OK, it's about time I did a review of Wickham Soap Company's Super Smooth Soap.
Initial Impressions – Packaging/Delivery/Consistency
The samples arrived very quickly and were sent in very sturdy little plastic tubs. These were a surprise and seemed quite classy for such an amount of soap. The full sized tubs are currently shallow, wide tubs that allow for cheaper postage I believe. Some people have mentioned this as a negative, which I can understand given the price, but I can see the wider tub being better to use to load the brush. Each package received contained a lovely wee calligraphy style thank you note, which I thought was a further classy touch.
The soap itself is a soft tallow soap – harder than a croap (like Razorock Brain Freeze) but softer than Proraso soap. Due to its consistency, it was very easy to transfer the samples to larger containers.
Ease of Lathering
First and foremost the lathering of this soap is superb. My example of lathering excellence, to which I compare a soap's ability, is my vintage puck of Old Spice soap. The Old Spice seems to lather just by looking at it and the Super Smooth isn't too far off this! I timed myself a few times and found that I could get buckets of luxurious lather by loading for as few as 20 seconds and “whipping†in a bowl for as few as 45 seconds. The lather produced was top notch and it held up really well. I left some on my brush for over a minute and it stayed put with no bother. Because it requires so little loading, a sample could last ages – my first one lasted me for ten shaves, but I could have been far more economical.
Whilst playing about with it I found it to have a wide range in which to get great lather. What I mean is that it required a lot of water to “over-water†it, despite not requiring an awful lot to create some in the first place.
If forced to compare the lathering to a more common soap, I would probably say Arko. I say this because I feel as though anyone at all could get perfect lather from this, which could be hugely beneficial to guys new to wet shaving - this should be its main selling point.
Lather Quality - Protection/Cushion/Glide
Off the top of my head, the most cushioned shave I have had with a lather-able substance is likely to be DR Harris soaps. The Wickham Super Smooth is just as good as, if not better than, these soaps. However, just like the DR Harris, the lather protects very well but does not leave much “residual†protection when drawing the razor across lather-less skin. I have to say that I always avoid re-shaving areas without re-lathering, but have found that MWF, somehow, does give a wee bit of extra protection if quickly doing this.
Overall I would not allow this to affect my rating for this soap as it is, in my opinion, bad practice to shave unlathered skin.
Scents
Bay Rum – The Bay Rum scent is nice and rich, verging on a more rum-like scent. It has a touch of sweetness, with an edge of spice. It has no discernible clove and very little cinnamon that I find gives other Bay Rums a “Christmas-like†scent (not a bad thing either). It is very similar to Steve's Barbershop Bay Rum Aftershave and, after trying out all the Bay Rums that I own, compliments Steve's the most as well. It has a mild strength that I prefer, as I like to use the Bay Rum Aftershave to finish, but some may find a bit weak if relying solely on the soap for scent.
Mixed Club Cola/Bay Rum – although not available to buy (I traded for this one), this was a brilliant scent! The Club Cola added another layer of sweetness to it and the addition of what seemed liked a very mild orange with cinnamon scent produced a depth to the scent that seemed to tick all the right boxes. This sample also seemed to have a stronger scent that was detectable over half an hour later.
Garden Mint – this should be his signature scent! I got a sample of this with my Southsea Spray and immediately wished I'd bought a whole tub. Upon first sniffing I got predominantly English tea with a good bit of spearmint. After a good sniff I also got real hints of pepper - not the exact scent of pepper, but hints. I love the fact that he has used spearmint as opposed to peppermint as it gives a warm freshness to it rather than an almost menthol freshness. It is also reasonably strong and I often catch whiffs of it later in the day if I have not used witch hazel or aftershave.
Southsea Spray – I have only smelled this one in the tub and the best way to describe it would be “freshâ€. It reminds me of very clean soap. I can see why it is called Southsea Spray as there definitely seems to be sea-like undertones, but I mainly get “fresh soapâ€. Scent strength seems to be fair to moderate.
Other scents available are: Unscented, Club Cola and English Lavender.
Post Shave
Although not primarily an area for the shave soap to be involved, I felt like comparing this soap to MWF. I find "the fat" leaves my skin very soft and feeling highly nourished afterwards. Unfortunately the Super Smooth does not reach the standards set by MWF, but does leave me completely irritation free.
Having said that, I struggle to think of any soaps that leave my skin as nice as MWF does, so it's hard to hold it against Wickham's.
Price
At £14.50 for 160 g this isn't a cheap soap. But after realising just how much lather a small amount produces I have no qualms with spending it on another.
Overall
I love this soap. I rarely bother doing such in depth reviews, but felt that this soap deserved it. I would highly recommend it to anyone, but in particular to guys new to this kind of shaving that want guaranteed quality and consistent lather.
I understand that Darron is working on a new hard soap that is expected to be a lot cheaper – I can only hold my breath in anticipation for its release.
If we were doing "star ratings" this would at least be a 4/5 stars!
Great work from a new British artisan!
Apologies for the essay,
In Short: Virtually unsurpassed lather quality and ease of lathering, great range of scents – Garden Mint being my favourite - and very long lasting. New shavers get this now!
Initial Impressions – Packaging/Delivery/Consistency
The samples arrived very quickly and were sent in very sturdy little plastic tubs. These were a surprise and seemed quite classy for such an amount of soap. The full sized tubs are currently shallow, wide tubs that allow for cheaper postage I believe. Some people have mentioned this as a negative, which I can understand given the price, but I can see the wider tub being better to use to load the brush. Each package received contained a lovely wee calligraphy style thank you note, which I thought was a further classy touch.
The soap itself is a soft tallow soap – harder than a croap (like Razorock Brain Freeze) but softer than Proraso soap. Due to its consistency, it was very easy to transfer the samples to larger containers.
Ease of Lathering
First and foremost the lathering of this soap is superb. My example of lathering excellence, to which I compare a soap's ability, is my vintage puck of Old Spice soap. The Old Spice seems to lather just by looking at it and the Super Smooth isn't too far off this! I timed myself a few times and found that I could get buckets of luxurious lather by loading for as few as 20 seconds and “whipping†in a bowl for as few as 45 seconds. The lather produced was top notch and it held up really well. I left some on my brush for over a minute and it stayed put with no bother. Because it requires so little loading, a sample could last ages – my first one lasted me for ten shaves, but I could have been far more economical.
Whilst playing about with it I found it to have a wide range in which to get great lather. What I mean is that it required a lot of water to “over-water†it, despite not requiring an awful lot to create some in the first place.
If forced to compare the lathering to a more common soap, I would probably say Arko. I say this because I feel as though anyone at all could get perfect lather from this, which could be hugely beneficial to guys new to wet shaving - this should be its main selling point.
Lather Quality - Protection/Cushion/Glide
Off the top of my head, the most cushioned shave I have had with a lather-able substance is likely to be DR Harris soaps. The Wickham Super Smooth is just as good as, if not better than, these soaps. However, just like the DR Harris, the lather protects very well but does not leave much “residual†protection when drawing the razor across lather-less skin. I have to say that I always avoid re-shaving areas without re-lathering, but have found that MWF, somehow, does give a wee bit of extra protection if quickly doing this.
Overall I would not allow this to affect my rating for this soap as it is, in my opinion, bad practice to shave unlathered skin.
Scents
Bay Rum – The Bay Rum scent is nice and rich, verging on a more rum-like scent. It has a touch of sweetness, with an edge of spice. It has no discernible clove and very little cinnamon that I find gives other Bay Rums a “Christmas-like†scent (not a bad thing either). It is very similar to Steve's Barbershop Bay Rum Aftershave and, after trying out all the Bay Rums that I own, compliments Steve's the most as well. It has a mild strength that I prefer, as I like to use the Bay Rum Aftershave to finish, but some may find a bit weak if relying solely on the soap for scent.
Mixed Club Cola/Bay Rum – although not available to buy (I traded for this one), this was a brilliant scent! The Club Cola added another layer of sweetness to it and the addition of what seemed liked a very mild orange with cinnamon scent produced a depth to the scent that seemed to tick all the right boxes. This sample also seemed to have a stronger scent that was detectable over half an hour later.
Garden Mint – this should be his signature scent! I got a sample of this with my Southsea Spray and immediately wished I'd bought a whole tub. Upon first sniffing I got predominantly English tea with a good bit of spearmint. After a good sniff I also got real hints of pepper - not the exact scent of pepper, but hints. I love the fact that he has used spearmint as opposed to peppermint as it gives a warm freshness to it rather than an almost menthol freshness. It is also reasonably strong and I often catch whiffs of it later in the day if I have not used witch hazel or aftershave.
Southsea Spray – I have only smelled this one in the tub and the best way to describe it would be “freshâ€. It reminds me of very clean soap. I can see why it is called Southsea Spray as there definitely seems to be sea-like undertones, but I mainly get “fresh soapâ€. Scent strength seems to be fair to moderate.
Other scents available are: Unscented, Club Cola and English Lavender.
Post Shave
Although not primarily an area for the shave soap to be involved, I felt like comparing this soap to MWF. I find "the fat" leaves my skin very soft and feeling highly nourished afterwards. Unfortunately the Super Smooth does not reach the standards set by MWF, but does leave me completely irritation free.
Having said that, I struggle to think of any soaps that leave my skin as nice as MWF does, so it's hard to hold it against Wickham's.
Price
At £14.50 for 160 g this isn't a cheap soap. But after realising just how much lather a small amount produces I have no qualms with spending it on another.
Overall
I love this soap. I rarely bother doing such in depth reviews, but felt that this soap deserved it. I would highly recommend it to anyone, but in particular to guys new to this kind of shaving that want guaranteed quality and consistent lather.
I understand that Darron is working on a new hard soap that is expected to be a lot cheaper – I can only hold my breath in anticipation for its release.
If we were doing "star ratings" this would at least be a 4/5 stars!
Great work from a new British artisan!
Apologies for the essay,
In Short: Virtually unsurpassed lather quality and ease of lathering, great range of scents – Garden Mint being my favourite - and very long lasting. New shavers get this now!
