Hey guys, I know we need yet another thread about williams 
, so here it goes. I hadn't even tried the stuff since if first started traditional wet shaving about 5 years ago, and truth be told, I am really more of a cream guy.
I have always loved the smell of williams. To me it smells like something that men used many years ago in a barber shop or at home when shaving was much more simple. Like something that would have been a staple in my grandfather medicine cabinet.
I was in my local walbaums, and I was cruzing the shaving aisle (of course) and I found several pucks of williams, so I decided to buy 4 of them to try out and see if it works for me.
I followed the instructions of the chap in the youtube video about williams; I popped the puck in a coffee mug, soaked it and my simpson chubby 2 in two-band super (which absolutely shreds soaps) with hot water while I showered. After I got out, I drained the hot water out of my mug, and gave my brush a few shakes and went to town on the williams. After about a minute or so, I got a really nice looking lather built up in my brush; it was moist, slick, and creamy looking while it was freshly loaded. After the brush was sufficently loaded, I began to further build the lather to my face. The lather looked great at first, but as I was finishing up, the lather began to dissolve on my face slightly. It didnt totally dissapear, but I definitely lost some coverage and what was left looked a little bubbly. Some of the lather that had gotten on my hand was extremely slick though, and my razor almost sliped out my hand. I decided to shave anyway, just to see how it performs, and this is where it gets weird: my late 40's gillette superspeed glided smoothly along my skin perfectly with no dragging, pulling, or irritation. After my usual 3 passes, I'll be damned if my face wasnt completely BBS smooth. I ran my fingers in every direction on my face and there was not even a hint of stubble and my skin felt soft and happy. In the spirt of things, I splashed on some Aqua Velva classic ice blue, from the glass bottle and I got absolutely no sting whatsoever, just that bracing, cooling sensation that we all love. So, all told, I had a wonderful shave with this stuff, but I dont quite know what to make of it. When the lather was on my face, it didnt look like great lather, but it most definitely got the job done. Normally, if a lather thined out on my face with another product, I wouldnt get a good shave, but williams seems to be different. Williams isnt luxurious by any means, but if I get shaves like that with it, I might have to keep it around.
, so here it goes. I hadn't even tried the stuff since if first started traditional wet shaving about 5 years ago, and truth be told, I am really more of a cream guy. I have always loved the smell of williams. To me it smells like something that men used many years ago in a barber shop or at home when shaving was much more simple. Like something that would have been a staple in my grandfather medicine cabinet.
I was in my local walbaums, and I was cruzing the shaving aisle (of course) and I found several pucks of williams, so I decided to buy 4 of them to try out and see if it works for me.
I followed the instructions of the chap in the youtube video about williams; I popped the puck in a coffee mug, soaked it and my simpson chubby 2 in two-band super (which absolutely shreds soaps) with hot water while I showered. After I got out, I drained the hot water out of my mug, and gave my brush a few shakes and went to town on the williams. After about a minute or so, I got a really nice looking lather built up in my brush; it was moist, slick, and creamy looking while it was freshly loaded. After the brush was sufficently loaded, I began to further build the lather to my face. The lather looked great at first, but as I was finishing up, the lather began to dissolve on my face slightly. It didnt totally dissapear, but I definitely lost some coverage and what was left looked a little bubbly. Some of the lather that had gotten on my hand was extremely slick though, and my razor almost sliped out my hand. I decided to shave anyway, just to see how it performs, and this is where it gets weird: my late 40's gillette superspeed glided smoothly along my skin perfectly with no dragging, pulling, or irritation. After my usual 3 passes, I'll be damned if my face wasnt completely BBS smooth. I ran my fingers in every direction on my face and there was not even a hint of stubble and my skin felt soft and happy. In the spirt of things, I splashed on some Aqua Velva classic ice blue, from the glass bottle and I got absolutely no sting whatsoever, just that bracing, cooling sensation that we all love. So, all told, I had a wonderful shave with this stuff, but I dont quite know what to make of it. When the lather was on my face, it didnt look like great lather, but it most definitely got the job done. Normally, if a lather thined out on my face with another product, I wouldnt get a good shave, but williams seems to be different. Williams isnt luxurious by any means, but if I get shaves like that with it, I might have to keep it around.
