Wickhams News

Thalasos said:
So, @Fox, the hard soap 1912 it will be available on... Which month do you expect to sell it, Darron? Is it a tallow one or veggie one? I'm pretty excited with your getting back to the "rumble soaps square". Thanks.
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The soap is in it's final stage of testing and then will be ready for the toxicologist who should have it for 4 to 6 weeks. Expected time of availability is April/May. It's all veggie and will see some new scents as well as Club Cola and Spice Trade.
 
Uncle Bertie said:
I'm genuinely staggered that 1912 has no tallow, it behaves like a vintage tallow-rich soap.
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This morning I used the 1912 'tweaked' sample I received yesterday.
Wow! Whatever Darron did with his 'tweaking' certainly fixed my problems with the previous 1912 samples.
Loaded very quickly for a hard soap. Thick voluminous & glossy lather. Nice residual slickness. No skin tightening/dryness.
I think the only thing it is lacking is a certain 'luxuriousness' common to tallow soaps high in oils/butters/lanolin, but that doesn't detract from the shave at all. It DOES act like a tallow soap.
Very VERY nice indeed!
Not sure about the scent though. I don't smell fern (or it's a dirty-fern), instead I get dry leather/smoke and geranium. My wife likes it though and she laughed when I told her what I smelled and said "your nose is broken".

I'm stroking my shorn cheeks now and my skin is supple and refreshed.
Winner!
 
Fox said:
Just a little update on the 1912 hard soap, labels have been designed and are now finalised. Still looking for 1 other scent to round the range up to 6 fragrances altogether.

Testers will receive a tweaked version in the next day or two for last feedback.

Containers have been decided and will be big 100mm wide tubs with a lot of space for lathering straight out of the container. Product will be 150g, though I have not fully worked out the final price. It is expected to be around £12.00

Aromashave project is still moving forward and is still in the sampling of essential oil blends, though it looks like we have some likely candidates.

Thank you to all who have shown Wickhams great support, it is very much appreciated.

Hope everyone is well and looking forward to the new soap.

Every blessing
Darron
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Badedas? That scent is gorgeous!
You could even label it Badass!
 
Nishy said:
Badedas? That scent is gorgeous!
You could even label it Badass!
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Uncle Bertie said:
Farenheit would make me a customer for life!
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I am planing to bring Master Lather back to market that will sport some designer scents, so far I have two earmarked and one I've already managed to obtain.

The Barber Shop scent that's used by both Mikes Soaps and Magards (I have)
Imperial Leather

Badedas and Farenheit I will add to my shopping list for testing. ;)
 
Fox said:
I am planing to bring Master Lather back to market that will sport some designer scents, so far I have two earmarked and one I've already managed to obtain.

The Barber Shop scent that's used by both Mikes Soaps and Magards (I have)
Imperial Leather

Badedas and Farenheit I will add to my shopping list for testing. ;)
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Fox PM me your address ill send you a tub over :)
 
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Uncle Bertie said:
I'm genuinely staggered that 1912 has no tallow, it behaves like a vintage tallow-rich soap.
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The original formula did have Tallow but the idea and challenge for me was to reformulate the soap with blended veg oils and butters so that soap was suitable for vegetarians while retaining the same properties of tallow. The tallow was also giving me troubles as the original formula had such a high content of this fatty acid that it reacted with most essential oils and fragrant oils making the soap sweat badly while curing. The testers from the small samples of the original formula of the 1912, (then called 1902) soap that I passed out will remember that I had this problem. A problem now of the past, the new formula holds the scents extreamly well, so much so that less is required and after shaving a reminder of the scent is left on the skin, which I quite like and which some soaps lack.
 
Fox said:
The original formula did have Tallow but the idea and challenge for me was to reformulate the soap with blended veg oils and butters so that soap was suitable for vegetarians while retaining the same properties of tallow. The tallow was also giving me troubles as the original formula had such a high content of this fatty acid that it reacted with most essential oils and fragrant oils making the soap sweat badly while curing. The testers from the small samples of the original formula of the 1912, (then called 1902) soap that I passed out will remember that I had this problem. A problem now of the past, the new formula holds the scents extreamly well, so much so that less is required and after shaving a reminder of the scent is left on the skin, which I quite like and which some soaps lack.
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Ace, that's one of the things I love about my B&M soap, but I guess in the free and easy US, you can get away with loading potentially toxic scents into your soaps ;)
 
The dog's b's would be a Kouros clone hard soap (I've found a Fahrenheit :D). I've had a series of nasty flu-type viruses over the last few weeks and not been able to smell a thing until yesterday - as I decanted a vintage Kouros miniature :)
 
Darron was very kind to send me some of the new hard Wickhams formula to test it out. I shaved with it again today...

Post: Bloom Water
Razor: Muhle R41
Blade: Feather (2)
Soap: 1912 Hard Formula
Post: Nivea Cooling Balm
A/S: Fine Platinum

I wouldn't usually dream of shaving with this combination of razor and blade but I'd tried the new Wickhams formula last week and couldn't believe the amount of protection this soap gave me so I thought I'd test it out using a very aggressive razor & blade combination. I was going to video it but thought better of it as full concentration was required!

I bloomed the soap and then applied the bloom water to my face, this is one slick soap!

Decided to bowl lather to see how it would perform using this method. Took my time working the soap into a nice lather but probably made it a bit wet for my liking. The soap performed well providing me with good cushion and protection. However, I did nick myself on my moustache area but I think that was due to my lather being a bit wet and also the aggressiveness of the razor and blade combination.
I applied some more soap to the brush and added it to the mix in the bowl for pass 2. Perfect.

Pass 2 seemed to be better with my lather a much better consistency making the glide feel much better. I'm not sure why, but for me, the 1st pass with an aggressive razor and blade always feels worse on my skin. Maybe because it's really working to cut through the initial thicker stubble.

Pass 3 went well with no further issues along with a clean up pass. A very close shave!

Post shave, I went over my face with an alum block to see how close I'd gotten and to see if there was any irritation. A couple of bits around my moustache area - where I'd nicked myself - and one tiny bit on my cheek but other than that, no sting or irritation to speak of.

Decided to apply some Nivea cooling balm just to give my face some protection. About 2 hours later and my face feels great. Very smooth and soft. No irritation or burn/sting even after using such an aggressive razor and blade.
I appplied some Fine platinum after shave and there was no sting other than a little where I'd nicked myself.

I would say that making my lather a little bit more dense definitely helped with the glide on passes 2 & 3. But that's probably right of any soap!

A very good shave using this new formula from Wickhams. Everything is there in buckets - glide, cushion, protection. I feel it's probably the best performing soap I have tried to date. To get this much protection using the R41 and a feather blade was, for me just wonderful.


Looking forward to the release date...

Kevy
 
wayne mattison said:
Well my Wickhams turned up today. I immediately got it lathered up. I had already shaved so it was just a test lather and what a test lather it was. Soaked the brush, loaded it for about 20-30 secs then onto the EJ bowl and it whipped up a storm. Lovely fragrance too. I'm definitely getting more.
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What's the razor?
 
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