Williams Mug Shaving Soap

[DLYskes1976]

So literally at 10:10pm tonight, i was organizing my bathroom cabinet and cleaned out my Old SPice shaving mug, and reminded myself that i have a puck of shaving cream in my bathroom closet.. i grab it and it's a old Williams, and the price tag was still on it.. @ .23 cents lol......... and i quickly put it away and had to see if they was still selling it, and got on here and this was the first thread i seen lol... i have 2 bottles of creamo shaving cream which i use, and i'll stick with that stuff for now.. plus i have another NIB old spice mug with puck in the cup.

 

[Hawkeye_90]

You mean another legendary soap that doesn't lather nearly as well as it used to? LOL Sorry. Feeling a bit salty tonight.

@Eben Stone I got a really nice Williams lather two days ago. Brand new puck and a Zenith boar. Thick non dissipating lather. In fact I dare say I probably could have added a bit more water. Either the Zenith is magic or this last puck I got was made on a Friday and they gave it a little more tallow or something.

Honestly there are many good glycerin pucks out there that are not true soap in the sense of Williams but they are very good, but we don't give them credit. VdH, Mama Bear, Colonel Conk et al.

@Hawkeye_90 you should check out Shave Factory soap. Some barber supply and some local places have it. It's an old school soap in a puck. There was a thread here on it Shaving Factory Shave Soap? - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/shaving-factory-shave-soap.380832/

Thanks for the suggestion I was unfamiliar with the soap I’ll order a few pucks.

 

[Chandu]

Thanks for the suggestion I was unfamiliar with the soap I’ll order a few pucks.

From my further reading it seems to be nearly Derby in puck form.

 

[Hawkeye_90]

From the thread that was mentioned it is derby in puck form

 

[Chandu]

From the thread that was mentioned it is derby in puck form

the shave factory dot com has it for $3.45 / puck

 

[Demolition]

From my further reading it seems to be nearly Derby in puck form.

From the thread that was mentioned it is derby in puck form

Coincidentally, last month, there was a thread about "The Shaving Factory" soap: Shaving factory shaving soap.........anyone know anything about it or have an opinion on it

@fast shaver decided to try it due to its near-identical ingredient list to the Derby stick/tub soap. His review was much less positive than the ones in the older thread. I theorized that the poor performance was due to the addition of mineral oil.

 

[Eben Stone]

@Eben Stone , I am currently using modern Williams with a good bit of Proraso Pre/Post-Shave mixed in and getting some excellent yogurty lather.

I'm just now getting around to trying Williams again. Tried it for last night's shave and was able to make okay lather. Still dissipated quicker then I would prefer, otherwise it was still usable and the resulting shave was good.

Thanks for the suggestion to try mixing in the Proraso preshave. Any hints on how much to use? Like 1/8th tsp?

 

[rockviper]

I didn't measure it, Ed. I'd start with about a (shelled) peanut size dollop in your brush (or on the puck) and gradually move upwards until you get to the point where it's not as nice for you. You could also simply rub the Proraso (on your face as they intended with it being a pre-shave), load your brush on the soap and then face lather.

 

[Rosseforp]

I'm just now getting around to trying Williams again. Tried it for last night's shave and was able to make okay lather. Still dissipated quicker then I would prefer, otherwise it was still usable and the resulting shave was good.

Thanks for the suggestion to try mixing in the Proraso preshave. Any hints on how much to use? Like 1/8th tsp?

I grated half a bar of shea butter Dove hand soap with a puck of Williams and got really nice stable lathers from it. Then there is Wilko. Williams/Arko.

~doug~

 

[Eben Stone]

I didn't measure it, Ed. I'd start with about a (shelled) peanut size dollop in your brush (or on the puck) and gradually move upwards until you get to the point where it's not as nice for you. You could also simply rub the Proraso (on your face as they intended with it being a pre-shave), load your brush on the soap and then face lather.

Wow! I tried mixing in 1/4 tsp of the Proraso pre-shave and the results were great. I cannot say with any certainty that the resulting lather is any slicker than my favorite soaps, but I can absolutely say that tonight's shave was noticeably closer than all my prior straight razor shaves. Either I hit a SR shave milestone or this frankensoap is da bomb. Maybe both. Or maybe the stars aligned. I'll try adding 1/2 tsp next shave...

 

[rockviper]

Woohoo!! Congrats, Ed!

 

[Frankie0210]

That rumor about discontinuing Williams Mug Soap has been going around the internet since 1840.

The internet was a bit slower back in those days!

 

[Mark1977]

Williams is a good soap and it is sad to know that it is no longer been manufactured. Many have complained that it is difficult to lather and the lather dissipates quickly etc. I have had no such problems with this. It is really simple. Bloom the soap for a few minutes using hot water, use a good boar brush that has been soaking in warm water. Load the brush for roughly 30 seconds and face lather. Take your time (2-3 minutes). I get really good lather that does not dissipate. This soap is slick too. Knowing that Williams will not be available in future, I stocked up.

 

[DEgeezer]

The Williams that used to sell for under 2 bucks, are selling on Amazon for 20 dollars a puck now.
Actually that doesn't bother me a bit, because IMO there's a lot of soaps that are far better, some of which are half the price. But I know there many who really like it.

 

[Chandu]

The Williams that used to sell for under 2 bucks, are selling on Amazon for 20 dollars a puck now.
Actually that doesn't bother me a bit, because IMO there's a lot of soaps that are far better, some of which are half the price. But I know there many who really like it.

I have about 4 pucks I paid less than $8 for.

 

[Lane101]

I also don't understand how the like/disklile for this soap can be so polarizing. I decided to break out of my vegan shell to experiment with a new soap. I chose Williams. First shave with it and I think it's very easy to make great lather. Probably the second easiest soap to lather I've used so far, second to MdC. I'm amazed at the performance, IMO, same ballpark as MdC. I like the scent too, so that's a bonus.

Funny, was scrolling through this old thread and it got me thinking how, since Williams has been discontinued for over two years, Amazon is now trying to sell it for more than the cost of MdC on a per ounce bases. Williams is listed at $40 for a 50 gram puck versus 200 grams of MdC that sell for $70.

Agree that Williams, with the right technique, is easy to lather. Lather also performs well. Have not used MdC so will leave that brand comparison to you and others who have used both.

 

[Lane101]

Like many of us Williams is a favorite of mine and I hope it continues on the market. My sense is that, as the shaving soap market continues its ongoing shift from loyal users, who grew up with Williams and have used it for decades, to more recent DE shave converts that manufacturers may perceive as hobbyists, Williams could be at risk as more and more retailers drop it from their assortments of shaving products. Retailers look at gross margin contribution per product facing and a 99 cent puck of Williams is far less profitable than other mass market shaving soaps that sell for $4 - $15 each. For now the few grocers that carry Williams are selling it for one of two reasons:

1) They want a low cost product in the shaving assortment for its price halo effect (creates impression that entire assortment offers good value)
2) Analysis has identified pockets of local market demand where the low profit Williams soap in important to the overall basket of products purchased by consumers. Drop Williams from the assortment and the consumer may shift a portion of his/her shopping trips to the competition

We've already seen significant evidence of this market shift away from "old school" shaving soaps like Williams with the discontinuation of Colgate a few years back in the USA and the recent end of Palmolive shave stick production in Europe. Only a handful of retailers continue to carry Williams in-store. Combe does not support Williams with any marketing support. From Combe's perspective Williams is likely considered a near end-of-life "cash cow" that it will drop when it no longer generates sufficient profits.

Van Der Hagen has figured out that the more recent DE wet shaving converts exhibit the lower price sensitivity one might expect from hobbyists as they have shifted from $2 basic/deluxe pucks to the $4-5 Luxury pucks of very similar soaps. The rapid shift to Luxury from Deluxe on retailer shelves a few years back likely generated lots of extra profit contribution.

Bottom line that there is a significant risk that Williams could be discontinued. In my case, since our local grocer sells it for 99 cents and it has a shelf life of almost forever, I've stocked up on it in similar fashion as our B&B Palmolive Shave Stick users across the pond who did the same when that product was available for 50p in local stores.

P.S. Interesting that Walgreens, who sells Williams on-line, has been out-of-stock for the past few weeks.

Prescient analysis when I wrote this. Little did we know that Combe had already decided to discontinue Williams then with the Walgreens out-of-stock as the canary in the coal mine. Formal confirmation that Williams was discontinued came two months later in February of 2022.

 

[Rosseforp]

Prescient analysis when I wrote this. Little did we know that Combe had already decided to discontinue Williams then with the Walgreens out-of-stock as the canary in the coal mine. Formal confirmation that Williams was discontinued came two months later in February of 2022.

I remember pulling 6 pucks off the shelf at my local Stater Bros for $1.49 each to send to some of my friends that lived overseas, going back a few months later to get more, and the label and Williams were gone, about 6 months later it disappeared from Walgreens.
I still have 4 of those pucks.
MdC is better.

~doug~

 

[VBH37118]

Funny, was scrolling through this old thread and it got me thinking how, since Williams has been discontinued for over two years, Amazon is now trying to sell it for more than the cost of MdC on a per ounce bases. Williams is listed at $40 for a 50 gram puck versus 200 grams of MdC that sell for $70.

Agree that Williams, with the right technique, is easy to lather. Lather also performs well. Have not used MdC so will leave that brand comparison to you and others who have used both.

When something is discontinued people have to have it, human nature

 

[Chandu]

When something is discontinued people have to have it, human nature

True. I bought probably 5 of 7 of the last pucks at my local grocer. They were the only brick and mortar near me that stocked it.