Proraso Shaving Soap

Pros: Great smell (the wife got a whiff and said she really liked it - it's not "medicine-y" like the Proraso Green with its menthol) Long Lasting Produces a really nice, creamy lather Comes in its own bowl that fits nicely in my palm - makes it really easy to whip up lather! Cons: Only place I've found it is via Amazon; nobody local sells it! (not really a con, but if I'm running low, I have to plan to purchase more at least 2 days before I run out, thanks to Prime) The bowl is a little hard to store (my medicine cabinet isn't very deep, and the bowl would cause it not to close, so it has to sit out on the counter. Minor nitpick, but that's not Proraso's fault - I'd rather put it away if I can, but the cabinet's really shallow) So this soap is nice and slick - just a little bit of water on a shaving brush, and I'm able to whip up a great lather. I have noticed with my hard water in Southern California that it tends to dry out on my face fairly quickly, so I almost need to have it fairly wet and runny when I'm starting - once I apply it, it's a great, slick soap, and adds a lot of cushion. It feels absolutely wonderful on my face, and fortunately doesn't dry it out like the old Edge Gel that I used to use; plus, a little bit goes a LONG way, for shaving my face and my head. I think I've found a great shaving soap for the price point, and will DEFINITELY have it as a soap in my arsenal. Sure, it's not as cheap as say, the $4 can of Edge Gel, or the $1 cans of Barbasol shaving cream, but it lasts longer, it has a great smell (a nice sandalwood scent that my wife commented on and said, "It smells really good on you, like a man should smell like!"), and it leaves my face and head feeling good. There are a few other soaps that I'd like to try (boutique soaps, for the most part), but this is definitely going to be part of my shaving arsenal in case anything else gets expensive or impossible to find. :)

--Packing/shipping: No issues at all, no leaking. --Scent: Good scent, but not overbearing at all. --Quality: I use a badger brush, run under hot water 30 seconds or so to soften bristles then good to go. Provides more than enough lather for a comfortable shave with a double edge safety razor! --Value: I have a full beard so I'm not shaving my complete face, but still this shave soap will last me at least a year. I'm at 10 months now with it and still plenty to go, can't beat that!

This is the best shaving soap/cream I have ever used. In the past, I have only used Nivea, Gillette, and Barbasol shaving creams. I recently purchased a Yaqi shaving brush out of curiosity, and decided to pull the trigger on this Proraso shaving soap based on company history and customer reviews. Well, now I understand why Proraso has the loyal following and stellar reputation that it does. I find it quite different from the other shaving creams I used. I don’t know how else to explain it other than to say that this shaving soap felt thicker, creamier, and more luxurious than anything else I used previously. I also got a better/closer shave when using my Mach3 blades, and my skin felt better afterwards. Meaning, I didn’t feel the same type of discomfort or irritation right after shaving that I felt when using those other shaving creams. I didn’t feel the immediate urge to apply after shave, although, after trying this Proraso shaving soap, I also went ahead and purchased the Proraso after shave balm. The smell of this shaving soap is also pleasant..masculine but mild. I can definitely say that if you’re on the fence, you should definitely try this. It’s without a doubt a high quality shaving soap/cream, and in my opinion, worth the higher price.

This is my favorite Proraso. For me it seems to be the most easy to lather and the most cushioning. The green Proraso is good but it also has a ton of menthol, so it’s not good all the time. The white one smells great but it seems to need a better balance of water to soap. The blue one doesn’t smell like anything and didn’t feel much different than the white one. The red one smells really good, and lathers very well and seems to calm down the irritation on my face better. I also noticed that instead of the vegetable base of the white Proraso this one appears to have beef tallow(stearic acid) in it which would explain why I believe that it performs better overall. Something about beef tallow protects the face well and helps the razor glide. I used shave oil too because their pre shave isn’t that great I think. Also the cream is convenient but i recommend the tubs because they are actually less work on my opinion to lather and they are cheaper and last longer than the tubes. Just a heads up.

Update: 5-24-19 I've updated my original 2 star rating to a 4. It turns out that for several months I was using too much water in my boar brush which caused me all sorts of problems for ALL my soaps, Proraso more-so than others since it has more water in it already than other stuff out there. I could not get dense slippery lather from it if my life depended on it, just thin watery bubbles. You know that famous "Marco Method" of loading a brush? It's horrible, for a boar brush/Proraso in particular which naturally holds more water than badgers and synthetics do, even when squeezed. If you take a soaking wet boar and gravity drain it, boy are you in for trouble! Instead, gently squeeze the water out of it THEN load your wet Proraso puck for roughly a minute. The time required is greatly dependent on the backbone of your brush. A Semogue 1250 is fantastic for this and my goto brush. A Semogue 1800 takes twice as long to load, for example. Loaded correctly, Proraso lather is just fine unless you're looking for the excessive slip and residual slickness offered by tallow-based shave soaps. I've found that my oily skin doesn't fare well with many heavily tallow-based soaps post-shave, where I tend to get greasy. Proraso leaves me with a nicely supple/hydrated face after the cold water rinse post shaving. No aftershave required. The Red scent is a but over-the-top sweet powdery sandalwood but addictive, the White and Green are very nice as well. Knocking off 1 star for the price. $10 is high considering you can walk into any drugstore in Europe and get this for less than $5. It's sad that the USA has such horribly performing shave products and we have to pay through the nose for the basic cheap/good stuff Europe has to offer like Proraso and Palmolive shave sticks. Oh well. Update: 1-16-19 I have so fallen out of love with my first shaving soap love, Proraso Red. I still absolutely love the scent and packaging and the idea of it but it’s just not that great for the price. The main issue is slickness and cushion. Arko, which costs half the price and smells 1/4th as good, is a top notch performer. Proraso just does not contain the slickness of soaps way below its price and slightly above the top notch stuff. If this stuff was $5 a tub it would be ok but not great in performance. I still keep my tub around for the occasional sniff but that’s all it’s good for! Update: 12/26/18 Not a fan of TOBS Sandalwood, hated the aroma like a few others. Proraso is my current favorite along with the Cremo as a pre-shave followed by Duke Cannon post-shave balm. Wonderful combo! Original Review: I am a newbie wet-shaver, I got tired of the generic crappy expensive blades and foamy/non-cushioning aeorosol shaving creams. I’m getting too old to shave like a poor high school student. Sandalwood: I don’t know what Sandalwood is supposed to smell like. The first Sandalwood cream I bought was a Cremo from a local store. I love that type of smell because it doesn’t smell like anything I’ve ever encountered on any of the old people from my youth. Some stuff just immediately turns me off like Aqua Velva, Brut, and Old Spice. I don’t want to smell like old people from the past and Sandalwood got me excited. My Sandalwood frame of reference henceforth is Cremo. When the Proraso Red arrived I found it very different than the Cremo aroma. It is much more understated and complex and interesting compared to the Cremo. There are fruity/soapy notes all playing against each other with a very subtle Sandalwood fragrance hiding in the back occasionally peeking out to say hi. It has become my favorite so far because of its understated elegance. I have a tub of TOBS in the way, I wonder where this rabbit-hole will lead me? Very nice lather and cushion. Many have said its impossible to NOT get a nice Proraso lather. Let me tell you how to do it because I had a newbie moment! I tried to take a chunk of the soap from the tub and lather it sepereately in my shaving bowl. Do NOT do this! This soap is very hard and if you move a piece to another bowl it will be difficult to dissolve. It’ll just get caught in the brush and you’ll be swearing trying to catch and dissolve it. Instead, soak your brush in hot water, shake most of it off, lather in the soap tub for 10-15 seconds, THEN move the soapy brush to your shave bowl and whip away adding just a few drops of hot water if you need it. Voila, fantastic cream with lots of peaks and cushion and a glorious aroma. Barbasol, Bic, Gillette, it’s been nice knowing you.....I guess. It’s time for us to go our separate ways. Bonne journée, Ciao!

Lathers quickly. Obviously has moisturizers and such -- more so than traditional shaving soap. I previously used the Viking Revolution Shaving Soap -- which is also good. This is a richer lather and I don't know if I completely prefer the lather. But, I have to say, after 6 months of almost daily use I've used less than 25% of the tub of Proraso and if you are comparing this slightly higher price to the cheaper shaving soaps, I think this is the better bargain. It is easier to get a good lather with this product compared to shaving soaps so I think you use less of it. With shaving soap you often have to gauge the water to soap ratio, and it sometimes takes a bit of time to get it right. With this, you can just wet your brush a bit and dab the tub and it will lather right up. Smells nice too.

Product packaging is excellent, fast shipping from the supplier, and reasonably priced and a great value at the price point. The sandalwood scent reminds me of days as a child watching my dad shave his face with this straight razor. Over all of the years that I have been shaving I learned a few good lessons and one of them is to have the correct soap for your beard and skin. Washing your face thoroughly with a mild soap and warm water is essential to getting a good shave. So is having a sharp blade and a soap that provided enough lather to make the razor glide over the surface of the skin without irritation. Proraso does exactly that especially when coupled with a good soft brush. I use both the menthol and the sandalwood versions of the soap depending upon where I will be going and the company that I will be in at the event. Shaving a man's face is a serious task and should not be taken lightly nor should the tools used for such an endeavor be cheap or illsuited for the task. Sharp stainless steel blazes that are cleaned and properly stored is important. The soap needs to be able to create a thick lather and the brush should be substantial enough to hold enough water to allow the soap to do it's job. Shaving is an art and learning to get a good close, clean shave is something to learn. Take the time to learn and save the damage to your skin.

I love the Proraso products. The soap performs exactly as described. The scent is subtle and not overwhelming.