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- #361
The 15th shave will be hit this Sunday. Pictures to come and of course the stick that I will compare the Wilkinson Sword Green to will be the Wilkinson Sword Blue!
Shave Sticks Review Project
- Thread starter Luc
- Start date
Hey Luc,
Question from a fellow Canuck. Where did you get the Wilkenson stick? I found it at various US online vendors but shipping charges were more than the stick itself.
TIA,
GG
Question from a fellow Canuck. Where did you get the Wilkenson stick? I found it at various US online vendors but shipping charges were more than the stick itself.
TIA,
GG
You can buy them at Connaughtshaving, 2 sticks (50 g each) for around $11 shipped. It's not a great deal compared to the Palmolive sticks available from the same vendor, but you may be able to bundle that with other purchases there. Also, I haven't seen it available from too many other vendors.
- Thread starter
- #364
There are a few options but regardless what you do, an item at this price will always seems to be too expensive when you add shipping. To make it worth it, you will need to get a few other items with it. On where to get it, there are a few shops in the US that carry it or in Europe. I think I saw it on ebay too and if you just want one stick, you could post (when you are eligible) a WTB in the marketplace.
- Thread starter
- #365
I was able to take the pictures sooner than I thought so here they are. I'm on shave 15 (done) of the Wilkinson Sword so half way. It's not melting as quickly as the Blue one. Tomorrow I will compare it to the blue (new) formula.
[Insert green lantern reference here] - Green seems to be more powerful than blue... Dunno if they made a yellow stick at one stage...
So far, really good stick. The reformulation is still good (better than most reformulations that were seen in the past by other companies but the Green stick is superior to the Blue stick IMO. A complete review to come on shave 30. I will do a few experiments now with the green stick (uberlather and superlather).
[Insert green lantern reference here] - Green seems to be more powerful than blue... Dunno if they made a yellow stick at one stage...
So far, really good stick. The reformulation is still good (better than most reformulations that were seen in the past by other companies but the Green stick is superior to the Blue stick IMO. A complete review to come on shave 30. I will do a few experiments now with the green stick (uberlather and superlather).
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- Thread starter
- #367
The tests are done with the Green Wilkinson Shave Stick and the review will then be posted. According to my calculations, Christmas day should be the next post date in order to complete 30 shave with the Green stick!
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I don't know how I missed this thread before. Very good stuff here.
One thought: While welding the last sliver of an old stick to a new one is an effective way to use it up (and that's exactly what I do with my Dial body soap bars), what about saving all the scraps and melting/milling/creaming them all together into one supersoap?
One thought: While welding the last sliver of an old stick to a new one is an effective way to use it up (and that's exactly what I do with my Dial body soap bars), what about saving all the scraps and melting/milling/creaming them all together into one supersoap?
I do that and create a Frankensoapstick. My current stick is made up of MWF, Valobra, Arko, Mystic Waters, and some misc. soap samples. It was grated and put into a shave stick container I bought from WCS.
That is exactly what I was thinking of, and I had meant to call it "Frankensoap" but somehow forgot by the time I reached the end of my post.
- Thread starter
- #371
The Frankensoap is the one. I usually just glue mine over another shave stick using this method :
You can see the result here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/310894-Shave-Sticks-Review-Project?p=5055747#post5055747
On another note, I'm done with the Wilkinson Sword Green stick. I have yet to post the review and start a new stick. The last few days did not allow me to put everything together. Stay tuned, it's coming.
Handy Grip in hand!
You can see the result here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/310894-Shave-Sticks-Review-Project?p=5055747#post5055747
On another note, I'm done with the Wilkinson Sword Green stick. I have yet to post the review and start a new stick. The last few days did not allow me to put everything together. Stay tuned, it's coming.
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- #372
As promised, I finished the 30 shaves with the Wilkinson Sword GREEN stick on the 25th Dec. I got stuck in a couple of things but here's the review and picture. I will post the review in here as I do not think it's appropriate to post it in the current Wilkinson Sword stick (blue) review. Also, starting a new review for a discontinued product isn't my intention. If someone does, I will post it there. What you got here is (left to right) a new Wilkinson Sword (BLUE) stick, the green stick after 30 shaves and the blue stick after 40 shaves. The green stick is not melting as quickly as the blue stick...
This one is a "vintage item" that was sent to me by Polerouter. I want to thank him again and am very happy that I can test this product against the current version. It's, somewhat older a bit. I found a thread back in 2007. The whole stick discussion came back from this thread: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/366767-Wilkinson-shave-soap-stick-GREEN!!!!
From the Pfizer website, Warner-Lambert acquired Wikinson Sword in 1993. Pfizer bought them in June 2000. So, that puts a timeline between 1993 and June 2000 for the stick. It was produced during those 7 years or less. http://www.pfizer.com/about/history/pfizer_warner_lambert
I found a NY Time article that says that Warner-Lambert bought Wilkinson Sword on 23 March 1993 (http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/23/b...op/Reference/Times Topics/Subjects/F/Finances) and they were planning to sell to Pfizer on the 8th February 2000 - http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/08/b...op/Reference/Times Topics/Subjects/F/Finances
Since the stick is not that old (6 years old), the scent is still strong on it. It was, somehow, described as faint but this one (green) is stronger than the blue stick (current production). The stick itself(green) is a bit smaller in diameter compared to the current (blue) production. The holder is pretty much the same. Both sticks look alike but are a bit different from one another.
The product is as good as the Wilkinson Sword stick (blue) but it's not very surprising as the ingredient list is very similar. Where it changes a bit is the longevity. I find that the Blue stick is a fast melter where the green one is in the average compared to the other ones.
I did the regular series of tests which include Uberlather and Superlather. The Uberlather was similar to the Wilkinson Sword Blue. I mean, the extra glide from the glycerin did not change much in the end-result. The lather was great but not better (the lather is awesome without glycerin, that's what I want to say!).
In the end, this is a great product, well worth it if you can find it. The current formulation is awesome but this one was better!
This one is a "vintage item" that was sent to me by Polerouter. I want to thank him again and am very happy that I can test this product against the current version. It's, somewhat older a bit. I found a thread back in 2007. The whole stick discussion came back from this thread: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/366767-Wilkinson-shave-soap-stick-GREEN!!!!
From the Pfizer website, Warner-Lambert acquired Wikinson Sword in 1993. Pfizer bought them in June 2000. So, that puts a timeline between 1993 and June 2000 for the stick. It was produced during those 7 years or less. http://www.pfizer.com/about/history/pfizer_warner_lambert
I found a NY Time article that says that Warner-Lambert bought Wilkinson Sword on 23 March 1993 (http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/23/b...op/Reference/Times Topics/Subjects/F/Finances) and they were planning to sell to Pfizer on the 8th February 2000 - http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/08/b...op/Reference/Times Topics/Subjects/F/Finances
Since the stick is not that old (6 years old), the scent is still strong on it. It was, somehow, described as faint but this one (green) is stronger than the blue stick (current production). The stick itself(green) is a bit smaller in diameter compared to the current (blue) production. The holder is pretty much the same. Both sticks look alike but are a bit different from one another.
The product is as good as the Wilkinson Sword stick (blue) but it's not very surprising as the ingredient list is very similar. Where it changes a bit is the longevity. I find that the Blue stick is a fast melter where the green one is in the average compared to the other ones.
I did the regular series of tests which include Uberlather and Superlather. The Uberlather was similar to the Wilkinson Sword Blue. I mean, the extra glide from the glycerin did not change much in the end-result. The lather was great but not better (the lather is awesome without glycerin, that's what I want to say!).
In the end, this is a great product, well worth it if you can find it. The current formulation is awesome but this one was better!
- Thread starter
- #373
I am back with the LaToja shave stick (Pictures to come). I've been putting it back in the den for a while now but it's time. I took it out a while back to test drive it against another stick and it wasn't great which was a let down. This morning, the lather was okay but not great again. I need to work with the stick a bit more. I suspect that I need more product than those Tallow sticks.
On a side note, I've calculated how long it would take me to finish all my soaps and creams. I'm easily over 8 years... Bummer that I want to try a couple more soaps in 2014...
On a side note, I've calculated how long it would take me to finish all my soaps and creams. I'm easily over 8 years... Bummer that I want to try a couple more soaps in 2014...
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I think you'll like the La Toja, I love mine...
I started doing the calcs myself last week when the wife complained that I'm taking more room for shaving stuff than she has for everything! I can no longer tease her for being a "product queen"... {shaking head} I have 10-12 years of soaps, 6 or so of creams. I need to purge some stuff and yes, there's some stuff I still want to try, too... AD bug hit me hard this year....
I have the solution to the too-much-soap/cream dilemma. Frankenlather! It's like superlather/uberlather but you keep adding more and more different soaps/creams until you get tired of it or the lather is too ridiculous. I did it the other day and had astoundingly great results (though the results are more likely thanks to a hardware change that I did at the same time).
- Thread starter
- #377
The scent is challenging when there's more than 2 products if they are not in the same family (i.e. grass type scent with a grass type scent).
Anyways, I added more product and more water this morning on LaToja, I still need to work on this one as my blade is either dull or I am lacking (Seriously) of slickness while shaving. I did not have any irritation but the shave is not as close as I want it to be. To be continued... I think that using all those tallow based sticks made me difficult now as LaToja used to be a top performer in my books...
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- #378
Just a quick update. Like many issues that we see on the forum, a shave soap (the good ones at least) need a bit of adjustment and you can then get it right. In this case, I got it right this morning (well, I think). I doubled the product and took less water. I need to work on the ultimate ratio right now but the new Feather blade did help also...
It appears that LaToja is less thirsty than the Wilkinson Sword that I used right before or the De Vergulde Hand which was extra thirsty. 27 shaves to go and happy new year!
It appears that LaToja is less thirsty than the Wilkinson Sword that I used right before or the De Vergulde Hand which was extra thirsty. 27 shaves to go and happy new year!
I used La Toja for the first time this morning. I think the scent is exactly the same as the cream, which is a good thing, IMHO. It did great for me, a lot better than I expected out of a non-tallow stick. It's going to be a regular in my rotation from now on.
I also ordered a stick of Lea (new tallow formulation), it's slated for Friday's shave. I'm expecting great things from it.
I also ordered a stick of Lea (new tallow formulation), it's slated for Friday's shave. I'm expecting great things from it.
Great thread, Luc, and all who have contributed! This is a tremendous resource and really points up one of the reasons I love this site (and makes the GF just shake her head). I just stumbled across this thread a few days ago, and a few days prior to that I purchased my first ever shave stick, Arko. Got it for $1.99 at our local B&M shave shop/barber supply. I must say that paired with a Feather blade (which is also the first time I've used Feather) in my NDC SS, I'm getting the best shaves since I started wet shaving 5+ years ago. Looks like a "trip" to Bullgoose and Italian Barber is in the offing.
-Greg
-Greg
