My attempt to end the Williams war.

[guitarslinger]

After years of hating it, I tried it with bottled spring water. It actually worked like a decent soap. It generated creamy, dense lather.

I'm fairly shocked.

Of course, it doesn't work at all with my hard tap water.

I can now see both sides of the coin.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

I think the type of water used has a lot to do with it. I have extremely soft water in my house, thanks to a water softener and a reverse osmosis system. I can get the new Williams to lather like crazy without any more work than the vintage Williams or the other soaps I use.

Then I read about guys who can't get Williams to lather unless they put it in a food processor. There's gotta be a logical explanation.

 

[The Last Chimney]

Whelp, looks like the war's done.

Time to go home, boys.

 

[BlackBard]

Even as a proud member of the Anti-Social Williams Group, I have to agree that water does make a difference. I live in an area with very hard water. My water conditioner uses tanks that are replaced by the softener company periodically. Once in a while the softening ability of the system ends before the company replaces the tank. I can go from soft water to hard in one day.

Recently, I ran out of soft water for a few days while I was using Williams in my rotation. Instant lather trouble. While I can successfully lather with Williams, I found it much more difficult than usual. Even when I switched to a more reliable soap (Edwin Jagger Aloe Vera), I still had trouble getting optimum lather, although it performed better than Williams did.

 

[kingfisher]

Whelp, looks like the war's done.

Time to go home, boys.

Last one to leave, turn out the lights.

 

[Seraphim]

Yup, a fantastic, inexpensive soap*






*That simply requires bottled spring water, specialized brushes, puck soaking, wearing your lucky Spider Man undies, a lucky rabbit's foot, and a dab of glycerine to make it work acceptably. But yes, aside from that, top notch stuff.

 

[SpyvSpy]

Yup, a fantastic, inexpensive soap*






*That simply requires bottled spring water, specialized brushes, puck soaking, wearing your lucky Spider Man undies, a lucky rabbit's foot, and a dab of glycerine to make it work acceptably. But yes, aside from that, top notch stuff.

....the war continues.

 

[Seraphim]

....the war continues.

That was my olive branch.....

 

[Greybeard]

That was my olive branch.....

The branch doesn't have any leaves on it and it's kind of withered.

 

[_MementoMori_]

I must be missing something. I used Williams for the first time on Sunday and got a very consistent, slick lather with it. I had to reload my brush from the puck for the second and third pass, but I had great lather and a great shave. I live in a hard water area and I'm not a pro lather builder by any means.

Did I just get lucky or something? Maybe I should keep my mouth shut until I can reproduce those results...

 

[brianw]

Were you standing on one foot, a bucket over your head, singing "Waltzing Matilda" (a apology to our friends on Oz) ????? That has been the only time I was ever able to lather Williams....and it was awfully hard to apply the lather with that damn bucket there....

 

[_MementoMori_]

Were you standing on one foot, a bucket over your head, singing "Waltzing Matilda" (a apology to our friends on Oz) ????? That has been the only time I was ever able to lather Williams....and it was awfully hard to apply the lather with that damn bucket there....

Well... yeah.

Why? Do you mean to say you think that had something to do with it?

 

[SkipH]

I have very soft tap water (central Arkansas). I get great lather with Williams as well as MWF. Williams gives me great shaves.

 

[_JP_]

Williams always wins the war anyway. Everybody has to find out what all the fuss is about so they try it. Some wind up liking it so they keep using it. Score for Williams!

 

[Alacrity59]

Well... yeah.

Why? Do you mean to say you think that had something to do with it?

Too funny.

 

[Slivovitz]

There's really no war. We all know that Williams works fine without any extraordinary measures. It's just that some folks enjoy keeping up the pretense that it won't lather without divine intervention. Doesn't do Williams any harm. As JP said, it just gets more people curious enough to try it.

 

[RayH]

There's really no war. We all know that Williams works fine without any extraordinary measures. It's just that some folks enjoy keeping up the pretense that it won't lather without divine intervention. Doesn't do Williams any harm. As JP said, it just gets more people curious enough to try it.

I have to disagree. Any soap that you have to soak while you shower is not a top notch soap. That is an extraordinary measure right there. Any top line soap only needs to be wetted before the brush is applied to get it to work. Tabac and Cade come to mind on that.

 

[FOGEY]

Williams user here. No water on the puck in the cup. Just soak my Boar in the hot water then load it.

Work up a lather on the pre-prepped face.

Pre-prepped face... After shower or face wash. Then Lectric shave or Shave Oil prior to lather work up.... (also have hard water)

Bada bing! Min. DFS or betta.

 

[Topgumby]

 

[The Last Chimney]

I don't think a Williams truce based on water will work...

You're right! I need to leave this terrible war and go poisoning puppies in the park with my good friends Spy and Spy! We're all definitely best friends of some kind.

Thank you for showing me where my heart truly dwells!