Modern Williams tweak---outstanding lather!

[kingfisher]

I thought I was down to just two soaps, but yesterday i decided to do some clean-up under the sink and in a drawer, and I found half a puck of something (it had been sliced down the middle). I wasn't sure what it was. A quick sniff revealed a faint lemon verbena scent, and the half puck was the exact size of half a puck of Williams, so the size and the scent both fit.
I gave it a quick test lather and it was ok, a bit airy but didn't dissipate. I thought about the rich lathers that I usually prefer, and I remembered that most of my favorite soaps have quite a bit of glycerin them; I also remembered that I had a bottle of glycerin somewhere, and i located it.

At that point, the experiment began. I took the soap and grated it. I added about three drops of lemon essential oil and about three drops of grapefruit essential oil. I then added maybe ten drops or so of glycerin. Then I mixed it all up by hand until all the soap was wet with the added ingredients. Then I pushed it down into a puck.

Couldn't wait to try it this morning. To be honest, I didn't really have high expectations. I knew it would lather well enough for a shave. Anyway, what I got, instead, was a rich, dense, shiny lather without any visible bubbles, and it was slick and protective. Nothing short of fantastic. If i had just paid $20 for this soap, the only complaint I would have had was that the scent, while beautiful, was a little bit weaker than I like it. But wow. I was blown away. Post-shave face feel was pretty good, too, and the lather that i squeezed up out of the brush was rich and unctuous.

Seems to me that all Williams needs to be a first class soap is a little bit more glycerin (and a nicer scent). I'm not kidding; this soap was as nice as Wholly Kaw, Soapy Science, Stirling, etc. Mind blown.

 

[thombrogan]

Went over here after reading your latest post on Feather Artist Club DXSSeptember and was not disappointed. That was cool to read

 

[thombrogan]

If your skin can tolerate them, fragrance oils should be stronger scented and longer lasting than essential oils.

If grating it up and making a Williams Modern coleslaw puck makes a better soap than I deserve and calms the “Enough citronella to repel three malarial swamps’ worth of mosquitos“ scent, I’m interested in that and hope the fragrance oils work for you if you try them.

 

[kingfisher]

If your skin can tolerate them, fragrance oils should be stronger scented and longer lasting than essential oils.

If grating it up and making a Williams Modern coleslaw puck makes a better soap than I deserve and calms the “Enough citronella to repel three malarial swamps’ worth of mosquitos“ scent, I’m interested in that and hope the fragrance oils work for you if you try them.

I think it was the combination of the grating and the addition of the glycerin that really turned the trick.
I don't have any fragrance oils, but do have several essential oils sitting around. I think next time I use it I will add a drop or two of the grapefruit essential oil to the lather after I load the soap so that I can enjoy a better scent strength, too.

 

[kingfisher]

Just had a second shave with this soap, and it's the real deal. Rich, slick, great stuff! This time i added two drops of grapefruit essential oil to the lather after the load, and it made it so the lather smelled amazing, too.

I have no doubt that if I sent this soap around with a different name and said it was a beta-soap from a new artisan, people would rave about it. It almost has me rethinking buying shaving soap. I can buy this stuff for $1.99 a puck right here in my neighborhood. With the money I would save on soaps, I could afford to buy more essential oils and maybe some fragrance oils, so I could concoct my own scents.

Hmmmm...........

 

[Hachet]

I love discoveries like this.

 

[Ron R]

I found With Williams mug soap is to load heavy and lather should be a pastier lather and you will not have any issues, Not sure why Williams does not come out with other scents like so many other soap manufactures is beyond me.
Have some fun experimenting with scents.

 

[samhain666]

Great lather from this soap? If I read that on April 1st I would not believe you...I still don't for that matter

Jokes aside congrats on making this abomination of a soap work for you

 

[kingfisher]

Great lather from this soap? If I read that on April 1st I would not believe you...I still don't for that matter

Jokes aside congrats on making this abomination of a soap work for you

I'm telling you it just needs a little glycerin. That's how simple it is.

 

[ackvil]

IMHO, grating and adding glycerin helps any difficult soap.

 

[samhain666]

I'm telling you it just needs a little glycerin. That's how simple it is.

And 10yrs of airing out

I dislike Arko scent (one of reasons I don't use it), Williams for me smells like Arko on steroids that didn't shower for a week

 

[RayClem]

If Williams were properly formulated and properly scented in the first place, it would not be necessary to adulterate the soap to get it to work (and smell) like it should. The best place for Williams is where you found it, under the sink.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Does Williams actually repel mosquito's? I may buy it for my body soap from now on if it does.


Adding glycerin does massively improve Modern Williams. More so than it typically does for most soaps in fact. But it doesn't make it as good as the vintage stuff was.

 

[kingfisher]

OK, I just had to post an update today.

Since the first two times I used this soap, I put it away and used Mystic Water, Soapy Science, and RazoRock What the Puck for three shaves, then returned to this "tweaked Williams" this morning.

All I can say is this: I really wish I had measured how much glycerin I put into how much soap, and how much of the grapefruit and lemon EOs I put into it, so I could reproduce it exactly.

This is not just a good lather, gentlemen. This is an ELITE lather. I know it sounds nuts, but it's true. Just amazing, soft, dense, shiny, smooth, slick lather with good protection, good glide and secondary glide, and an excellent post-shave face feel, too! Better than all of the above soaps except for Mystic Water; equivalent to MW, but easier to lather. Oh, and the scent was really nice, too, citrusy and grapefruit forward. Refreshing.

I mean, wow. I'm pretty sure the original soap that I grated and added stuff to was a puck of modern Williams. I had a puck of vintage Williams that I had cut in half, too, but it smelled musty; this stuff smelled faintly like lemon verbena before I grated it. I will find out for sure when this runs out, because I have one more puck of modern Williams that has not been used and is still in its box. I will cut it in half, grate it, add in the glycerin (trying very hard to do it exactly the way I did it for this soap) and then add in the EOs for scent, and then I will see if I can reproduce this.

But man! What a fantastic soap I made! If somebody was producing a soap that smelled, lathered, and shaved EXACTLY the way this one does, I would happily pay $25 for a 4-oz puck. I know some of you don't believe it, but I'm telling you, this stuff holds its own with Ethos, Wholly Kaw, Barrister and Mann, Soapy Science, etc.

 

[RayClem]

OK, I just had to post an update today.

Since the first two times I used this soap, I put it away and used Mystic Water, Soapy Science, and RazoRock What the Puck for three shaves, then returned to this "tweaked Williams" this morning.

All I can say is this: I really wish I had measured how much glycerin I put into how much soap, and how much of the grapefruit and lemon EOs I put into it, so I could reproduce it exactly.

This is not just a good lather, gentlemen. This is an ELITE lather. I know it sounds nuts, but it's true. Just amazing, soft, dense, shiny, smooth, slick lather with good protection, good glide and secondary glide, and an excellent post-shave face feel, too! Better than all of the above soaps except for Mystic Water; equivalent to MW, but easier to lather. Oh, and the scent was really nice, too, citrusy and grapefruit forward. Refreshing.

I mean, wow. I'm pretty sure the original soap that I grated and added stuff to was a puck of modern Williams. I had a puck of vintage Williams that I had cut in half, too, but it smelled musty; this stuff smelled faintly like lemon verbena before I grated it. I will find out for sure when this runs out, because I have one more puck of modern Williams that has not been used and is still in its box. I will cut it in half, grate it, add in the glycerin (trying very hard to do it exactly the way I did it for this soap) and then add in the EOs for scent, and then I will see if I can reproduce this.

But man! What a fantastic soap I made! If somebody was producing a soap that smelled, lathered, and shaved EXACTLY the way this one does, I would happily pay $25 for a 4-oz puck. I know some of you don't believe it, but I'm telling you, this stuff holds its own with Ethos, Wholly Kaw, Barrister and Mann, Soapy Science, etc.

You are comparing your modified William's lather to the lather from soaps that are far from elite when compared against the best artisan soaps available today. That does not mean they are unusable, but there are far better soaps being made.

When I first started buying soaps, I thought the ones I purchased were excellent. Then after testing 180 soaps, I now know what constitutes an elite soap. The soaps I purchased early in my evaluation process do not come close to that elite experience. After you try a lot more soaps, I doubt you will still consider your modified Williams to be ELITE.

 

[TBoner]

You are big-timing someone about how many shave soaps you've tried?! Good grief.

You know what's not an elite experience? Talking smack about shave soap.

P.S. The OP has been kicking around these forums for over a decade, so he may also know what constitutes an elite soap.

 

[KW Driver]

Modern Williams can provide an acceptable shave if you load heavy and do your part. I finally figured it out, but it dries my face and I get a comparable to better shave with less effort from a bar of ivory soap, for at least a dollar less back when and no offensive citronella scent.

OP, I’m glad you found a happy balance with it, but it’s not something I’d do.

 

[hydro-magic]

Glycerin is great stuff. I add a little to most of my after shaves too. It makes a slightly drying alcohol splash nice and moisturizing. I'm told it can feel sticky in a humid climate but there's no humidity here, ever.

 

[kingfisher]

You are comparing your modified William's lather to the lather from soaps that are far from elite when compared against the best artisan soaps available today. That does not mean they are unusable, but there are far better soaps being made.

When I first started buying soaps, I thought the ones I purchased were excellent. Then after testing 180 soaps, I now know what constitutes an elite soap. The soaps I purchased early in my evaluation process do not come close to that elite experience. After you try a lot more soaps, I doubt you will still consider your modified Williams to be ELITE.

You think Ethos is far from elite? Interesting.

I guess it is the use of the term elite that bothered you. Not saying that YOU would find it elite. Just saying that it performed that way for ME. (And by the way, I don't doubt that you have tried a LOT more of the modern artisan soaps than have I; I have been on a kick to not spend much money on shaving and to try to use up soaps that I had already purchased in the past, so I'm not up on all the latest soaps.)

I wish I would've had the foresight to send samples of this around to some of the longtime forum denizens without telling them what it was. It would be really interesting to see what people thought of it if they didn't know it was tweaked Williams. Again, I am confident that had I done so, and had given it a bogus name and said it was a beta-testing soap from a new artisan, glowing reviews would have come pouring in.

Maybe you guys can teach me how to get pictures into the forum; if so, and if I can figure out how to do it, maybe I can post a few lather shots from the next time I lather it up. It won't be exactly the same as trying it out yourself, but at least it would give everybody an idea of what kind of lather it produces.

 

[Ad Astra]

Williams modifies easily and well.

I poked a series of holes and rubbed oakmoss EO on one, and it's one of my favorite soaps - "Oakmoss Bomb" Williams.


AA