Razor: Yaqi Mellon
Brush: CSB Plisson Synthetic
Soap: Williams Mug Shaving Soap
In my stocking this year, Santa dropped in a box of Williams Mug Shaving soap. At first, I wasn’t sure if I had been placed on the naughty or nice list. I had seen this soap for a couple bucks in seemingly every shave isle I went down and I had heard some very strong opinions about this soap. The lather-ability of this has been questioned by many wet shavers before me. I figured Santa’s heart was in the right place and wanted me to give it a go.
Given the comments I had seen before, I expected this might be a tougher lather. Since it is a hard puck, I opted to first bloom this soap in warm water while I hit the showers. Once out, I rubbed the softened puck on my face like a shave stick to do an initial load. I then took an ever-so-slightly dampened brush to the puck and loaded as well. I figured a double load could help with a stubborn soap. I then began working on a face lather.
To my surprise, I found it actually lathered quite easily with this method. It was a bit on the airy side, but as I continued to work the brush I found I was able to get a large amount of only slightly airy lather. I continued To work some of that load into my lather bowl to see how it worked. Again, slightly airy but I was able to get a stable lather out of it. Scent wise, it is a subtle, clean and maybe a touch citrus scented soap. It reminded me of a mild version of Arko.
The lather itself didn’t seem to have a lot of cushion, but it was tremendously slick. I was very impressed with the slickness. Residual slickness was very good for me as well. I was able to get a very smooth 3 pass shave. Post shave was OK, I didn’t feel overly hydrated but it didn’t dry me out either. This isn’t a soap I’d normally carry in my den, but with a little patience, you will get a really nice shave. For a couple bucks, it is very easy on the wallet as well. I’d have no issue shaving with this in the future. I’d take this over a can of goo any day.
So thank you Santa for the friendly reminder, you don’t need to spend $100 on a soap for a great shave and to remember with all shave opinions (including mine) your mileage may vary.
