Wickham Soap Testers

I received the v2 in Rose and Sheridans yesterday and used the Rose this morning (thank you Darron). The scents on both are very nice. Not too strong but slightly 'more' than the super smooth.

I don't really like to judge something based on one use but, and I hope you don't take this as a criticism I think you're a victim of you're own success. By that I mean that your super smooth is such a good product and to me the best soap out there currently that your hard soap just simply can't compete with it. The sample lathered easily and produced a decent volume but to me super smooth is superior in every way. It is slicker, easier to lather, provides better cushion and it can not be beat for post shave feel.

This isn't to say that your hard isn't good as it easily matches up to what's out there currently. If your hard soap had been developed first followed by your super smooth or I tried your hard soap first then tried super smooth then I would be mightily impressed and it'd be easy to justify the purchase but as it is I just think the hard soap is a regression from the super smooth. In super smooth you have such a top drawer product that I'm not really sure why there is a need for the hard soap. The introduction of super smooth in the 80g containers was a good idea as the price can put people off. I personally think that whilst £14.50 for 160g represents excellent value considering I've been using the club cola for months on and off without even so much as a dent being made in it a smaller size/offering is better because let's face it, the majority of people will not stick to just one tub of soap. You see it all the time on here people buying 3-4 years worth of soap in different scents and stock piling for the apocalypse (me being one of them at one stage). It's like MdC; that jar can last well over a year of constant use. How many people actually go back for more? With the 80g container people don't feel so put off by the price and they might actually come close to finishing it and then buying it again.

I'd be interested to see if you could start moving into bath soaps or shampoo bars as to me you've already nailed the shaving soap with super smooth.
 
Lb1 said:
I received the v2 in Rose and Sheridans yesterday and used the Rose this morning (thank you Darron). The scents on both are very nice. Not too strong but slightly 'more' than the super smooth.

I don't really like to judge something based on one use but, and I hope you don't take this as a criticism I think you're a victim of you're own success. By that I mean that your super smooth is such a good product and to me the best soap out there currently that your hard soap just simply can't compete with it. The sample lathered easily and produced a decent volume but to me super smooth is superior in every way. It is slicker, easier to lather, provides better cushion and it can not be beat for post shave feel.

This isn't to say that your hard isn't good as it easily matches up to what's out there currently. If your hard soap had been developed first followed by your super smooth or I tried your hard soap first then tried super smooth then I would be mightily impressed and it'd be easy to justify the purchase but as it is I just think the hard soap is a regression from the super smooth. In super smooth you have such a top drawer product that I'm not really sure why there is a need for the hard soap. The introduction of super smooth in the 80g containers was a good idea as the price can put people off. I personally think that whilst £14.50 for 160g represents excellent value considering I've been using the club cola for months on and off without even so much as a dent being made in it a smaller size/offering is better because let's face it, the majority of people will not stick to just one tub of soap. You see it all the time on here people buying 3-4 years worth of soap in different scents and stock piling for the apocalypse (me being one of them at one stage). It's like MdC; that jar can last well over a year of constant use. How many people actually go back for more? With the 80g container people don't feel so put off by the price and they might actually come close to finishing it and then buying it again.

I'd be interested to see if you could start moving into bath soaps or shampoo bars as to me you've already nailed the shaving soap with super smooth.
Click to expand...

Liam you are very shrewd, the hard soap has been formulated because I wanted to cater for a different market. The idea behind it is to make the best soap for under £5. The reason is because of the number of emails and comments in the forums and groups where people were telling me that £14.50 for a 160g tub of shaving soap was just too much and that it is over priced.

Unfortunately I can't drop the price of Super Smooth any more than what I have currently done, not unless one thing happens. If demand was to increase it would warrant me to automate some of the processes which are labour intensive. Super Smooth is made using a traditional method but there are some additional processes that are not normally used or needed for other soaps. I obviously won't go in to great detail but these steps are needed in order to stabilise the soap for use.

The new shave soap is just a soap that fills a gap in the market for Wickham Soaps, I thought if I could turn all the people complaining of price into customers then I might be able to use the profit to reduce Super Smooth further which would help to kick start a demand for it. What a funny notion I thought, imagine that, the complainers contributing to the success of the very thing they are complaining about, the challenge was set. The other thing is that the hard soap should be more popular, (a bigger market) which will give Wickham Soaps greater exposure than Super Smooth can achieve alone.

The only reason the new soap is hard is to reduce cost, hard soaps can be lightly packaged with less expense and also sodium hydroxide used to make it harder happens to be cheaper than potassium hydroxide. That said I do like Mikes soaps, (US) with the way his soap is hard yet still malleable. I wanted that for this soap as it's a very handy thing when buying a soap that needs to be put into a bowl, mug or container by the end user. This new soap has taken months of planing, formulating, testing and careful costing without effecting the best quality I could produce, especially given the fact that it is after all a hard soap.

So it's not the best shaving soap out there, but it is the best hard shaving soap out there for under £5.00. I also hope/think it to be better than the more expensive hard soaps to, but I will let it's future customers decided this.

Bath soaps.
I have formulated one that I am still testing myself. Though I did let Sean, (Northam Saint) try some recently and without sounding to conceited it's bloody good! :D

I do hope to release this before Christmas though I am having a bit of a battle in my head over scents, as I believe the soap should be offered to man and lady and the scents should reflect this. Maybe I need to get this out to you guy's and any better halves willing to test it? I could do with some outside input on this.

Although Super Smooth is going through some scent and manafucturing changes, it is paramount to me that the quality and formular remains constant.

As allways thank you again guy's for your feedback and help in getting here with these soaps, it's not just myself doing all the work. Thank you! :D
 
Bath soaps.
I have formulated one that I am still testing myself. Though I did let Sean, (Northam Saint) try some recently and without sounding to conceited it's bloody good! :D

[/quote]

And bloody good it was ! Trying something so good and being sworn to keep it under your hat has it's downside when something is so good.
 
Fox said:

Liam you are very shrewd, the hard soap has been formulated because I wanted to cater for a different market. The idea behind it is to make the best soap for under £5. The reason is because of the number of emails and comments in the forums and groups where people were telling me that £14.50 for a 160g tub of shaving soap was just too much and that it is over priced.

Unfortunately I can't drop the price of Super Smooth any more than what I have currently done, not unless one thing happens. If demand was to increase it would warrant me to automate some of the processes which are labour intensive. Super Smooth is made using a traditional method but there are some additional processes that are not normally used or needed for other soaps. I obviously won't go in to great detail but these steps are needed in order to stabilise the soap for use.

The new shave soap is just a soap that fills a gap in the market for Wickham Soaps, I thought if I could turn all the people complaining of price into customers then I might be able to use the profit to reduce Super Smooth further which would help to kick start a demand for it. What a funny notion I thought, imagine that, the complainers contributing to the success of the very thing they are complaining about, the challenge was set. The other thing is that the hard soap should be more popular, (a bigger market) which will give Wickham Soaps greater exposure than Super Smooth can achieve alone.

The only reason the new soap is hard is to reduce cost, hard soaps can be lightly packaged with less expense and also sodium hydroxide used to make it harder happens to be cheaper than potassium hydroxide. That said I do like Mikes soaps, (US) with the way his soap is hard yet still malleable. I wanted that for this soap as it's a very handy thing when buying a soap that needs to be put into a bowl, mug or container by the end user. This new soap has taken months of planing, formulating, testing and careful costing without effecting the best quality I could produce, especially given the fact that it is after all a hard soap.

So it's not the best shaving soap out there, but it is the best hard shaving soap out there for under £5.00. I also hope/think it to be better than the more expensive hard soaps to, but I will let it's future customers decided this.

Bath soaps.
I have formulated one that I am still testing myself. Though I did let Sean, (Northam Saint) try some recently and without sounding to conceited it's bloody good! :D

I do hope to release this before Christmas though I am having a bit of a battle in my head over scents, as I believe the soap should be offered to man and lady and the scents should reflect this. Maybe I need to get this out to you guy's and any better halves willing to test it? I could do with some outside input on this.

Although Super Smooth is going through some scent and manafucturing changes, it is paramount to me that the quality and formular remains constant.

As allways thank you again guy's for your feedback and help in getting here with these soaps, it's not just myself doing all the work. Thank you! :D
Click to expand...

I see your point and thought process Darron. Are you planning on stocking the 80g containers again or sticking with the 160g?

I'll be keeping my eye on your site reference the bath soap :)
 
I got some samples through the post this week and have tried the sheridans so far. I have been using super smooth garden mint for most of the month, so was keen to see how the soap performed.

Scent wise, I found it subtle, not weak, but not as strong as the super smooth. Lather wise, i feel it performs just as well, managed to get it quite slick and slippy - though I may have used a bit too much soap on its first outing as I have loads left on the brush after 3 passes. Will give it another whirl today, but I think you have another winner, and the price point you are aiming at will make it good value for money.

Darron - which one was the traditional spice scent you had a breakthough with in the early days ?
 
Tried sherridans v2 this morning. I keep referencing super smooth. But I shouldn't. Its a different, cheaper soap. As such it performs brilliantly. Maybe a little more glide would be good. Not that its a problem. But I like soaps that still have a bit of slip when I rewet face for second lather. This doesn't feel like that is there. I am being uber critical here. I would buy this at the forecast price as it is. Scent wise. Its pleasant and not overly strong.
 
vman said:
I got some samples through the post this week and have tried the sheridans so far. I have been using super smooth garden mint for most of the month, so was keen to see how the soap performed.

Scent wise, I found it subtle, not weak, but not as strong as the super smooth. Lather wise, i feel it performs just as well, managed to get it quite slick and slippy - though I may have used a bit too much soap on its first outing as I have loads left on the brush after 3 passes. Will give it another whirl today, but I think you have another winner, and the price point you are aiming at will make it good value for money.

Darron - which one was the traditional spice scent you had a breakthough with in the early days ?
Click to expand...
Are you referring to 1902 hard soap with the Caraway scent? Unfortunately it's a very problematic soap to make, it reacted bad with the essential oils, to the point of separation of the oils during the curing process. It did make me realise just how good the soap makers in this country were in the early 1900's. By reading all the old books I came to realised how they over came this problem. Unfortunately someone making on a small scale will see it becomes a time consuming task, so I shalt be making it. I do have some of that soap that has been curring for a very long time now, so if you or anyone would like one just PM me. I have I believe 6 pucks available.

The other spice that I can think of would be the Spice Trade but this is more recent.

LOL Sorry Sean, (Northam Saint) but it is hard to keep under ones hat, you did do well my friend. I have killed the element of surprise now. :D

I am also working on an Alum block that has an extra cool kick and less of that burning sensation. I only started with this a few day's back so it's many errors at the moment. Though I did manage to make something that is usable it smells like my old Maths teachers bum breath, it still haunts me after all these years. It's quite odd as many of you will know, Alum is a natural deodorant so how can it smell so bad? So yeah most definitely back to the drawing board with this one. Interestingly though I did notice a huge reduction in the burning sensation without effecting the astringent properties which tells me I am bowling in the right direction.

Are you planning on stocking the 80g containers again or sticking with the 160g?
Click to expand...

No unfortunately not either of the 80g or 75g tins will be available, the feedback received has expressed that they are a bit too small. Unfortunately my container manufacture no longer makes the 160g tubs and I only have 400 of these tubs left, so once these have gone I will have to switch to a new container.

I do have quite a few of the 75g tins left which I will offer via the website so people can use to fill themselves. I do have empty soapboxes for sale at the moment that are remnants of such testing and trials.

I have exhausted the road of having a bespoke container made, the MOQ's, (minimum order quantity) is just too large. In most cases it is 5-10,000 units. I just don't have the storage space available and I also don't like the idea of such a commitment to one form of container that will be used for one product.

There are 100ml and 150ml aluminium screw lid tins readily available in this country that I will look at and trial. I believe Sharon of Nanny's uses such tins, maybe someone can give a bit of feedback on those?

Sorry Michael about the Garden Mint, I guess I can always make custom batches of soap though these scent won't be available to the public or on the Wickham website. I am still a few weeks away yet so there is no need for panic.

D. :D
 
Fox said:
vman said:
Darron - which one was the traditional spice scent you had a breakthough with in the early days ?
Click to expand...
Are you referring to 1902 hard soap with the Caraway scent? Unfortunately it's a very problematic soap to make, it reacted bad with the essential oils, to the point of separation of the oils during the curing process. It did make me realise just how good the soap makers in this country were in the early 1900's. By reading all the old books I came to realised how they over came this problem. Unfortunately someone making on a small scale will see it becomes a time consuming task, so I shalt be making it. I do have some of that soap that has been curring for a very long time now, so if you or anyone would like one just PM me. I have I believe 6 pucks available.
Click to expand...

I looked back on my posts, and I think it was not a spicy one, but a musky one..

Fox said:
A few weeks ago I had been tinkering around with an exotic hard soap that was ridiculously expensive to make. The results were good but costs not so good. This led me on to think, what if I was to combine the two formulas, 1902 and the new one.

As always it was not easy and led to just over 60 test samples being made, two nights ago I had an eureka moment! A soap that seemed to tick all the boxes. This is the soap big companies wish they all could produce. Its a hard soap that behaves just like a soft soap!

Yes that's right! Its easy to lather, real easy! Lathers like crazy! Does not dissipate at all! I left a bowl and brush loaded and when I returned 2 hours later after becoming distracted with something else, there in front of me was a bowl full of lather and a brush with the same fluffy peaks that were there when I left the room. Amazing I thought. It don't end there it has great slip, no clay and great moisturising properties. I also started playing with a new scent for this soap and I found something from the 1960's that is masculine, slightly musky while having floral notes. I'm addicted to this scent and keep on having a whiff of it just to satisfy my mind of how good it is.
Click to expand...

Is the one that had me intrigued at the time..
 
vman said:
Is the one that had me intrigued at the time..
Click to expand...

I spent months trying to recreate that moment and soap, I could not do it. I don't know the real reason why as I am very methodical in the way I work. I write everything down and only change one thing at a time and I make notes on my findings relating to the changes. I do keep going back to it during quite times but still have not been able to reproduce this soap. I am thinking and something I now do is to keep small samples of all my raw ingredients as I believe that one of these ingredients must of been different.

The scent is the new Dandyisum, I will make the next batch of hard soap for testers with this and get a sample to you.

You just gave me the idea to photograph my notes to show just how much work goes into each of my soaps. All my notes are on A4 unlined printer paper that I keep in a flapped folder, what you see here is for the new hard soap only. They include all the ideas, goals/targets, formula's, changes, observational changes, feedback from you guy's, raw material cost calculations and packaging ideas.

vo7t_40b_u2sja.jpg


D. :D
 
I haven't had the opportunity to try the hard soap v2 yet, but I agree with Lb1 and brave blades. The super smooth is so good, it's hard not to compare everything else to it.

I have enough supersmooth to last about 5 years I think. I've bought 6 full sized tubs now and I think Darron is scared to open my emails now!
It's just so darn good.

I made darron promise to not sell me any more, but just hearing that the garden mint and club cola are going may necessitate another purchase. They were both on my buy next time list.

Exciting times ahead though. I would love Wickham bath soap! Wow!
 
Darron sent me samples of his hard soap v.2 in Sheridan and Rose scents which arrived yesterday. Because we've had visitors most of the week, I've just been having very quick shaves with a cartridge but this morning tested out the Sheridan sample. I thought I'd give this soap a real challenge and used my Junjie tech clone with a Laser blade. The soap lathered very nicely, not quite a Super Smooth but I don't need mountains of lather anyway. The lather was stable and very protective with a low-key but lovely fresh scent. The result was an absolute top shave in every way - easy, BBS, and no hint of irritation. Considering the razor and blade used, the soap performed impressively.

Nicely done, Darron. I'll be trying the rose soap tomorrow.
 
Rob Dery said:
Darron sent me samples of his hard soap v.2 in Sheridan and Rose scents which arrived yesterday. Because we've had visitors most of the week, I've just been having very quick shaves with a cartridge but this morning tested out the Sheridan sample. I thought I'd give this soap a real challenge and used my Junjie tech clone with a Laser blade. The soap lathered very nicely, not quite a Super Smooth but I don't need mountains of lather anyway. The lather was stable and very protective with a low-key but lovely fresh scent. The result was an absolute top shave in every way - easy, BBS, and no hint of irritation. Considering the razor and blade used, the soap performed impressively.

Nicely done, Darron. I'll be trying the rose soap tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Hi Rob, glad you like it and thank you for the feedback, its mostly appreciated, thank you. I have never used Laser blades before so this one is a new one to me. May have to give them a go myself, thank you.

D. :D
 
Fox said:
Sorry Michael about the Garden Mint, I guess I can always make custom batches of soap though these scent won't be available to the public or on the Wickham website. I am still a few weeks away yet so there is no need for panic.
Click to expand...

No worries Darron! I caved and bought the last one today - to hell with the overdraft!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom