Wilkinson Sword Shave Stick

I have several stick soaps that are particularly good when I've had a day or two growth, and also pack well for vacation. Wilkinson was the first stick I tried. I was put off initially by the color. I have no blue soaps but this one. The scent is clean, but not spectacular. It lathers like a pro, though, producing copious amounts from a small application. My stick has lasted for a while too, as the soap is very hard. I'm waiting to use this up before I try my Palmolive.

Introduction

Last year in the summer I decided to go with my bike to Aachen Germany, to look if I could still find something that I hadn't bought yet. In the end I only came back with a Wilkinson Sword Shaving Stick, where I had read great things about.

This shaving stick is also often nicknamed the Mitchell's Wool Fat in stick form, that is because it contains Woolfat.

Packaging

The Wilkinson Sword Shaving Stick comes in a small carton box, and on the sides you can find shaving soap translated in seven languages, like German, Spanish, Dutch and French.



For the rest there is nothing special about the packaging, and it just contains the shaving stick packed in tinfoil with an useful holder to hold the shaving stick.



Performance and scent

I have used the Wilkinson Sword Shaving Stick quite often, and almost already finished the first one. To use the shaving stick you simply make it wet and apply it straight to your face, and then you just start face lathering.



The performance of the Wilkinson Sword Shaving Stick is really outstanding, and creates an rich thick lather enough for two or three passes. The quality of the lather is really superb, and it provides a very good glide and protects the skin very good and also doesn't dry the skin out.

Describing the is quite hard, but it would be best to describe it as an mild soap scent, which I personally think smells very pleasant.

Price and availability

In Germany you can buy the Wilkinson Sword Shaving Stick for € 1,45 from the Rossmann drugstore, I don't know if you can buy the Wilkinson Sword Shaving Stick locally outside Germany.

But I do know you can buy two of them for £ 5,00 from Connaught Shaving or £ 2,99 for one from Maguires Barbershop, and for people who life in the USA, West Coast Shaving sells the Wilkinson Sword Shaving Stick for $ 6,00.

Conclusion

Wilkinson Sword offers with this shaving stick a outstanding shaving soap which is from high quality, and offers a great value for your money.

When comparing this shaving stick to the Palmolive Classic Shaving Stick its definitely worth paying the extra money for this shaving stick, because it performs better than the Palmolive Classic Shaving Stick.

By the way, this isn't the same shaving soap as the normal Wilkinson Sword shaving soap in blue bowl, which I heard isn't great shaving soap.

Following 4 days using the Erasmic Stick shaves, I had to go for something much better. Erik (Gustav) suggested the Wilkinson Sword as he's also working on that one. (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/339009-Wilkinson-sword-shave-stick-a-little-known-gem-of-a-shave-stick)



I used the Wilkinson Sword Shave Stick in the past with success. I knew that I was getting into one of those fantastic products that is cheap and good. The size of the stick is the same or almost the same than the Palmolive Euro Shave Stick. I know that the Palmolive Stick (Euro) is cheaper but the Wilkinson Sword scent is better IMO.

So, how is the product? Very easy to lather, easy to compare it to Palmolive, Arko or Speick. A bit of water and it's perfect. It's not very thirsty compared to other sticks and the lather is very slick and protective! It's one of those products that you don't get any headaches and it simply works. I have to give it to the Germans for that, they do extraordinary stuff when it comes to shave sticks!

I did 1 shave as superlather. I used a sample of Edwin Jagger Menthol shave cream and it worked wonders. The lather was maybe 1 notch thicker and it was awesome as usual. The menthol from the EJ cream made it extra special but it was mild compared to pure EJ Menthol.

I then moved on the Uberlather shave. Just to see if that extra slickness would improve anything. I did not notice anything major which would suggest that the stick already has enough glide to make fantastic lather.

In the control group, I tried Arko as I referenced to it earlier. Arko is a good, cheap product and it's easy to obtain. The lather is good but not great compared to Wilkinson. Don't get me wrong, Arko is a workhorse, Wilkinson Sword is a bigger and faster horse, that's all.

Going back to the scent, I would say a clean, soapy scent. It's mild but still there. The only fault that I could find was that it melts a bit too quick compared to other sticks. I guesstimate between 65-70 shaves for that one compared to Speick where I was over 100 shaves it it.

This is blue magic in a shaving stick. It produces copious amount of slick and lubricating lather without a hitch. And the performance is in par with Tabac. The only thing I'm not too fond of is the scent. It reminds me of Gillette Edge, heavy "man" perfume. But once on the face as lather, it's hardly noticeable. I wish this was more readily available.

This is good stuff -- no getting around it. Really brilliant. I really enjoy MWF, Tabac, Musgo, etc -- I would (and I do) put this in the same category in terms of how well this works for shaving. Grab a stick and try it for yourself -- if you don't like, you can always PIF to me.

Let me share this little electric blue miracle I discovered on a certain online retailer.

Its cheap, works like a charm and has an excellent lather with hardly any effort,, if you see this and you can get hold of it, then do it, you won't be sorry.

Only complaint I have is that it should be more readily available like the palmolive shave sticks are, here in England. Granted I had to look around a bit but managed to find a couple of places that still stock them... now if only I could find someone that sells wilkinson sword shave cream (I mean the sensitive skin formulation, not this brand new hydro shave cream, which I'll have to try anyway) In case nobody noticed I really like the wilkinson sword stuff in general.

Got this as an extra item in an order just because I was curious. It's good stuff, but not something I would rate at the top of the heap. I will certainly use it up, and I suspect I may have yet to find the exact sweet spot for getting the lather to perform. Sticks and face lathering are like that for me, so maybe I'd do better with the bowl.

The scent is clean and classy, the soap is blue but the suds are not. Slick enough if you get the water right. Dried my face a bit more than other soaps, but not a deal breaker. A solid performer and I'd buy it if I saw it in a drug store and needed a shave stick, but only of the La Toja stick wasn't sitting next to it!

It was the first shaving stick I bought and still my favorite. One of my favorite shaving products, to be honest.

Price is good - only $4.00 US from Superlather. Apparently really inexpensive in Europe.

The quality is good for what it is - a shavestick. It would be nicer if it came in a container like La Toja's shave stick, but it's an inexpensive drug store type product. I like the odd blue color.

The lather is very rich and thick and has great lubricating qualities - what you'd expect from a tallow-based soap. It also has glycerine and lanolin. The scent is very old school "drugstore". I like it - it smells like something from the 1960s - very Mad Men - skinny ties and narrow lapel suits.

Finally, it's very moisturizing. It's right up there with Proraso cream in my personal "Hall of Fame" of inexpensive, quality shaving products.

It's a fantastic product. I particularly enjoy the very light scent; it's clean, it's fresh, but it doesn't stay long enough to annoy you - plus my really sensitive skin tells me not too much fragrance has been used. The performance is on par with premium priced soaps.

Be aware though: the lather turns to dry flakes on your skin when waiting too long for perfect soaking of the beard. Ideally I'd say lather, brush your teeth, then relather for the best result - it's hardly a waste of product when the price is that low.

Deduction of points for the packaging though - a shaving stick should be ready for traveling, I'd exect a plastic lid instead of foil.

Try it out, you won't regret it - I prefer this one over the high priced sticks and even use it more often than my beloved Speick soap.

I normally use shaving creams/shaving bowls at home, but when "on the road" this is in my travel bag. It creates a fantastic lather when you rub it on your face and hit it with the shaving brush. A really nice classic scent as well, not up there with the Penhaligons, but hey im in a hotel!

There are two of these stick available in the UK. The standard one (green I think) and this blue one, the blue one is designed for sensitive skin. I have used both, I prefer the scent of the standard one, but the shave seems better with the blue.

I have not seen the blue one in many places, but I got mine in the Isle of Wight, UK. The standard green one is available everywhere, local chemists, wilkos you name it.

Try them both and dont be a snob when your out and about, saves carrying too much about! They are about 59p in the UK, which is ridiculously cheap, I have spent more in London to go to the toilet.

this soap is right up there with the Palmolive and Speick sticks and worthy of a top 5 best ever for me.

it has that classic european 'clean' scent a little powdery and closer to the Speick than the Palmolive ( i've just gone and smelled them )

performs as well as the other two and for the price it's unbeatable, definately one to try.
in fact it's a must have!

a resounding

Where did you purchase this new stick? Which store?
Cheers

Saw this out of the corner of my eye whilst looking for something else entirely - flipped it over and saw the magic words "Tallowate" "Glycerin" and "Lanolin" so had to try it.

Opened the box and took out the foil-wrapped stick - first big surprise the stick is electric blue! No matter - colour isn't everything, but it doesn't go with the bathroom decor

Wet my beard, liberal application of the stick, damp brush and heaps of decent cushioning lather appeared from nowhere. The effect of the glycerin and tallow in conjunction make the later slick and the lanolin offers some additional moisturising on top of the glycerin.

The scent is sort of citrussy - I'm rubbish at describing smells but it hasn't persisted too long post shave (which I count as a good thing - that's what aftershave/cologne/etc is for)

I paid GBP0.69 for it so it's cheap enough.