Some brands have been around a long time… and few shaving soaps have been around longer than Williams’ Shave Soap. It has in fact been around a staggering 181 years – even if the formulation have changed more than once during that time.

So back in 1900 – which was, mind you, before Gillette patented his safety razor – Williams had already made shaving soap for sixty years.

As a fun sidebar, despite the claim that the soap were “Famous from Pole to Pole”, neither the North nor the South Pole had been reached at the time. Frederick Cook and Robert Perry both claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1908 and 1909 respectively, but both claims are widely accepted as exaggeration or outright fraudulent today.¹ Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole in December of 1911, but while his expedition took care to trim their beards they used a mechanical trimmer and not Williams’ Shave Soap.

1) It is generally accepted today that the first persons to reach the North Pole was – once again – Roald Amundsen, and the 15 others aboard the airship Norge.