Wickham Soap Testers

I've been using the hard soap on and off. I would say it isn't as easy to lather as super smooth, but it does produce a good lather if you load hard. The only thing I could fault it for is by the time you lather for a third pass, it's dying out.
 
First go with the rice paper hard soap. Using Shavemac, Rocket HD, and second go on a Persona. I'm going to be sticking to this setup with no more than 2 uses per blade. The Rocket has a nice bite to it which really lets me judge the cushion.

Similar to what another poster said, the scent reminds me of being in china town in San Francisco or browsing the Bazar Chino poundshops in Spain. Not a scent I would choose but pretty sure I got a sense of sweetness during the shave. Will have to pay more attention next time as I was focused on the performance.

I pushed the sample down in to a 3" tin I use for samples and put in some hot water on top while soaking the brush. I possibly attacked the puck with too much water. The lather was pretty good and was definitely slick but I couldn't really paint on layer over layer of lather. I just seemed to push aside the first layer when trying to paint on a second if you follow me. Now this wasn't a big deal as the cushion was grand and as I mentioned the glide was good. All in all I got a good shave which will hopefully improve to great as I dial it in.

Post shave seems pretty good. I wanted to judge the soap on its own so I didn't use any aftershave or moisturiser (shut up Bechet45). While the skin feels good I do have some dry spots. I always use something post shave so take this with a grain of salt. I should experiment with a really moisturising soap like MWF as I could very well have the same result. All in all the post shave feels good.
 
I used the hard soap again yesterday.. kinda forced myself to try it again having been somewhat impartial to it the first few times and ignoring it for a week or so.

The scent, in this case coconut, is ok. It's nice, but it isn't wow. It doesn't grab me and make me want to come back and keep taking a sniff.

The lather was thin-ish and the shave protection wasn't great. Third pass and it was dying on the brush. Skin felt very smooth post shave, but it was just begging for some aftershave to cure the slight burning tingles.

I wanted this soap to be great. I really enjoyed the Spice Trade Super Smooth. But, for me, the hard soap was a bit of let down unfortunately and nowhere near as good as the Super Smooth.
 
I agree, jb74.
I've had a good number of shaves with it now, and actually I keep coming back for more. I will be really sad when it's gone, and I want to buy some.
It's not as good as the super soft, and that's the problem. It's likely to be way cheaper, and last forever, but we expect it to be a super soft beater.
I've dialed down my expectation and tried a few other hard soaps, and I've decided this is the best hard soap I have in my collection.
I like it. It's just not got the premium quality of the super soft.

Incidently, the tip someone said earlier about soaking the soap for a short period works wonders.

I expect Darron to tweak the formula slightly before sale, and this will make it great, but I would buy it as it is
 
3rd try with the hard soap this morning.
Left the soap covered in water whilst I showered then loaded for a good minute with my Pur Tech synthetic.
For the 1st pass I couldn't get the lather right at all. It retained far too many frothy bubbles and would then disappear.
2nd pass and 3rd pass were completely different. I got loads of super glossy lather that gave me a great shave.
Then I had a eureka moment. I reckon this soap hates pre-shave oil. I use a home blend of Argan, grapeseed, coconut and EO before every shave, but only before the 1st pass. I will try the hard soap again tomorrow without any PSO and see if my theory is correct.
 
1st go with the hard soap today...
Scent (Spice trade) is great and lasts well throughout shave, maybe just a little 'heavy' for me (more modern than vintage OS) if I'm being fussy but I'd imagine it would mellow over time.

Knocked up a lather on the face using a SOC boar, the lather was a bit thin and wet, think next time I'll load with a drier brush and add water slowly on the face. Seemed to have good slickness, a bit lacking in cushion (prob due to poor lathering) what I noticed most was the lack of slip (if that's the correct term), I found the blade sliding over the face no bother but the head of the 1914 was dragging on the skin causing a bit of skipping.

All that said I had a nice close shave with minimal irritation and I think once I've dialed in my technique most of the niggles will disappear, had nowhere near the trouble I had with MWF to begin with!

Finished off with a generous splash of OS :)
 
Used the spice trade hardsoap yesterday. Smudged a bit ina bowl and lathered using my pur tech. Got a huge amount of lather with little trouble. I found that it did thin during the shave as noted by other testers. Scent was good and i found the protection to be good also. No redness or soreness after the shave and this was noteworthy because i was using my feather with a light blade in it for only the 2nd time. It is still quite soft for a hard soap but definitely an improvement on the 1st version in all areas. Back to the rose for my next shave.
 
I use the same method for lathering as i do with MWF.
I load hard and work out all the bubbles, then i transfer to the face and build the lather.
 
Second shave yesterday with the Spice Trade hard soap, loaded harder on a drier brush, got a nice thick creamy lather but still had the head dragging/skipping on the skin. Felt slightly drying afterwards too. Certainly wouldn't buy it as is - especially not when super smooth is on offer!
 
had another shave with the spice trade hard soap too - face lathered and found it worked well - still not as good as the super smooth. didnt find the lather drying out this time - it wasn't as thick as the ss and the post shave care is less abundant so still a bit of tweaking needed. still a good soap for the price mentioned.
 
Thanks chaps, had some great feedback and there has been some changes made based on the feedback. One major change is Sheridan's will have a scent change as some folk are put off by the dark colour change it under goes as it ages. I have still yet to find a definite replacement though I do have some candidates.

The other thing is I have added just a smidging more slip and after shave protection. Someone picked up that it left their skin feeling very soft and they can't stop touching their face. There were two soaps that went out to testers that had an added ingredient called Allantoin in.

Allantoin is an active ingredient in many cosmetics, including: a moisturizing and keratolytic effect, increasing the water content of the extracellular matrix and enhancing the desquamation of upper layers of dead skin cells, increasing the smoothness of the skin; promoting cell proliferation and wound healing; and a soothing, anti-irritant, and skin protectant effect by forming complexes with irritant and sensitizing agents.

The good news is that now I know it actually does add something of value to the shave soap and is working how I had envisaged. I will be using it in the hard soap formula in trace amounts.

I have been using Allantoin in my hard soap sample for over a week with a boar brush, and I must say I am very much torn now between this soap and Super Smooth. I do plan to get more samples made up and sent out, but will have to wait until I have cleared my current work load first.

Just wanted to thank all the testers for their feedback and continued support. Thank you. :D
 
Fox said:
Thanks chaps, had some great feedback and there has been some changes made based on the feedback. One major change is Sheridan's will have a scent change as some folk are put off by the dark colour change it under goes as it ages. I have still yet to find a definite replacement though I do have some candidates.

The other thing is I have added just a smidging more slip and after shave protection. Someone picked up that it left their skin feeling very soft and they can't stop touching their face. There were two soaps that went out to testers that had an added ingredient called Allantoin in.

Allantoin is an active ingredient in many cosmetics, including: a moisturizing and keratolytic effect, increasing the water content of the extracellular matrix and enhancing the desquamation of upper layers of dead skin cells, increasing the smoothness of the skin; promoting cell proliferation and wound healing; and a soothing, anti-irritant, and skin protectant effect by forming complexes with irritant and sensitizing agents.

The good news is that now I know it actually does add something of value to the shave soap and is working how I had envisaged. I will be using it in the hard soap formula in trace amounts.

I have been using Allantoin in my hard soap sample for over a week with a boar brush, and I must say I am very much torn now between this soap and Super Smooth. I do plan to get more samples made up and sent out, but will have to wait until I have cleared my current work load first.

Just wanted to thank all the testers for their feedback and continued support. Thank you. :D
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Sounds all very promising Darren. Regarding darkening, my Spice scent tub has gone really dark, doesn't effect performance at all but looks a little odd!
 
BraveBlades said:
Fox said:
Thanks chaps, had some great feedback and there has been some changes made based on the feedback. One major change is Sheridan's will have a scent change as some folk are put off by the dark colour change it under goes as it ages. I have still yet to find a definite replacement though I do have some candidates.

The other thing is I have added just a smidging more slip and after shave protection. Someone picked up that it left their skin feeling very soft and they can't stop touching their face. There were two soaps that went out to testers that had an added ingredient called Allantoin in.

Allantoin is an active ingredient in many cosmetics, including: a moisturizing and keratolytic effect, increasing the water content of the extracellular matrix and enhancing the desquamation of upper layers of dead skin cells, increasing the smoothness of the skin; promoting cell proliferation and wound healing; and a soothing, anti-irritant, and skin protectant effect by forming complexes with irritant and sensitizing agents.

The good news is that now I know it actually does add something of value to the shave soap and is working how I had envisaged. I will be using it in the hard soap formula in trace amounts.

I have been using Allantoin in my hard soap sample for over a week with a boar brush, and I must say I am very much torn now between this soap and Super Smooth. I do plan to get more samples made up and sent out, but will have to wait until I have cleared my current work load first.

Just wanted to thank all the testers for their feedback and continued support. Thank you. :D
Click to expand...

Sounds all very promising Darren. Regarding darkening, my Spice scent tub has gone really dark, doesn't effect performance at all but looks a little odd!
Click to expand...

Yes it's a natral oxidation process of a scent compound called vanillin, its activated when it comes in to contact with the hydroxides. I have posted about this in an earlier post here or in one of my other threads that were moved.

Sheridan's was sent out to some testers, I didn't have enought to send to everyone so some people got a random scent with their hard soap.
 
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