Wickhams...more like Weirdhams?

[Goblin]

This isn't a dig - I need to say up front that I am getting nice shaves with this soap - but the overall characteristics of it are like nothing else I have used and I wondered what other folks' opinions of this soap have been.

When I tip off the bloom water and rub it on my face it has NO slickness at all. Zip. Nil. Nada. That is pretty much unique for me in 15 years of using different soaps, and some artisan soaps offer so much slickness just from the bloom water that I feel as though I don't even need to make a lather to shave. However, lathering the Wickhams does make an incredibly dense and creamy lather the like of which I also haven't seen elsewhere. Even when loaded with water, the lather is thick and it seems to do a good job of protecting during the shave, providing ENOUGH lubrication for an open blade shave whilst allowing plenty of feedback. Between the fingers, the lather feels kind of like a liquid soap. That's how dense it is. However, once the lather is removed by the blade, there is almost no residual slickness to speak of.

I can't dispute that the results I get with this soap are very nice and my skin certainly likes it, but the overall properties of the lather seem really odd. Has anyone else had a similar experience with this or another artisan soap? We have all used soaps that might be subpar in slickness, but I have never used one that seems to have so little inherent slickness but can still deliver the goods when it comes to the shave.

I am wondering if the ingredients list can explain this: Potassium Stearate, Aqua, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Cocoa Butterate, Sodium Palmate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Sodium Avocadate, White Kaolin, Allantoin, Glycerine.

Could the Kaolin or Allantoin be a factor? I am not sure how these ingredients contribute to the performance and I am wondering if this particular batch got an overdose of something that is counteracting the slickness somehow.

 

[lasta]

Are you loading enough? I usually load between 100-160 swirls for most soaps, Wickhams tend to prefer it on the more generous end.

 

[Goblin]

Are you loading enough? I usually load between 100-160 swirls for most soaps, Wickhams tend to prefer it on the more generous end.

I am loading enough to get oodles of dense lather and treating it like MWF so I don't think a lack of loading is the issue. Maybe on the first shave or two, but I have since determined only to use synths on this soap. Initially I used my usual boars, but a synth allows me to go at it really hard without worrying about damaging natural hairs. Certainly, 150 swirls at least for today's shave, which is what finally prompted me to make the thread.

 

[thombrogan]

I never used the bloom water from my seemingly never-ending Wickhams Club Cola puck, but the soap itself was great. When I used it, I didn’t need a pre-shave routine. Since it’s been gone, I do with every soap or cream.

 

[Goblin]

seemingly never-ending Wickhams

I wonder if this indicates that this soap is really hard, perhaps even more than I realised. It could be that, like some traditional hard puck, it needs more regular use to give its best. I will try using it frequently for a few shaves in a row and see if that has any effect.

 

[thombrogan]

Felt soft to me, but not Cella soft. I only had the Club Cola and it smelled like Lemon Pledge liquid cleaner for months until it finally smelled like a lemon cola.

 

[Goblin]

Felt soft to me, but not Cella soft.

Mine is definitely not soft. You can mark it with a fingernail but otherwise it is pretty solid, closer to a hard puck than a croap.

That leads me to theorise that because, a) I bought it directly from the manufacturer, which I suspect not many do; and b) I went for unscented, which probably doesn't shift a lot of units; I may have gotten a tub that had been sitting, curing and losing moisture for significantly longer than is typical.

So today I shaved with exactly the same gear as yesterday but I bloomed the soap for a looooong time. Usually it gets a couple of minutes but today it sat for about 40 minutes while I had my morning coffee

The impact of this longer blooming was significant. The water contained a much greater suspension of liquidised soap and it did actually feel slick when I rubbed it on my fizgog!

If I thought the lather was thick and creamy before, this time it was off the scale AND it finally had some decent residual slickness too. Excellent stuff.

I feel like I might have cracked the code and I hope that with more regular use the soap will take on a bit of moisture and not require such lengthy blooming. Today was probably overkill in that respect and repeating it every time might work through the tub rather quickly (although it hasn't noticeably reduced the soap today) but I shall certainly give it more than a couple of minutes blooming on the next few shaves. Hopefully that will be enough to duplicate these results.

I had been thinking that I would use this tub and then probably not replace it, but if I continue to get this type of performance then it's definitely one I would be happy to keep on hand. I always liked how it treated my skin, but I just wasn't quite sure about the lather properties.

There aren't huge options for unscented artisan soaps over here, so it's good to be able to conquer my reservations and give this one a genuine and thorough seal of approval.

 

[Mike Smart]

Iv got a good few from Wickhams and never experienced this at all but then again iv never really checked and on occasions i do bloom the soap.
Bear in mind its vegital based & therefore might not have the initial residual slickness your normally used to.
For me its a soap up there with the best of them

 

[thombrogan]

Good point on the unscented soaps not selling well, @Goblin I got the Club Cola because the seller listed the Unscented as also possibly being a scent my skin wouldn’t tolerate.

Very glad to read your extended hydrating improved the soap’s performance

 

[DalShaver]

I don't find it's extremely slick, but it's slick enough to be one of my very favourite soaps. Close to finishing my second puck of Russian Leather, with a third sitting in reserve. I find it does a wonderful job.

 

[Goblin]

I got the Club Cola because the seller listed the Unscented as also possibly being a scent my skin wouldn’t tolerate.

I wonder how that works? How can your skin not agree with the fragrance in a product that has no fragrance in it?

I did initially buy the Cashmere, I really liked the fragrance but it did not agree with my skin one bit and I passed it on to a forum brother. In terms of skin response though I find the unscented version is excellent. No tingles and no need for any post shave products - it leaves my skin nicely moisture balanced and looking good.

I need to say though that my reaction to Cashmere was not atypical - the majority of fragranced artisan soaps I have tried have caused problems for me. I never used to have many issues in the days of hard pucks and drugstore shave soaps, but the amount of fragrance in modern soaps is an issue more often than not. I have a few brands I trust, but I have decided that outside of them it's unscented only for me going forwards.

 

[thombrogan]

How can your skin not agree with the fragrance in a product that has no fragrance in it?

The weird way it was listed suggested they might not send the Unscented. The Unscented would probably rock, but I’ll need to buy it elsewhere

 

[fast shaver]

Try Dr. Selby Shave Soap & you won't regret it.