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A tale of two "Christmas soaps"

TL;DR version: I got Wickham Club Cola and Dr. Jon's Savannah Sunrise for Christmas last year. Both have been used 31 times since then. Dr. Jon's is a lush lather and smells amazing, but goes away quickly (big donut hole); Club Cola is a simpler soap, lathers easier, and lasts a LOT longer (at least 2/3rds still remains).

Full version
Last year I asked for two soaps from Santa and received both: Wickham's Club Cola and Dr. Jon's Savannah Sunrise. I had already been through a puck of Savannah Sunrise in an earlier formulation and missed the scent; I had always wanted a shaving soap that smelled like cola, so I asked for the Wickham's. It is now almost a year later, and I kept track of how many times I used each soap; 31 apiece so far (I shave 4 times a week and these are not the only soaps in the rotation). But it is enough experience to talk a bit about each of these, and maybe to do a comparison.

Wickham's Club Cola
This one has a quite powerful scent that reminds me of Pepsi more so than Coke (I know they are very similar, but Pepsi is a bit brighter and more lemony). This scent is like Pepsi but with an added twist of either lime or lemon. It is a very bright scent, and so reminiscent of a cola that you can almost sense the carbonation.
It lathers up quickly and easily. The lather, for me, is a little tiny bit fluffier than my best lathers, not as rich as I prefer. It also seems a bit less protective than some of my denser lathers. Reading the ingredients list, I saw that there was only a tiny bit of glycerin in it. I tend to prefer soaps that have more added glycerin. So quite early on I began adding a few drops of glycerin to the lather bowl while lathering it; this seems to take the soap much closer to what I like in a lather. I have found that 4-6 drops at the onset of lathering is about right.
I have now shaved with it 31 times, and there is still a TON of soap left; it looks like it is just beginning to have a dent in the center. Conservatively there is AT LEAST 2/3rds of the soap still unused. I estimate that I will end up getting well more than 100 shaves from it. Glycerin is cheap and I have a whole bottle of it, so I can improve the lather without much effort and without much cost.

Dr. Jon's Savannah Sunrise
I had gone through a puck of this previously, in an earlier formulation (and a much smaller puck, I might add). I really missed this scent, which to me is one of the best in all of wet shaving. It is a combination of peach and a bunch of florals, including honeysuckle, orange blossom, jasmine, and (I think) gardenia. If you don't like fruity scents and you don't like floral scents, this one is not for you. It just so happens that peach is one of my favorite scents, and I've always like floral scents, as well, so this combination for me is just heavenly.
The scent is very strong off the puck, 9 out of 10, and remains strong in the lather, so if you like muted or barely perceptible scents, you should look elsewhere.
My first shave with this soap was kind of a disappointment; I remembered the earlier formulation with fondness and though the lather of the new formulation was not as good. I later learned that the new formulation just requires more water, and a LOT more time than the old one. However, if you give it the time and the appropriate amount of water, the new lather is actually BETTER than the old one.
As opposed to the Wickham, Dr. Jon's seems to load fairly slowly and it takes quite a bit of work, with gradual addition of water and a lot of swirling, to get this lather to its maximum effectiveness. Once you do, though, the lather is utterly beautiful; slick, lush, dense, shiny, protective, and with a great face feel after the final rinse. Top-notch soap, but not for people in a hurry. Oh, and I did I mention the scent? Just fantastic; envelops you in a peach grove with a bunch of flowers.
On the negative side, this soap started to get the donut appearance after about 23 shaves or so. 31 shaves in and the donut is about an inch or slightly larger on the bottom of the soap. By my previous calculations, that means about 2/3rds of the soap is gone, so I expect to get maybe a total of 44-48 shaves, well less than HALF of what I will get from the Wickham soap.


Conclusion
These are both fantastic soaps, although they are quite different from one another. If you like a soap that lathers quickly and easily and lasts for a long time, the Wickhams is the obvious choice. If, on the other hand, you like a soap that produces an elite lather with a great post-shave, even if it takes a long time to get it there and even if it disappears rather quickly, Dr. Jon's fits the bill.
They are both wonderful scents to my nose, both very powerful, and completely different from one another, which is how I like it. I love both of these scents but if I had to pick a favorite, Savannah Sunrise would get the nod.
 
Agreed, great review - very thorough. I was looking at the Savannah Sunrise as an option and this info will help me make my decision.
 
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