MWF/Williams - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - A guide to better lather!

[Michael_W]

I bought a puck of Williams' shaving soap at Heinen's for $1.29, a great buy. The lather I got using my cheapie silver-tipped badger brush was decent enough and it didn't dry out too quickly, but I was using my Gillette Fusion at the time. When I bought the VDH bowl-and-brush set last month and began using it I switched to that soap planning to replace it with my Williams puck, which is still practically unused due to its durability, once it runs out.

 

[quonny]

Luc, I think your photos are fine.

I was always under the impression that I should be expecting a lather from modern Williams that looked similar to the creamy, thick, goodness of Tabac. When I instead got the lather with small bubbles in it, as shown in your photos, I assumed I was doing something wrong.

I was always waiting for someone to post a photo of Williams lather that would wow me, and convince me I should work harder to make modern Williams work; mostly I saw photos of lather similar to yours.

Apparently the lather from modern Williams doesn't get any better than your pictures show: and I have never personally considered that bubbly lather to be good enough to shave with, hence my intense hatred for the current version of Williams Mug Soap (made deeper by my understanding of how good the soap once was).

If the bubbly lather works great for you, and others on the board, that's wonderful; but for me I don't consider it good enough.

My Williams procedure is to use a spent Taylor of Bond Street plastic 5.2 oz. container for the puck. Add a dime size amount of glycerin. With a very wet brush, lather in the container for about a minute. I have never not produced a thick robust lather used for my pre-shave application of three plus minutes of face lather setting while I attend to other grooming rituals. Before shaving I reapply more lather with a wet brush and exfoliate for a minute or so.

I reseal the lather container to keep the puck soft with the moisture remaining on the puck. This helps in generating lather the next day.