There is a CVS right across the street from me and they always have 4 or 5 in stock. If you like it and can't find it, let me know and I can send you some. No probs finding it here.
Great post Jessie!
Regarding the performance...do you have soft water? We're lucky to have very soft water here (in Scotland) and I've never had any issues with Williams either
To make Williams work, you must lack vitriol.
I'm starting to believe that the essential element in getting decent lather out of current Williams isn't what brush you use, how hard or soft your water is, or if you soak the puck while you rattle beads and do a rain dance.
To make Williams work, you must lack vitriol. Observing the posts of those who have a tough time with it, it's the only constant in the equation...
Well, it don't hurt none to be a little soft in the noggin...
I'm starting to believe that the essential element in getting decent lather out of current Williams isn't what brush you use, how hard or soft your water is, or if you soak the puck while you rattle beads and do a rain dance.
To make Williams work, you must lack vitriol. Observing the posts of those who have a tough time with it, it's the only constant in the equation...
Whoa now..... I'd trade you all the Williams in the world for Palmolive to be available like that here. I believe it's what most people wish Williams "could" be". Nice scent, amazingly easy to lather, cheap, smooth, slick, and protective.
But something changed with Williams, and not just the packaging. I still have a puck from 2002 or 03, as well as a puck from sometime in later 03 or 04, when the packaging started changing a little (though still has the circle for the price sticker). The difference between the older and the new-current Williams? Sodium tallowate used to be the first listed ingredient, and now it is the second. I think that must be why this stuff does not lather the way I remember it, and tends to dry very quickly. I bought a new puck (boy has the packaging changed!) and lathered up yesterday . . . and wished I had not. I got a decent shave, but the soap is lousy, lousy, lousy (and I have soft water that makes just about any soap explode with lather on contact).
Williams has undergone several reformulations throughout the years. The most recent (that resulted in the current wretched prodcut) was in 2005 when Combe took over. I have tried the version just prior to the Combe takeover: it was a decent quality shaving soap, but not as amazing as the Williams formulation from the mid-1970's, and before; that stuff was Tabac level quality.
Anyway, each reformulation has made Williams a little less good, culminating in the nearly unusable disaster of a shaving soap that it is today.
Those who have never tried the 1970's era Williams might argue that the current product is a good shaving soap; I doubt they would hold that position once they realized how good it once was.
How about that; it seems there are a few on ebay right now. Hopefully I can still find a few when I have the extra money to spend. I am sure the old ones have little or no scent left to them, but that means little to me if it offers a good shave. Love the Williams scent though
There are a couple pucks on Ebay individually each week, and quite a few others that are part of a package deal, usually being sold with an Old Spice Mug.
It's not hard to come by, but it may cost you $10 per puck, unless you get lucky, and find a puck no one else has noticed.
Sounds as if it might be worth it, though. I imagine the older pucks last longer than the current product. But if Tabac lives up to the hype, I may never bother with it.
Does anyone else think Tabac packaging looks like 1980's Avon?
Excellent post! I picked up my first puck of Williams this evening and looking forward to tomorrows shave.