Somewhere around 5 or 6 years ago I was in an antique shop with my wife and saw an old pack of Williams Mug Soap for like $2, so I bought it. I described the package to people at the time, and determined it was from late 70s/early 80s. It's sat in my shave den as a decoration since then but I recently won a PIF of CBL Tonsorial soap, which was described as similar to Williams. That led me to finally break open the old Williams and see how it performs.
I dropped the puck into a Burma Shave mug--and it fits perfectly. I didn't soak the puck or bloom it--just hot water on a synthetic brush and it whipped up great. The lather is very creamy. Usage impressions are:
Scent--5/10. This is hard to judge. On the one hand, there is NO scent (and I like scented soaps). On the other hand, it doesn't smell old or musty like I expected an old soap to be so it exceeded my expectations.
Lather--10/10. It was crazy easy to lather, which surprised me for a soap that's been sitting around for like 40 years. The lather was nice and creamy so I can't find anything to critisize.
Cushion--8/10. With a nice thick lather, it only makes sense that cushion was also great. It wasn't a cushioned as something like Stirling, but it's pretty close.
Slickness--6/10. I used a OneBlade Genesis for my shave this morning and the glide was not quite as nice as my favorite soaps (PdP, Proraso, Captains Choice), but better than many other soaps I've tried over the years (and I've tried a lot...). Only complaint is there isn't as much residual slickness for quick clean up on certain spots.
Post-shave feel--7/10. This doesn't have the moisturizing feel of something like PdP, but it didn't dry my skin like other cheap soaps (Arko, for example, really dries out my skin).
Overall, I was impressed by a soap that was so cheap and so available. I have no idea if modern Williams performs as well, but this puck is a great value.
I dropped the puck into a Burma Shave mug--and it fits perfectly. I didn't soak the puck or bloom it--just hot water on a synthetic brush and it whipped up great. The lather is very creamy. Usage impressions are:
Scent--5/10. This is hard to judge. On the one hand, there is NO scent (and I like scented soaps). On the other hand, it doesn't smell old or musty like I expected an old soap to be so it exceeded my expectations.
Lather--10/10. It was crazy easy to lather, which surprised me for a soap that's been sitting around for like 40 years. The lather was nice and creamy so I can't find anything to critisize.
Cushion--8/10. With a nice thick lather, it only makes sense that cushion was also great. It wasn't a cushioned as something like Stirling, but it's pretty close.
Slickness--6/10. I used a OneBlade Genesis for my shave this morning and the glide was not quite as nice as my favorite soaps (PdP, Proraso, Captains Choice), but better than many other soaps I've tried over the years (and I've tried a lot...). Only complaint is there isn't as much residual slickness for quick clean up on certain spots.
Post-shave feel--7/10. This doesn't have the moisturizing feel of something like PdP, but it didn't dry my skin like other cheap soaps (Arko, for example, really dries out my skin).
Overall, I was impressed by a soap that was so cheap and so available. I have no idea if modern Williams performs as well, but this puck is a great value.
