10+ on that
Mistake #1 Revisting Williams
- Thread starter tlentz
- Start date
There you are. At first Williams might need a bit more attention than your average soap but once you know it, it lathers perfectly. Not cheap or easy to get overhere but I enjoy it and take care of my little stash!
A good rule of thumb is to keep adding water until there isn't any more Williams left on your face.
Williams is not for everyone. Some folks find it finicky and don't want to spend so much time dealing with it. Some folks say it disappears on their face no matter what they do. My usual advice to those folks is to use Williams as the soap for superlather or uberlather. If you do that, IMHO it would be hard not to get a superb lather from this soap.
As mentioned in last post I was going to try this soap today. I had tried this but once about 15 years ago and was not pleased. I was going to go into this with an open mind and here is what I have concluded.
Lets start with a little information. Shaving the usual 2 day beard, tool of choice for this is my Merkur 34c with a brand new Wilkinson Sword in it, VDH pure badger brush (wasn't going to use my Omega silvertip as I thought I would need a stiffer brush for this soap). Since I had a practice lather 2 different ways the other day I decided to bowl lather because this soap seems to need a little work.
The usual shower first while the brush soaks and water on puck in hopes it would soften or hydrate. Sink full of hot water I grab the bowl it is in but still can't get the puck to stick to the bottom so puck in hand I went to work on the puck, and I worked the puck some more, looking at what I had on the brush I worked it some more. Time estimated loading the brush around a minute 15 seconds maybe closer to a minute 30 seconds, about 4 times longer then I am used to with the VDH Luxury soap I had been using. Now since my face doesn't care for the VDH brush and is a little scritchy I grabbed the bowl the puck was in added a few drops of water and worked it for about 30 seconds, but not getting a decent lather yet so by TheVez2's advice use more water. Now I got a good thick lather after another half minute to a minute of whipping. Worked the nice lather onto the face and now thinking I may have added too much water because there was a little cream now running down the handle and my hand but the lather looks and feels thick enough. Grabbed the razor and started the shave, razor doesn't feel like it is sliding like it should but I have to keep in mind that this is a different soap. Finished up with the first pass but feeling it was not a smooth shave but I will get it with a second pass as I have before. Even though the brush had enough in it the bowl looked like it was a little dry but lets only add a couple drops of water and I worked the bowl for the second pass and it whipped right up. I think maybe the second pass lather was slightly better than the first but the VDH brush is a lather hog and won't give up the lather easily so I just squeezed it out and worked that on the face. Second pass like the first the razor feels like it was dragging. I ended up with a few spots I had to touch up with a third pass but I opted just to grab the Gillette foamy and touch the neck up. The other nasty thing I found out is the scum this soap leaves behind in the sink and on the razor. Guessing it is because it is a tallow based soap. It reminds me of a number of years ago trying Ivory soap in the shower and that soap doesn't work well with hard water.
Conclusion, if you were on a budget this soap will work and will get you by. If you are feeling nostalgic and want to try something your Dad or your Granddad used then go for it. I will likely give this soap another try or two down the road but I would much rather stick with my VDH deluxe soap as it feels like it has more glide, it is a lot easier to lather, I can face lather with it and I don't need a separate bowl because my face can't take the workout of Williams to face lather. VDH only takes maybe 15 to 20 seconds to load the brush, that is a fourth the time I worked the Williams. Cost wise, sure Williams only costs $1.05 plus tax but it takes 2 bars to equal one VDH Deluxe bar, which means the VDH cost me about $.70 more per 1.75oz than the Williams. I would gladly pay that little bit extra for half the hassle of the Williams. Will I buy Williams again? No! I am not one to toss things out without trying them again so chance are I will get a few uses out of it before it sits around under the sink.
Even though I am new to this and only have tried a few soaps, this being one of them, I would not recommend it to someone starting out. This is one of those soaps that it either works for you or it doesn't. I fall into the latter category. It seems to be a tough soap to work with so my thoughts is why would I make my shave experience more difficult than it has to be. I already did that by switching from press a button instant lather in a can to soaps the way it is. JMO.
Lets start with a little information. Shaving the usual 2 day beard, tool of choice for this is my Merkur 34c with a brand new Wilkinson Sword in it, VDH pure badger brush (wasn't going to use my Omega silvertip as I thought I would need a stiffer brush for this soap). Since I had a practice lather 2 different ways the other day I decided to bowl lather because this soap seems to need a little work.
The usual shower first while the brush soaks and water on puck in hopes it would soften or hydrate. Sink full of hot water I grab the bowl it is in but still can't get the puck to stick to the bottom so puck in hand I went to work on the puck, and I worked the puck some more, looking at what I had on the brush I worked it some more. Time estimated loading the brush around a minute 15 seconds maybe closer to a minute 30 seconds, about 4 times longer then I am used to with the VDH Luxury soap I had been using. Now since my face doesn't care for the VDH brush and is a little scritchy I grabbed the bowl the puck was in added a few drops of water and worked it for about 30 seconds, but not getting a decent lather yet so by TheVez2's advice use more water. Now I got a good thick lather after another half minute to a minute of whipping. Worked the nice lather onto the face and now thinking I may have added too much water because there was a little cream now running down the handle and my hand but the lather looks and feels thick enough. Grabbed the razor and started the shave, razor doesn't feel like it is sliding like it should but I have to keep in mind that this is a different soap. Finished up with the first pass but feeling it was not a smooth shave but I will get it with a second pass as I have before. Even though the brush had enough in it the bowl looked like it was a little dry but lets only add a couple drops of water and I worked the bowl for the second pass and it whipped right up. I think maybe the second pass lather was slightly better than the first but the VDH brush is a lather hog and won't give up the lather easily so I just squeezed it out and worked that on the face. Second pass like the first the razor feels like it was dragging. I ended up with a few spots I had to touch up with a third pass but I opted just to grab the Gillette foamy and touch the neck up. The other nasty thing I found out is the scum this soap leaves behind in the sink and on the razor. Guessing it is because it is a tallow based soap. It reminds me of a number of years ago trying Ivory soap in the shower and that soap doesn't work well with hard water.
Conclusion, if you were on a budget this soap will work and will get you by. If you are feeling nostalgic and want to try something your Dad or your Granddad used then go for it. I will likely give this soap another try or two down the road but I would much rather stick with my VDH deluxe soap as it feels like it has more glide, it is a lot easier to lather, I can face lather with it and I don't need a separate bowl because my face can't take the workout of Williams to face lather. VDH only takes maybe 15 to 20 seconds to load the brush, that is a fourth the time I worked the Williams. Cost wise, sure Williams only costs $1.05 plus tax but it takes 2 bars to equal one VDH Deluxe bar, which means the VDH cost me about $.70 more per 1.75oz than the Williams. I would gladly pay that little bit extra for half the hassle of the Williams. Will I buy Williams again? No! I am not one to toss things out without trying them again so chance are I will get a few uses out of it before it sits around under the sink.
Even though I am new to this and only have tried a few soaps, this being one of them, I would not recommend it to someone starting out. This is one of those soaps that it either works for you or it doesn't. I fall into the latter category. It seems to be a tough soap to work with so my thoughts is why would I make my shave experience more difficult than it has to be. I already did that by switching from press a button instant lather in a can to soaps the way it is. JMO.
I tried Williams once and got crap lather as well. Plus the citronella scent gave me a headache. Maybe I'll revisit it again someday but I doubt it.
