The old soaps I've used have, to a large extent, lost their scent, but they still lather like a champ. Better than most modern soaps that are available today.
OLD OLD OLD soaps
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EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
Another acquisition, an unused unusual Cussons Imperial Leather motoring set.
Darn it! I have some old Tally Ho and Seaforth shave soaps that I might have to dig out and use. I have gone through an original Seaforth SS and it was very nice indeed. No scent but great performance. Oh, I just remembered. Got some vintage Colgate and Williams pucks too. I'm going to be busy.
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I forgot Colgate Palmolive is one company. Green Palmolive is for European market only.
@poppi thank you for sharing. Seaforth from memory was popular and a competitor to Old Spice. If you could enlighten me on what you liked using I heard Seaforth has a new line of soap for 2022. Tally Ho I would love more of a story about it!
Cusson Imperial I remember being very large bars of soap once. And I also remember Stetson and Coty, I believe one is now the parent company. Wickham 1912 has a scent similar. And I know there was English Leather and think it is still being made though did go through some re-formulations. Stirling from what I know has some English Leather scents.
Williams has an aftershave line, deodorant line and I believe called Williams Expert. Glass bottles from Spain and also probably some canned creams still around. I have not found anything similar to Williams, I know Stirling has a Eucalyptus Lemon Verbana Citronella? with their Electric Sheep line.
I hope someone continues on with the Williams shave line of soap as more than just a novelty. When I started with B&B over a year ago all the forum posts it seemed were Arko and Williams. Discussions of tallow. Some menthol soap. Some newer Williams.
There is also a topic on Colgate with some barber tablets for soap. And the cup soap.
I know some people actually still buy and use the vintage stuff. Might be worth taking a look into.
@poppi thank you for sharing. Seaforth from memory was popular and a competitor to Old Spice. If you could enlighten me on what you liked using I heard Seaforth has a new line of soap for 2022. Tally Ho I would love more of a story about it!
Cusson Imperial I remember being very large bars of soap once. And I also remember Stetson and Coty, I believe one is now the parent company. Wickham 1912 has a scent similar. And I know there was English Leather and think it is still being made though did go through some re-formulations. Stirling from what I know has some English Leather scents.
Williams has an aftershave line, deodorant line and I believe called Williams Expert. Glass bottles from Spain and also probably some canned creams still around. I have not found anything similar to Williams, I know Stirling has a Eucalyptus Lemon Verbana Citronella? with their Electric Sheep line.
I hope someone continues on with the Williams shave line of soap as more than just a novelty. When I started with B&B over a year ago all the forum posts it seemed were Arko and Williams. Discussions of tallow. Some menthol soap. Some newer Williams.
There is also a topic on Colgate with some barber tablets for soap. And the cup soap.
I know some people actually still buy and use the vintage stuff. Might be worth taking a look into.
| Vintage Wilton Armetale Pewter Bicentennial Shaving Mug 1776-1976 |
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Not my links though some vintage Williams, Burma, Barbershop Old Fashioned, Yardley, Avon Gentleman's Regiment , Cusson, Erasmic, Champion, English Leather shave bowl. Vintage Shaving Soap | TomoNagura.Com | Keith V. Johnson - https://www.tomonagura.com/vintage-shaving-soap/
Have no idea where to find Camelot shave sticks.
Have no idea where to find Camelot shave sticks.
I very much enjoy collecting and using vintage shaving soaps. The oldest in my collection is probably the Williams Genuine Yankee Shaving Soap, which, after a hundred years or more, still produces some of the creamiest and slickest lather I have ever seen.
Oh my, that's breathtaking. Great collection
I'm now dehydrated from drooling
That's the oldest puck of Williams Luxury Shaving Soap that I have ever seen. Thank you for sharing.
What a stunning collection of vintage goodies! Thanks for sharing, that made my Friday afternoon
It is so hard to find info on these old products. How old do you think your Yankee soap is? I also noticed that the Yankee soap and the Luxury soap a similar wording and both are flat. Any ideas when they started making soap with a rim? That is also a nice looking collection.
Thank you for the kind words.... I do enjoy sharing my collection.
It really can be difficult to date some of this material. I posted a picture of a page from a Williams booklet that dates to 1904. It has illustrations of all their shaving products from that particular year, as well as the pricing. The Yankee Soap wrapper in the illustration is nearly identical to the wrappers on the pucks that I own, except there is no lettering above or below the box that the JB Williams name is in. It was either artistic license, or my pucks are slightly older or newer than the one pictured. Either way, I think the puck was probably manufactured pretty close to that same time period.
The second photo that I posted includes a Yankee Soap puck in wrapper and what I believe to be the first Williams Mug Soap box/soap, as well as a shaving stick holder and shaving cream jar from my collection that match the illustrations in the booklet.
At that time, Williams shaving cream sold for 50 cents... Luxury Shaving Soap for 25 cents, Shaving Stick 10 cents, Genuine Yankee Soap 10 cents and Williams Mug Soap sold for 5 cents per puck. My understanding is that the luxury soap was rose scented.
You can see in the third photo that the older Williams Mug Soap box (and puck) on the right is larger than the newer more commonly found mug soap box version on the left.
I'm not exactly sure when your puck was made, but because it's flat and the type of lettering it has, I would think it's relatively old compared to most other vintage Williams pucks that you find circulating in the wild.
Thank you very much, my friend. Glad you enjoyed seeing some of the pieces from my collection.
Unfortunately, I have never found one of these with even a little bit of residue left in it. I'm hoping that one day I locate a crock that has a tad of dried cream left inside that I can rehydrate and make a lather with. One can only dream.
Yesterday I saw one of these Williams Mugs like @AnimalCatcher has, paper wrapped inside the box for $18. There are people who hope to sell modern Williams for that, now that it is out of production.
A few weeks back I could have splurged on a Seaforth puck nestled in its branded mug, still under the cardboard topper. I could never have brought myself to use it, though.
My meager antiques: I suspect that puck in the little pewter bowl is Williams. I have a couple old pucks of Old Spice, one of which I lather up in its original mug. The Old Spice scent is better protected in the shave stick I made up.
A few weeks back I could have splurged on a Seaforth puck nestled in its branded mug, still under the cardboard topper. I could never have brought myself to use it, though.
My meager antiques: I suspect that puck in the little pewter bowl is Williams. I have a couple old pucks of Old Spice, one of which I lather up in its original mug. The Old Spice scent is better protected in the shave stick I made up.
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
Another new acquisition, a Cussons Imperial Leather giftset in a beautiful box.
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While I have a few bottles of Old Spice and use them (and am always on the lookout for genuine purchases (vs refills with modern OS, I've acquired a few of their pucks over the years with one steal sealed in the old mug. I have one OS puck that I use that's gotta be at least 40 years old and it has a bit of soapy spicey smell (lathers and works great) but I tried an experiment to refresh it (I really don't recall the original scent of the soap when new). I took a toothpick and made a series of holes in the puck and sprinkled some early Old Spice on it. Smells more like Old Spice now. When the swirling brush closes up the holes, I do it again. But when it's gone, it's gone; I won't use the last of the unused supply. At some point, I'll need to get rid of the old stuff as my kids'll probably toss it or thrift it when I'm gone. I'd have it taken to the mausoleum for display but so much is earmarked for my tomb already...
Not truly ancient, but I found a puck of QED Rose shaving soap that has been hidden away for the past 15 years. Photos will follow
