I am finally ready to admit it- I hate Williams Mug Soap!

[FloppyJoe]

Gotta say I really like Williams. It is what it is, but what it is fine by me. I get the hate, but all in all, I really like the stuff.

I do occasionally add some cream to it in order to make a super lather, but I have done just fine using it by itself.

 

[BigD]

My first shave back after over 24 hours of travel:

Soap: Modern Williams
Lather Bowl: Fine Accoutrements
Brush: Zenith Boar
Brush Soak: Van Der Hagen Bowl
Razor: Blackland Blackbird Brass (OC/SB)/Merkur Mustache and Eyebrow
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (1)/Merkur Mustache and Eyebrow (01)
AS: Clubman Original

Sunday's quick shave

Soap: Modern Williams
Lather Bowl: Fine Accoutrements
Brush: Alpha Outlaw Boar
Brush Soak: Van Der Hagen Bowl
Razor: Blackland Blackbird Brass (OC/SB)/Merkur Mustache and Eyebrow
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (2)/Merkur Mustache and Eyebrow (02)
AS/EdC: Aqua Velva Musk

 

[RayClem]

My thoughts exactly. Only reason I am trying this is because it was what my Dad used but granted he had the old formula that is supposed to be so much better. Hard to imagine he still used this when canned stuff was so readily available in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Other thing hard to imagine is that this was about the only option for soap at the drugstore then, but then now I see maybe 3 options, at our drugstore, VDH Deluxe, WMS and Grandma's soap of some sort in a square block(might pick it up just to try it). As far as inexpensive soaps VDH Luxury would be my inexpensive choice or even Palmolive cream for that matter.

This soap will only be a once a year thing. I have way too many other soaps that this will not be a regular thing since it is so hard to get good results from.

I started shaving back in the mid-60s. There were not a lot of options for shaving soaps back then. I used soaps like Old Spice, Williams, Colgate, etc. that were available at the local pharmacy or supermarket. Williams available at that time was perfectly acceptable back then, but I had a much lighter beard and my teenage skin was oily, so shaving was much less challenging. Over the past 55 years, my beard has become coarse and my skin has become dry and sensitive. That is the bad news. The good news is that today we have much better soaps available and I do not have to resort to using modern Williams.

 

[BigD]

Just a quick Monday shave;

Soap: Modern Williams
Lather Bowl: Fine Accoutrements
Brush: Zenith Boar
Brush Soak: Van Der Hagen Bowl
Razor: Blackland Blackbird Brass (OC/SB)/Merkur Mustache and Eyebrow
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (3)/Merkur Mustache and Eyebrow (03)
AS: Clubman Original

 

[BigD]

The Tuesday shave;

Soap: Modern Williams
Lather Bowl: Fine Accoutrements
Brush: Van Der Hagen
Brush Soak: Van Der Hagen Bowl
Razor: Blackland Blackbird Brass (OC/SB)/Merkur Mustache and Eyebrow
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (4)/Merkur Mustache and Eyebrow (04)
AS: Clubman Original

Have a great day.

 

[luv2shave]

An awesome Williams Wednesday shave with an ER 1924 razor and a modern Persona Gem PTFE which has more than 35 shaves on it.

 

[Tallships]

I get an ok lather from Williams but get a fantastic lather from Cella (kilo)

 

[Chandu]

I get an ok lather from Williams but get a fantastic lather from Cella (kilo)

Indeed. It's sad what happened to the flagship United States soap for the common man. Many other countries still offer soap that has existed for decades for the common man that are excellent.

If Williams doesn't care enough to fix it, I don't care enough to keep them in business. I'm not saying it's bad soap, it's good soap that requires far more attention to get a great lather than it used to. There are so many alternatives that work better and are no more expensive.

 

[BigD]

The Williams Wednesday, but not full Williams shave;

Soap: Modern Williams
Lather Bowl: Fine Accoutrements
Brush: Zenith Boar
Brush Soak: Van Der Hagen Bowl
Razor: Blackland Blackbird Brass (OC/SB)
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (5)
AS: Clubman Special Reserve

Feels great to be home. The water here is perfect for Williams!

 

[skibik]

Final shave today with this soap. It was a shave dedicated to my Dad, this was the soap he used, I used his Schick Injector. Today would have marked his 100th birthday so this is the reason I bought the soap and been doing my best to give a good try. I have now tossed it in the garbage. The soap was actually soft since it had been sealed and I had been adding a few drop of water on the soap in the bag. Warmed my synthetic brush and shook 98% of the water back out. After a few swirls it got sticky, added a few drops of water it got sticky, added a few more and thought I had enough loaded and moved to the lather bowl to work a lather. Whipping the crap out of it I didn't get far and had to add a few drops of water nothing. I went back to the puck and loaded until I was making lather on the soap. What was in the lather bowl disappeared. I did get a decent enough lather but it was drying up on my face during the first pass. Lather more the soap for the second pass and then it seemed decent for a lather, same for the third and final pass. I popped the soap out of the cup and tossed it in the garbage. Not only can I not get a good lather from it my face/skin also does not care for this and I now have an irritation. The first shave I just thought it was from trying to build a lather on my face. I noticed it the last shave but thought maybe it was again from a somewhat aggressive face lather. Well today I barely face lather and it is burning a little.

I applaud each of you that can get a good lather but I can't and even though it is kind if nostalgic to use it for the reason I stated above I will say it has beaten me.

 

[AnimalCatcher]

Final shave today with this soap. It was a shave dedicated to my Dad, this was the soap he used, I used his Schick Injector. Today would have marked his 100th birthday so this is the reason I bought the soap and been doing my best to give a good try. I have now tossed it in the garbage. The soap was actually soft since it had been sealed and I had been adding a few drop of water on the soap in the bag. Warmed my synthetic brush and shook 98% of the water back out. After a few swirls it got sticky, added a few drops of water it got sticky, added a few more and thought I had enough loaded and moved to the lather bowl to work a lather. Whipping the crap out of it I didn't get far and had to add a few drops of water nothing. I went back to the puck and loaded until I was making lather on the soap. What was in the lather bowl disappeared. I did get a decent enough lather but it was drying up on my face during the first pass. Lather more the soap for the second pass and then it seemed decent for a lather, same for the third and final pass. I popped the soap out of the cup and tossed it in the garbage. Not only can I not get a good lather from it my face/skin also does not care for this and I now have an irritation. The first shave I just thought it was from trying to build a lather on my face. I noticed it the last shave but thought maybe it was again from a somewhat aggressive face lather. Well today I barely face lather and it is burning a little.

I applaud each of you that can get a good lather but I can't and even though it is kind if nostalgic to use it for the reason I stated above I will say it has beaten me.

Well, you gave it a good shot anyway. Besides, it may be Willliams, but it really isn't the soap that your father shaved with as the present formula is quite different. If you want to try a puck of Williams with the same formulation that your dad used, send me a PM with your address and I'll get one out to you.

 

[skibik]

Well, you gave it a good shot anyway. It is Willliams, but it really isn't the soap that your father shaved with as the present formula is quite different. If you want to try a puck of the Williams that your dad used, send me a PM with your address and I'll get one out to you.

I greatly appreciate the offer, but will decline. There is something in the soap that is causing a reaction to my skin and if it is in the old formula as well then I wouldn't want to use it. I have had this reaction to a few other soaps out there, WSP soaps was one. K Shave Worx, I had the Grape and Cherry Fougere scents and I loved the scent of both but my skin didn't. Tabac and Cremo Cream I think were the others. I never narrowed it down to any specific ingredient. I could only figure it was something in the fragrance being used. I do admit WMS does have a decent scent to it though. It is a soap I had tried 5 years ago and was still a novice at lathering. Thought with 5 years under the belt and can lather just about anything I would give it a shot again. With so many other soaps in my arsenal I will admit defeat with this one and gladly go back to those.

Again thanks for the offer.

 

[Tallships]

Indeed. It's sad what happened to the flagship United States soap for the common man. Many other countries still offer soap that has existed for decades for the common man that are excellent.

If Williams doesn't care enough to fix it, I don't care enough to keep them in business. I'm not saying it's bad soap, it's good soap that requires far more attention to get a great lather than it used to. There are so many alternatives that work better and are no more expensive.

Yes, the vintage Williams was a great working mans soap. as I remember it was 10 then to 25 cents, replaced Williams with Old Spice only due to the nicer scent, but now a kilo of Cella or Vito's is just as cost effective and are a so much a better soap.

 

[fightingillini22]

Just finished a 3017 of Modern Williams soaked in Skin Bracer and Osage. It's not going to yield the prettiest lather, but I've always found it to be super slick and never had any issues getting great shaves. Not going to have all the skin food of some more modern soaps but since it's February my post shave always includes a balm of some sort.

I have 7 pucks of vintage Williams last I checked, and it no doubt is a better product than the modern soap. It is sad that at some point the decision was made to modify, but so it goes. As many have mentioned, there are so many fantastic shaving options out there these days, no need to try and get blood from a stone if it's not working for you!