you want to lather it, or the way you lather other products. If you put the puck in a mug, fill it with water while you shower, and soak the brush on top of it, then dump the water out, shake the brush gently a few times and go to town on a puck of Williams, you cannot help but make a great lather, it practically lathers itself. But, apparently, it does not respond well to the way other soaps lather. But if you cannot get a lather out of it, it's your fault, objectively, not YMMV. It's just not that hard. Watch a few vids. And you're not required to like it.
Anyway, I suspect I'll get a great shave from my Williams when it comes. I also suspect I won't join the Williams brotherhood. But this was just funny to me because it's a respectable shaving product that never got any ten years ago around here. Now it does. And people still feel the need to bash it. I'd love to do a Psychology dissertation on the shaving community, it would be fascinating.
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