Recently I shaved with modern Williams every day for 10 straight mornings to finish off what was left of a puck that I had lying around after using it during "a week of Williams some time ago. Ive also been reading the comments regarding Williams soap in the item of the week thread. So, I came to some conclusions and thought I would speak to the mysticism surrounding this soap.
The Good:
1. If you are unfamiliar with this mythical brand, it is much talked about here at B&B and also the bestselling shaving soap (I think Topgumby once asked for sales stats from the manufacturer and had numbers that showed this). The brand has apparently been around since 1840, so you get an opportunity to use something that has been around for over 1.5 centuries which is rare today.
2. Modern Williams can be had easily in many North American brick and mortar stores. It is very easy to find and purchase on a whim.
3. A puck only costs about $1 and certainly less than $2.
4. It is kind of fun to try out, and easy enough to do that.
The Bad:
1. Okay, lets face it, this isnt vintage Williams. They have reformulated and turned modern Williams into something that only resembles the original shaving soap in terms of looks, but simply isnt recognizable in terms of performance. Yes, the name is the same, but we are buying a very different product today than was available in the middle of the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century.
2. This is not a good way to learn how to make lather! We often suggest that this soap is great because it is so tough to work with that it allows us to hone our lather making skills. I thought this too, but it isnt. The effort and techniques needed to maximize lather from modern Williams would at the least be wasted on better soaps and at the worst would ruin them. Adding glycerin, fully soaking the puck in hot water before using it, building lather right on the puck as if bowl lathering, loading for an endless amount of time before face lathering, or any other over the top method is of no use if you are using P.160 or DR Harris or any other quality product. Using more product is a good idea, but there is a limit to this too.
3. All we learn as our modern Williams technique improves is to view mediocrity as an accomplishment. It never really gets good, just more usable at best. The lather is unstable. If you use bad lathering technique or dont pull out all the stops, the lather is very unstable. If all goes as well as possible, the lather is still more unstable than we would tolerate from any other product.
4. It is not all that much more easily purchased than better options. To the average schmuck, this puck is easy to find. But, if all you do is shop at brick and mortar stores, you can still very easily find Col Conk, VDH, and Proraso/CO Bigelow products all of which are stellar performers compared to modern Williams.
5. It is not actually that cheap! Yes, the initial purchase price is low, but the per shave cost is not really that much of a bargain.
- Say modern Williams costs about $1.50 per puck, since the pucks are actually only 50g that works out to be 3c per gram. Because you load endlessly and often have to reload the brush mid shave, it is not unreasonable to use 3g of Williams per shave (in the 3017 thread I averaged 3.5g/shave). So, the average price per shave ends up being around 9c.
- Proraso, on the other hand, still has a fairly low initial purchase price and goes for around $8 a container. But, since Proraso tubs are 150g, that works out to 5.3c per gram. At a generous 2g per shave for this product, the price works out to 10.6c per shave. There are other Italian soaps available for even less.
- So, for a whole year of shaving every day:
6. Its terrible. There are many other products much more deserving of your shave!
So, shave with modern Williams to get an I can lather modern Williams badge, but then buy something that is actually pleasurable to use and crafted by a company who has bothered to make a quality product.
The Good:
1. If you are unfamiliar with this mythical brand, it is much talked about here at B&B and also the bestselling shaving soap (I think Topgumby once asked for sales stats from the manufacturer and had numbers that showed this). The brand has apparently been around since 1840, so you get an opportunity to use something that has been around for over 1.5 centuries which is rare today.
2. Modern Williams can be had easily in many North American brick and mortar stores. It is very easy to find and purchase on a whim.
3. A puck only costs about $1 and certainly less than $2.
4. It is kind of fun to try out, and easy enough to do that.
The Bad:
1. Okay, lets face it, this isnt vintage Williams. They have reformulated and turned modern Williams into something that only resembles the original shaving soap in terms of looks, but simply isnt recognizable in terms of performance. Yes, the name is the same, but we are buying a very different product today than was available in the middle of the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century.
2. This is not a good way to learn how to make lather! We often suggest that this soap is great because it is so tough to work with that it allows us to hone our lather making skills. I thought this too, but it isnt. The effort and techniques needed to maximize lather from modern Williams would at the least be wasted on better soaps and at the worst would ruin them. Adding glycerin, fully soaking the puck in hot water before using it, building lather right on the puck as if bowl lathering, loading for an endless amount of time before face lathering, or any other over the top method is of no use if you are using P.160 or DR Harris or any other quality product. Using more product is a good idea, but there is a limit to this too.
3. All we learn as our modern Williams technique improves is to view mediocrity as an accomplishment. It never really gets good, just more usable at best. The lather is unstable. If you use bad lathering technique or dont pull out all the stops, the lather is very unstable. If all goes as well as possible, the lather is still more unstable than we would tolerate from any other product.
4. It is not all that much more easily purchased than better options. To the average schmuck, this puck is easy to find. But, if all you do is shop at brick and mortar stores, you can still very easily find Col Conk, VDH, and Proraso/CO Bigelow products all of which are stellar performers compared to modern Williams.
5. It is not actually that cheap! Yes, the initial purchase price is low, but the per shave cost is not really that much of a bargain.
- Say modern Williams costs about $1.50 per puck, since the pucks are actually only 50g that works out to be 3c per gram. Because you load endlessly and often have to reload the brush mid shave, it is not unreasonable to use 3g of Williams per shave (in the 3017 thread I averaged 3.5g/shave). So, the average price per shave ends up being around 9c.
- Proraso, on the other hand, still has a fairly low initial purchase price and goes for around $8 a container. But, since Proraso tubs are 150g, that works out to 5.3c per gram. At a generous 2g per shave for this product, the price works out to 10.6c per shave. There are other Italian soaps available for even less.
- So, for a whole year of shaving every day:
Modern Williams = $32.85
Proraso Soap Jar = $40.15
Difference saved with Williams over the course of an entire year only = $7.30 max.
6. Its terrible. There are many other products much more deserving of your shave!
So, shave with modern Williams to get an I can lather modern Williams badge, but then buy something that is actually pleasurable to use and crafted by a company who has bothered to make a quality product.
So collect your badge at the door. 
