Williams Mug Soap

[cnichol3]

I dont understand what all the fuss is about. I find Williams to yield a great lather and be a great product; yeah the new formulation. If you like Williams, good for you!! If you dont, quit giving such bad reviews and hate because a lot of people like it. Maybe you just dont know how to use it. Keep spending your high dollar on "better products"
*Sorry for venting*

 

[Mick]

Not too many products would be around as long as Williams has been if they were "truly" bad.

Just because someone can't make a lather does not mean the products they can't make work are bad.

 

[shavefreak]

Where was there fuss? need a link

 

[DFSDAILY]

Where was there fuss? need a link

Hang around long enough and there's usually a multi page thread started every 3-4 months.

 

[Kevan]

There are people who can't get on with Williams and people who can't get on with MWF and people who can't get on with C&E, etc....

For me, Williams provided a weak lather that was slick but also extremely drying.

 

[shavefreak]

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/319355-Williams-Shaving-Soap

What do you know right under this post

 

[cnichol3]

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/319355-Williams-Shaving-Soap

What do you know right under this post

whats your point?

 

[TonyJoe]

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/319355-Williams-Shaving-Soap

What do you know right under this post

whats your point?

I think he was just answering his own question:

Where was there fuss? need a link

 

[cnichol3]

Theres plenty of links all across the B&B. But I still dont understand what all the dislike is about. I know there are people that dont like it but why does it seem like everyone posts about how much they hate it?

 

[cnichol3]

I know there are some people that dont like TOBS but you dont see it plastered all over the forum about how much it is hated.

 

[Kevan]

Why does it bother you so much that people don't like Williams?

 

[cnichol3]

It doesnt bother me. Im not trying to be confrontational or anything. I just see posts all the time about how people dont like it. I just wonder whats so bad about it. Ive used it with great results and dont understand honestly.

 

[JBLA]

Maybe I'm a little biased, as an aspiring maker of premium shaving soap, but I think the anti-Williams sentiment is similar to what you'd see on a wine forum if every couple of days somebody started a new thread talking about how great Two Buck Chuck was. (Two Buck Chuck is the nickname for Charles Shaw wine, a brand sold by the Trader Joe's supermarket chain for $2 and change.)

Now Two Buck Chuck is delightful, and I've got a few bottles of the shiraz in my fridge, but if I were on a wine forum, and there were ongoing discussions of the importance of terroir, and varying flavor notes, and whether the preferred white this spring was going to be the chardonnay or the pinot grigio, and people debating whether to save up for a vacation in Bordeaux or Napa, I can see why regular threads singing the praises of a wine made by a mega supermarket chain buying the surplus product of other vintners, mixing it together, bottling it, and retailing it at a rock bottom price, might rub some of the wine connoisseurs the wrong way, despite the fact that the wine itself is rather tasty, and has actually won awards.

Similarly with Williams. Rather than getting a story like Martin De Candre, where the soap is handmade in France and cured in wooden boxes for four months before being packaged for sale, or one of the folks on the vendor/hobbyist forums, where a fellow B&Ber is making a beautifully lathering artisanal shaving soap. Williams is a subsidiary of a company that also makes Sea Bond denture adhesive, Just For Men, and Vagisil, and the soap is sold in your average drug store for a buck or two a bar.

There's nothing wrong with that, and there are plenty of people who like the product, but for shaving soap enthusiasts who like a little mystique, you're not going to find much with Williams, other than the fact that the brand name (but not the soap formula) has been around since 1840. Add the fact that some people find it drying and hard to lather, and you can see why it's not all that popular.

It may also be the soap version of Gresham's law. E.g. instead of people worrying about bad money driving out good, people may worry about bad soap driving out good, as people buy the cheap stuff thinking it's just as good as a more expensive product, and pretty soon the makers of the higher-end products lose their customer base, and all that's left is the cheap stuff. (See also Wal-Mart and the decline of the American manufacturing sector, etc.)

Since the tools for wet shaving are pretty much truly discretionary purchases, many people prefer spending the few extra bucks on the good stuff, and see the continued enthusiasm for the mass-produced discount product as emblematic of larger problems in our society, which can create a little ire.

Or maybe I'm overthinking this.

 

[oldbluelight]

JBLA's analysis is spot on. Excellent summation.

 

[attime6]

Hang around long enough and there's usually a multi page thread started every 3-4 months.

Not too long ago you would see one every week, or maybe it was just one long thread.

 

[Topgumby]

JBLA, that's a great response, but where I think the analogy to the wine forum breaks down a little is that there is a sizable group of folks who make the leap to traditional shaving based on cost of cartridges and canned stuff, and there is shaving zen to be had in keeping the wet shave simple and cheap.

As to Williams and mystique...Merriam Webster says mystique is:

1: an air or attitude of mystery and reverence developing around something or someone

2: the special esoteric skill essential in a calling or activity

I'd have to say that Williams fills both bills here. Williams has a little following of cult supporters and haters on the board, even though it appears to me that Arko is filling that role more often nowadays. Also, if you can bend Williams to your lathering will, you are doing something that other people apparently can't, and that adds a Jimmy Dugan element to the whole thing. The hard is what makes it great.

At this point in the game, I don't think it's very likely that the niche market of shaving soap is going to be corrupted by the shingles virus of Williams, that has existed in the wet shaving body for a very long, long time.

It's much more likely that Williams will vanish due to the growing number of new wet shavers who are exposed to the undeniable advantages of luxury products, or inexpensive alternatives like Arko, and the passing of older consumers who don't do shaving forums and have blissfully been purchasing the stuff for years without the benefit of having us whippersnappers tell them that Williams blows.

Also, there's probably more than a few posters who just enjoy the minor controversy for creative and comic reasons alone. Maybe it's time the Gunny came back and filled us in.

 

[TonyJoe]

I'd also add to JBLA's and Topgumby's comments that Williams was a far better product in the past while still being near the same price point. Now after being bought by different companies over the years, its formula has been changed (more than likely to maximize profits while keeping the price very low) and it's become a shadow of its former self. I've got a puck of Williams that is from somewhere between 1963 and 1977 and it's an outstanding soap. Even if they charged 5 times the current price (which would make it a whopping $5), I'd buy it without thinking twice if the modern version would perform like the vintage one. But the folks who make Williams seem to think that the majority of the people who buy their soap are the ones who still remember when it cost 20 cents and they are worried that they will lose this market if the price goes too high. They might be right, but as Topgumby stated, that kind of thinking only ensures that eventually there won't be anyone left who will buy their soap.

 

[cnichol3]

I think I got much better responses than I was bargaining for. I too have seen the love/hate with Arko that was mentioned. I guess the same soap and wine analogy can go for that product as well.

 

[Aschecte]

Hate is a strong word here I think..... dislike maybe.... avoid.... but hate Williams.... I doubt anyone truly hates it. I personally find it to be ok it's not my go to soap but I do use it occasionally. What I find interesting about Williams is how different it behaves than all my other soaps it's like the perfect storm of shave soaps you need the perfect brush, exact amount of water to soap ratio and the exact mixing technique but once you get all those variables in place it works fine. I'll be the first to admit I don't think my skill is up to par with using Williams as whenever I think I have it right the stuff turns to dust on my face before I get through my first pass... is it a fault with the soap or with me .... it must be me or Williams would be out of business but ironically it's the only soap I have that does this all my others "work" just fine. not knocking it just my own observation.

 

[n2hql]

Been using Williams and OS for years. True, the new Williams isn't as good as the old, I still find that it works, it is drying, but a good balm takes care of that.