Williams Mug Shave Soap

Not true. Check the label. "Tallow" is nowhere to be found.

This one?

 Not true. Check the label. "Tallow" is nowhere to be found.

This one?

I stand corrected. It's certainly there. No longer the first ingredient, but there.

I can get some great and easy lathers with Williams some days, and then I can occasionally get some airy quick drying lather on others. I think the longer I load the brush the better lathers have been the result. The puck also seems to benefit from frequent use. I've been hitting mine hard the last few weeks, and it's been a little easier to work with than it was straight out of the box.

I like the scent, the price, and frankly I like the challenge of trying to use it. That said I haven't been afraid of clearing it off my face and using a different soap some mornings if it looks thin.

I have some new Williams pucks in storage and once in a while I call upon it. Tonight was such a night on a 2½ day beard. Razor was a Gillette Tech post-war and a "blue box" Gillette Platinum blade with about 4 shaves on it. Hot shower prep with a salicylic acid face scrub and the resultant shave was perfect. Of course I did soak the puck in hot water while I showered before shaving and used a YaQi  "Mew Brown"/SynBad) synthetic brush.

For me at least using this technique I get the same amount of slickness as with an expensive top tier soap. Blindfolded you couldn't tell them apart.  

I have some new Williams pucks in storage and once in a while I call upon it. Tonight was such a night on a 2½ day beard. Razor was a Gillette Tech post-war and a "blue box" Gillette Platinum blade with about 4 shaves on it. Hot shower prep with a salicylic acid face scrub and the resultant shave was perfect. Of course I did soak the puck in hot water while I showered before shaving and used a YaQi  "Mew Brown"/SynBad) synthetic brush.

For me at least using this technique I get the same amount of slickness as with an expensive top tier soap. Blindfolded you couldn't tell them apart.  

To which "top tier soap" did you compare Williams?

After evaluating 90 different soap formulations, I find Williams is usable, but in my evaluations, it ranks five from the bottom in performance. Yes, there ARE worse soaps.

It is one of the more difficult soaps to lather.
I has decent primary slickness, but no where up to the level of today's top tier soaps. I get a slicker lather from Yardley of London bath soap than I do from Williams.
The residual slickness is poor. Do not attempt to do clean-up strokes without relathering.
The level of cushion/protection provided by the lather is poor. My sensitive face gets irritated when trying to get a close shave.
The post-shave feel is OK. It does not leave my face feeling tight or dry, but it does not leave it moisturized and conditioned, either.

You might not be able to tell Williams apart from a top tier soap if blindfolded, but I could easily do so as I have developed a system for evaluating performance.

I started with Williams modern formula many years ago so I was not a good lather maker. I found it super slick but the lather was more foam than lather. Hey, it worked and I was happy. Then I ran across the forums and a Stirling puck hit my counter. Nope. No contest. Stirling was as slick as Williams but the foam was actually lather. Now with even more years, greatly expanded lather making skills, and hundreds of shaves with most all the soapers, ill still revisit Williams on occasion. There is a nostalgic draw there but performance wise, it jus5 doesn’t stand up.

One of the secrets to getting a soap to work well is the type of facial pre-wash used. I cannot emphasize this enough. You have to use something that can get in between the hairs to lubricate as well as remove dirt & sebum. AHA & BHA cleansers do this better IMO. They impart a lubricity that I can't get from just plain water or a bar of body soap. Also, synthetic brushes make Williams a delight to lather whereas boar as an example takes too much work and can cause brush "burn". I only have one boar brush left for that matter and despise using it as they don''t "mash" well like a synthetic for face lathering.