What's new

Another Williams Rave.

dabrock

dabrock

BRITD said:
:clap::clap::clap:That is the best strawman argument I have seen all year. Classic!

proxy.php
Click to expand...

Hmm, actually it's not a straw man since this argument was introduced by the previous post but it is a trivial objection and the goat is just a a plain non sequitur. We now return to our regularly scheduled Williams Battle Royal.:001_tt2:
 
California Cajun

California Cajun

SliceOfLife said:
People use it because they want to. And the reason they want to is because so many people tell them it's impossible to get good lather from it. It's not. It's just way more of a hassle than it is worth for most. That doesn't make it a good soap. It'd be a acceptable soap if you don't mind the soaking, but for the fact that its existence is a constant reminder of the fantastic soap that got axed to save a few cents a puck. Most people would pay $5 a puck for old williams and be happy. Hell, the guys buying it pay $10-15. But, because it's a novelty product that the manufacturer clearly only continues to produce out of habit, we get a $1 puck that more people ridicule than purchase. It sells more pucks out of curiosity and novelty than by its performance. Calling THAT a good soap is absurd.
Click to expand...

Those are pretty tough remarks, but at the risk of ruffling some feathers, I agree with them.

I have four framed ads for Williams Soap. It kind of bugs me to have to get the best mainstream products overseas. I'd like to see the nostalgic American products with a storied history remain top notch.
 
Last edited:
dabrock

dabrock

California Cajun said:
Those are pretty tough remarks, but at the risk of ruffling some feathers, I agree with them.

I have four framed ads for Williams Soap. It kind of bugs me to have to get the best mainstream products overseas. I'd like to see the nostalgic American products with a storied history remain top notch.
Click to expand...

I've heard that their is a company in the US that has created a copy of original Williams that is supposed to be pretty good but I cannot remember the name off the top of my head. Hopefully someone can provide that name again. I wouldn't mind trying that product.
 
California Cajun

California Cajun

dabrock said:
I've heard that their is a company in the US that has created a copy of original Williams that is supposed to be pretty good but I cannot remember the name off the top of my head. Hopefully someone can provide that name again. I wouldn't mind trying that product.
Click to expand...

I use that product. It's Prairie Creations "Walters Shaving Soap."
 
SliceOfLife

SliceOfLife

TheWiseJanitor said:
The 4.4 ounce Tabac is on Amazon, by the time I got to the checkout, with standard shipping, I was at $28 for the puck alone, the one that comes in a bowl came out to $34. To compare that to a $2 shaving puck that you can buy and use the same day is absurd and borderline comical. The people who criticize Williams all day but happily put it in the same ring with a $20-35 puck are drowning in their own efforts.
Click to expand...

Tabac was $9 with free shipping from some perfume house website for years. It seems to have spiked in price lately, but I would expect that to come down. Doesn't matter for me. I bought a backup puck for $11 on a free shipped package when I bought a brush or some other soaps from Bullgoose or WCS or someone else like those guys two years ago, so I've got two decades worth of Tabac soap for $20. If you prefer, compare it to speick stick, which is an even better soap than tabac, costs $5.50, and lasts easily 3x as long as a puck of Williams.


Theres also the south african Williams shave stick, which performs about the same as a super-soaked puck of williams, but without the soaking... maybe a hair better. In my opinion still not up to par with the vintage, and it costs $12 (Plus shipping maybe? I forget) to get in the States. I haven't used it enough times to say definitely what the difference is, but I suspect they are using slightly more coconut oil and less stearic acid in it. It could just be that the age on the vintage Williams improves it that much, though I doubt it. It's still a pretty decent soap, but I really wish it performed as well as Vintage. I certainly won't replace mine when its gone, but I'm sure I'll use it now and then.
 
Last edited:
TripleG

TripleG

In clearing out a family member's house, a few pucks of old Williams were found. I'm now interested enough to give it a whirl!
 
Topgumby

Topgumby

Now this is more like the Williams threads I knew and loved!

Great!

Hate!

Great!

Hate!

If'n we are lucky, this could go on for about six more pages and get at least two of us sent to the corner by our esteemed and erstwhile mods.

Pass the popcorn!
 
mftoms59

mftoms59

Last edited:
Frankthetank

Frankthetank

SliceOfLife said:
The latest craze for soaking the crap out of the puck is the reason people have started loving it. The reason modern Williams fails so miserably for most is that they make it almost pure Sodium salts (since they are trying to make it as cheaply as possible and NaOH costs considerably less than KOH in the quantities they buy it in). Sodium salts make for more difficult lathering because of lower solubility. Leaving the puck soaking for a great deal of time seems to counteract this. You can actually make a soap almost unlatherable using pure NaOH salts in it. Soak it long enough and it will perform remarkably well. Other tricks included mashing it with glycerin or adding glycerin to the top of the puck before loading rather than water, both take advantage of Na-salts being far more soluble in alcohols than in water at room temperature.

If you use Williams daily, Invest in an airtight container and just leave it submerged at all times and it'll work great. Probably should change the water out now and then, though.

In the end it's still a bad soap. It's much better than many other bad soaps, and once you know the trick to it, the LATHER itself is not bad. The reason I consider it a bad soap is that there are DOZENS of soaps out there that don't require this and provide lather as good or better, including all Williams prior to the current formula. If you like the novelty of shaving with something that most people won't bother with, or that costs a dollar, more power to you. But it surprises me when people get excited about getting lather out of it after a 20 minute soak. If someone tried to sell most people of any era a shaving soap with the understanding that it required that long a soak to perform well, they'd have been laughed at. But because it's viewed as an accomplishment, people seem almost happy to do it, hell they regard the soap as better because of it.


Really, you haven't. Get your hands on some vintage Williams, which is ACTUALLY an extremely well made soap that outperforms the modern version with none of the hassle. Hell you don't even need to soak it. It's a truly well-engineered and well-made soap. And IT is why Williams stood the test of time. Modern Williams is a travesty compared to what was one of the greatest shave soaps ever made. If you've got no problem soaking your soap twenty minutes in advance of your shave, you can get fine shaves with the modern stuff, but there are far, far better options out there still.
Click to expand...

+1, I find modern Williams soap to be garbage. Thin, foamy lather, useless. Even if I could figure out how to use it, I have so many soaps that are so easy to use its not worth the extra effort. I like the scent though. So for me, Arko is a great compromise! Lemony scent, awesome performance, super cheap (comparable to William's). And IMO, coolest packaging in the business! Not that its very important, just a nice plus :001_smile
 
S

s2mason

Lol.... I like the passion. I've not had a good experience, and PIF'd my last new puck. Perhaps I too failed the technique test...? It's hard to argue with the OP's logic here when we consider as even being on this forum that we are by and large a group of gents who take our time at the sink enjoying our hobby. 20 minute soak is hardly unreasonable. Especially considering most of us have a rotation
 
G

GBerry

mftoms59 said:
You really should shop around, you can get a Tabac refill puck for ~$14-15; http://www.westcoastshaving.com/Tabac-Original-Shaving-Soap-Refill_p_151.html even if shipping is ~$3, it'll last longer than Williams, easier to lather and builds into a better lather... no soak needed.
Click to expand...

Tabac is a breeze to lather with. A three minute soak will get the job done and I can load a medium boar with enough Tabac to get 4 passes plus touch ups. The puck lasts a good long time.

s2mason said:
Lol.... I like the passion. I've not had a good experience, and PIF'd my last new puck. Perhaps I too failed the technique test...? It's hard to argue with the OP's logic here when we consider as even being on this forum that we are by and large a group of gents who take our time at the sink enjoying our hobby. 20 minute soak is hardly unreasonable. Especially considering most of us have a rotation
Click to expand...

I keep coming back to Williams because it is very slick.

My third puck of Williams is failing to soften after 3 eight hour soaks. I am thinking about putting boiling water over it and see if that helps.

Any thoughts on why this may be happening and what to do about it?
 
JCinPA

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
I'm glad to see these Williams threads popping up! I used it for years before I joined here and 'learned' it was crap. :lol:

I never had the benefit of all the instruction around here (which I think often is so much it's confusing), but it was called "mug shaving soap". So that's how I used it. I shaved in the shower filled the mug with water, dumped my brush in it and let that sit till I was done showering. Then I'd pour out the water, give the brush a couple shakes and build the lather right on the soap in the mug. Did a couple light passes with a cart razor.

Once I got here about 3 years ago I was surprised to hear all the Williams hate. When these threads popped up, I bought a new puck an used it for a solid week. I also have a vintage Williams I got on eBay.

Couple of thoughts now that Williams is respectable again. It should be! It's on a par with soaps like Col. Conk and VDH, in my opinion. It is ridiculously slick, no doubt about that.

That said, after a week with it I did a Cella shave then a Tabac shave. And tossed the rest of the Williams puck. While it's as decent as VDH, Col Conk and other drug store soaps, after 3 years of using other stuff, I don't think it can hold a candle to Cella or Tabac. It's good stuff, but I don't want to go back. It just does not have the density I like now. Slick, it works, it's not a bad soap at all, and I'm glad folks found that out.

But to me, my goal is not to use the cheapest stuff I can find and on that score, I don't think Williams can hold a candle to Arko, either. And you do go through it fast. I'm convinced the way Tabac lasts, it's cheaper than modern Williams on a per-shave basis.

Anyway, glad you folks are finding it usable, it really is good stuff because of the slickness, I just prefer other stuff now. By the way if you can get hold of a vintage Williams puck, try it. It is several orders of magnitude better than the new stuff. I don't know how a company can blow a reformulation so badly, but Williams sure did.

Thanks for getting me to revisit my old standby! And you guys have fun! :001_cool: I don't think I'll be joining WISE, though, gonna stick to Cella, Proraso, Tabac, my QCS favorites and a couple creams. But I'm glad I revisited my roots!
 
dabrock

dabrock

I don't have any "special" technique for lathering Williams, any soap that I use that is thirsty I do pretty much the same thing:
1) soak the brush and soap while showering
2) drain mug with soap and keep brush very wet
3) lather upside down and let as much of the suds drain into the mixing bowl (I don't face lather)
4) Once I feel drag I take as much of the remaining suds out of the mug with my brush and wipe them on the edge of the bowl
5) mix vigorously with moderate pressure on the brush

I usually get a great lather very quickly without adding any more water. I use this with Williams, L'Occitane Cade, AOS w/Tallow, MWF etc and it works very well. If it's an easier to lather soap I go with a drier brush and add water as I go like most people recommend. I started doing this because I really hate adding small portions of water at a time when I know it needs a heavy water load.

Hope this might help others.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TheVez2
Williams Mug Longevity
Replies
10
Views
1K
honeycutt
honeycutt
Aziraphale
Tallow Mug Pucks
Replies
13
Views
2K
Chandu
Chandu
A
GIVEAWAY! Soap & misc. PIF (Pay It Forward), Part IV
2
Replies
37
Views
2K
dmshaver
dmshaver
H
So that time when arko was hard to lather because the shaver started doing it wrong.
Replies
1
Views
887
Alex Jr
Alex Jr
Barley
Am I Chasing A Unicorn?
2
Replies
37
Views
3K
Stikeyoda
Stikeyoda
Top Bottom