Wickham Soap Testers

Bechet45 said:
Sodt, soft water. I used a combination bowl and face lathering technique - compressed all the bits of the coconut hardsoap into a shaving bowl, softened it with a few drops of water left while I farted about. Lather began as soon as I started swirling but didn't build in th bowl so much as on the by now well loaded brush. Face lathered a treat - surprised me for a hard soap it was so good. Nice easy WTG, good slick and slide. Wet the brush tips and swirled in the bowl some more and then face lathered and got a thicker result, a bit drier and thus a tendency to dry out. Same again for third pass.Gave me a bloody good, comfortable shave with a Lab Blue in an ARC Weber.

Scent - a bit cocnutty and that 'bit' suits me to the ground.

Conclusion: a bloody good hard soap! Fine as is for me.
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Wow, thank you Carl this is very encouraging indeed. Thank you for taking the time to leave valuable feedback, it's greatly appreciated. :D

globalm said:
Finally, a question. Is the brown colour of the soap an artifact of the scent ingredients or is it intrinsic? I think the colour, while irrelevant to the shaving hobbyist might discourage casual purchases.
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Yes globalm you are right it is an artifact of the scent. It contains a small amount of vanilla. There is a chemical component in the vanilla that turns brown when it is exposed first to the hydroxide's, and then to the air. This is mainly the vanillin which is the organic compound that gives vanilla its flavor. Vanillin discoloration is a 100% natural process and is more noticable in blended scents containing higher concentrations of vanilla/vanillin.

Some soap makers make use of this as a natral colourant and while you can get chemically modified vanila that does not discolour I think it's better to just let it do it's thing.

The Sherridan's scent has the highest of this in and really does go a very dark brown, with Spice Trade having just a smidging and being the lightest of the three.
 
I haven't had the time to shave recently, busy at work etc
I did get a few minutes to quickly face lather the coconut hard soap today though.
Initially I struggled to get the soap into one piece. It kept breaking up on me into tiny pieces, but eventually I managed to press it into one flat lump in my bowl.
You can smell the coconut when it's dry and it's very pleasant. Lathering it was very easy, I used my muhle synthetic silvertip brush. As soon as I started swirling it was producing lather and so I went straight to my face with it. Now someone here said they felt there was a woodsy scent in there too when lathering. Personally I didn't get that, but I did get another scent and to my nose it was a definite marzipan scent.
The lather produced was very nice indeed. It wasn't densely thick, but it was very creamy and it also seemed very wet and slick. I had to go training so didn't get a chance to shave with it. I rinsed the lather off with cold water and my skin felt great. No dryness or tightness at all. I'm looking forward to shaving with it, but first I'll do a video review with the one I'm most looking forward to using and that's the spice trade ;)
 
Third day with the hard soap. I was going to try the Spice Trade Super Smooth today but I'm enjoying the hard soap too much and wanted to experiment further..

i changed the razor to the much milder Weber but kit otherwise the same.

I specifically wanted to experiment today as the last two shave have evinced neither alum nor AS sting, which is quite unusual for me, so today I used Lotion Opaline as an AS. This is both very strong alcoholically and full of fresh citrus with loads of citric acid. If anything will sting, this will! I face-lathered today which works very well and shaved to an excellent finish.

Alum - no sting. Lotion Opaline - no sting!!!!! Skin feel - perfect

My conclusion is that this hard soap has two major strengths. It is highly protective, particularly on what we might all the 'micro-abrasion' level, the little scratches one cannot see but which happen anyway. It also leaves my skin in the best shape of any soap I have ever used.

This is now top of my shopping list!

Darron - when do you reckon you might bring this one to market? Any thoughts on scents?
 
globalm said:
Third day with the hard soap. I was going to try the Spice Trade Super Smooth today but I'm enjoying the hard soap too much and wanted to experiment further..

i changed the razor to the much milder Weber but kit otherwise the same.

I specifically wanted to experiment today as the last two shave have evinced neither alum nor AS sting, which is quite unusual for me, so today I used Lotion Opaline as an AS. This is both very strong alcoholically and full of fresh citrus with loads of citric acid. If anything will sting, this will! I face-lathered today which works very well and shaved to an excellent finish.

Alum - no sting. Lotion Opaline - no sting!!!!! Skin feel - perfect

My conclusion is that this hard soap has two major strengths. It is highly protective, particularly on what we might all the 'micro-abrasion' level, the little scratches one cannot see but which happen anyway. It also leaves my skin in the best shape of any soap I have ever used.

This is now top of my shopping list!

Darron - when do you reckon you might bring this one to market? Any thoughts on scents?
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Hi Globalm, providing the majority of testers say that it's good to go, then it will be handed to the toxicologist to gain its EU certificate and then registered on the EU database. This process can take up to 4-5 weeks.

One thing I have noticed with this soap and that is the shave is a lot closer than with Super Smooth. I normally get a sting free shave with Super Smooth when using aftershave afterwards, but with the hard soap I can feel the tingling of the aftershave going to work on the skin. In an odd way I quite like this experience and providing there is no blood then I know I've just had the closest shave I'm likely to get.

I do have some more samples to get out which I hope will be today.

Thank you for the detailed and very useful feedback Globalm :D
 
I took an espresso spoon scoop of the Club Cola, and it was ample for at least 5 passes. Lovely smell, and had all the atributes of a damn fine soap. It was a real treat to use and thanks again for the sample pot Darron. I'll give it 10/10....
 
I have used the Sugar Rice hard soap for four days now.

In summary, it is excellent. I put some in my Suribachi and whisk with a damp brush, adding water as required.

It doesn't explode with lather but it produces plenty and, far more importantly, the lather is very, very creamy with plenty of slip and cushion. It really is very nice indeed.

I'll buy some if you bring it to market Darron.
 
I tried the English Rose Super Smooth today and I must say it's fanatic. I'm usually a big fan of rose but this one is not as heavy as others. It's bit lighter, fresher, with a slightly more zing to it. Perfect for the weather. I still have 3-4 scents left to try but the Super Smooth is clearly one of the best soaps on the market today.
 
I also tried the Super Smooth Spice Island and had my usual problem getting a thick lather - maybe I should have put it in a bowl and tried from there. Managed an adequate lather with lots of finger scooped product and face lathering. Again, the scent was acceptably low power though I cannot say to my taste - just read that there is an English Rose and that is my current 'go crazy for' scent. I'll keep my eyes open for that. For all that, got a BBS from an Astra in a Lady Gillette (designed without consideration for noses, obviously and with just as obvious consequences!) and Super Smooth Spice Island.
 
Received two lovely samples from Darron last week but only had a chance to try these yesterday. Everyone knows about the super smooth and seeming scent wasn't high on the agenda I decided to test the hard soap. This was bowl lathered initially then face lathered. Comparing this to tabac or MWF (two top hard soap performers if you didn't know already lol) the lather is not as dense or cushioning IMO. It is not (Fox's) uncomfortable to shave with I suspect it would provide a closer shave as the lather remains a thinner slicker layer. So in conclusion the slip is very good and conditioning is also good as expected with any of Darron's products. Scent wise I like the incense scent, it's a weird one for me as I usually like a very strong scent to my creams/soaps but if this was a strong scent it may be over powering as is the case with most intense incense smells (for me).
Sorry forgot to mention the hard soap was labelled sugar rice.
 
I received my samples yesterday (I was travelling) and I'll give them a whirl later.
I have the coconut hard soap and Spice Trade super smooth.
I have Darron's first batch of Spice Trade, so I'm curious to see how it has changed.
 
Mr_Smartepants said:
I received my samples yesterday (I was travelling) and I'll give them a whirl later.
I have the coconut hard soap and Spice Trade super smooth.
I have Darron's first batch of Spice Trade, so I'm curious to see how it has changed.
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As far as I know it's not changed - i too had the original spice trade - same stuff as sample.

I really like the coconut hard soap though!
 
Tried the 'Spice Trade' Super Smooth today. I have bought Super Smooth in the past and use it often. It is a great soap. I won't say much about the shaving as my views are clear enough.

The scent, however....

I liked this scent. I don't know if it was conceived as an Old Spice clone, but in my view, it isn't. It certainly nods vigorously in the direction of Old Spice, but is has a clear characteristic of it's own, being, to my nose, a drier scent with more 'genuine' spice and less carnation spice. There does remain a floral note but it is contained and subtle.

Very nice - another hit scent I feel sure.

Now, I need to buy the hard soap with Spice Trade scent please.....

..... as soon as possible!!!

A final note on the hard soap. I could not find the notes that others were reporting in the 'Sugar and Rice' scent. However, now the soap has been spread out a bit in a jar and allowed to absorb some water from the dampness of use, the scent has now come out to play. I can now get what others meant and like it much more.

Thank Darron!
 
Just finished a shave with the Spice Trade soft soap and was compelled to post and say I really, really... really... liked it.

Just loved the scent. The strength was just perfect, most definitely the strongest scented Wickham Soap that I have tried. I wasn't aware that it was designed to be an Old Spice clone when I received it, but as soon as I smelt it I put two and two together. Lovely stuff, just lovely.

Performance was great, shave is over skin feels good... just a longing for a splash of aftershave now... no prizes for guessing what I'll reach for.

Assuming this soap goes live, I'm hoping that the scent remains untouched. I did feel that my Club Cola prototype sample back in the day was scented stronger than the go live production tub I bought which I felt was weaker scent wise.

I also received the coconut hard soap, I haven't made my mind up on this yet other than to say it didn't grab me like the soft Trade Spice did. Post shave was very nice, but my initial lather efforts weren't as good as the soft soap. Will post further thoughts after a few more trials.

Thanks for the opportunity to try these soaps Darron, much appreciated.
 
Tried the coconut hard soap this morning. Lathered ok on the brush then straight onto the face, felt a little watery but this was my first try with this soap so will experiment in further shaves. Stayed on the face fine for each pass though.

The scent was nice, probably not one I would buy if I had other options, really like the smell of the spice trade! Again, for me the scent could be stronger.

Shave was good, plenty of protection, nice glide on the razor etc... What I did notice and am quite impressed with is that upon applying the warm rinse after shaving, my face felt a lot softer and smoother than it usually does. Still touching my face now and it still feels really soft and smooth.

Now I really like the performance of the super smooth soap but the reason I never bought any was down to the price. If this hard soap is going to come in at around a fiver, then depending on p&p, it's a no brainier. Would definitely buy this soap. Thanks Darron.
 
I've had two shaves with the Sugar rice hard soap.
For the 1st one, I pressed the soap into a small tin (about 2" across) which was a bit too small for loading from. I went at it with an Omega boar but probably didn't load for long enough.
1st pass (using Feather AS-D2 and GSB blade) was very nice. The scent is really warm and at a great level of strength.
Towards the end of the 2nd pass, the razor wasn't gliding quite as nicely and on the 3rd pass it even gripped a couple of times. I blame this on my poor brush loading but it's a heart stopping moment when it happens!
This morning I transferred the sample to a bigger tin and made sure I loaded for a minute before going to the face to lather up. This time all 3 passes were incident free. I still don't feel I have dialled in the soap completely. I reckon I could have added some more water and I will try that next time.
So far for me, it is not quite up there with the Super Smooth in terms of glide and the sweet spot for the right amount of water to add isn't as wide. I'll report back when I've tried a couple more shaves and see if I can get it right.
 
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