Italian Shaving Soap Compendium

This is the last one, I promise. Italy is the only other European nation that produces enough different brands of shaving soap to warrant it's own thread.

Italian Brands of Shaving Soap:

Acca Kappa (1869 and White Moss varieties)
Art of Shaving (Lavender, Lemon, Sandalwood and Unscented varieties. Produced in Italy)
J&E Atkinson I'Coloniali (sold as a shaving cream, but is actually a soap)
Boellis Panama 1924
Cella Crema Sapone Extra Extra Purissima
Compagnia Delle Erbe (Almond)
Concord
Daymon's
Figaro
Fitness
Herr&Mann
L'Amande Homme Zafferano (Basil and Saffron)
La Riana (Bay Leaf, Grapefruit, Lavender, Natural, Sage and Sandalwood varieties. Included for comedy value alone, this stuff blows.)
Lepo
Lunaroma
Omega
P160
Prep
Proraso (Eucalyptus & Menthol and Aloe & Green Tea varieties)
Royal Shave own brand soap (Italian Made)
Valobra ( Almond and Menthol varieties)
Lorenzo Villoresi (Uomo)
Zefiro

This is getting to be a habit
Bang zoom azap~ Sticky

Art of Shaving (AOS) soap pucks are made in Italy (supposedly by Valobra).

BTW: Great post!

the Lorenzo Villoresi sure looks interesting.

there is a little more info right here.

Lorenzo Villoresi also makes a very fine shaving brush.

Thanks for the post. May I suggest the addition of Santa Maria Novella. Great shaving soap and pre and post shaving products.

Haven't heard of many of these, but I'm in the USA. Very curious about the Fitness and Prep shaving soaps. Heard good stuff about Fitness. Too bad it's not more widely distributed in the USA.

There is one I'd like to add to that list: Cella Crema da barba all'olio di mandorla a tallow based soap containing almond oil. It's different from the Cella you already listed.

And here's the Dutch Shaving Soap Compendium

De Vergulde Hand



Thanks for putting this together AJS.

blade08 said:

And here's the Dutch Shaving Soap Compendium

De Vergulde Hand



Thanks for putting this together AJS.

Click to expand...

There are a couple of other Dutch shaving products, they will be included in my Rest of the World list when I finish it. Unfortunately my computer, which seems to take some sort of sadistic pleasure from tormenting me, lost all of my saved files which included some interesting, not to mention very exotic, shaving soaps which I'm struggling to find again.
As far as additions to the list, we've gone well past the 4 day limit allowed to edit a post. I asked about this in the Site Feedback forum and was told that all requests for adding additional information should go to Jim
Also, the Xpec shaving soap that I reviewed the other day is an Italian made product, so that needs to be added too.

I would add Acqua di Parma to the list with but one caveat. Much like Santa Maria Novella and some others on the list, it sits betwixt cream and soap.

On a completely unrelated note, how many soaps and creams do you have?

professorchaos said:

On a completely unrelated note, how many soaps and creams do you have?

Click to expand...

Funny. I'm wondering the same thing. I'm almost afraid to find out.

Wasn't sure about adding Santa Maria Novella or AdP. Whilst they are sold as Shaving Cream, myself and many others do use them like a soap. Funnily enough, the first tub of AdP I bought was completely dehydrated and was as hard as a triple-milled soap, I'd read all the posts where people said they used it like a soap and assumed that this was normal. It was only at the end of last year, when I visited the AdP boutique store that I realised mine was abnormal. So I have a tub of the normal stuff and my dehydrated tub and personally I like the dried out one a little more. It doesn't have that urinal cake odour that the normal one does when in the tub.
As far as how many soaps and creams I have, oh boy. Creams aren't actually too bad, I'm not really a "cream guy" and so only keep ones I really like, like Nancy Boy and a few of the classic pharmacy brands like Erasmic and Ingrams. Soaps are a different matter, I'll have to count them and post later, the final tally scares me to be quite honest.

edited by moderator
Looks like a place to get most of the stuff on your list....

Updated Version:

Acca Kappa (1869 and White Moss varieties)
Acqua di Parma (Hard Cream/ Soft Soap type)
Art of Shaving (Lavender, Lemon, Sandalwood and Unscented varieties. Produced in Italy)
J&E Atkinson I'Coloniali (sold as a shaving cream, but is actually a soap)
J&E Atkinson Spirit of Africa (same as above)
Boellis Panama 1924
Cella Crema da Barba all'olio di Mandorla
Cella Crema Sapone Extra Extra Purissima
Compagnia Delle Erbe (Almond)
Concord
Daymon's
Figaro
Fitness
Herr&Mann
L'Amande Homme Zafferano (Basil and Saffron)
La Riana (Bay Leaf, Grapefruit, Lavender, Natural, Sage and Sandalwood varieties. Included for comedy value alone, this stuff blows.)
Lepo
Lunaroma
Omega
P160
Prep
Proraso (Eucalyptus & Menthol and Aloe & Green Tea varieties)
Royal Shave own brand soap (Italian Made)
Santa Maria Novella (Hard Cream/ Soft Soap type)
Valobra ( Almond and Menthol varieties)
Valobra Fougere (1001seife exclusive)
Lorenzo Villoresi (Uomo)
Xpec Shaving Soap (Hard Cream/ Soft Soap type)
Zefiro

professorchaos said:

IOn a completely unrelated note, how many soaps and creams do you have?

Click to expand...

Final tally stands at 119 currently extant soaps, 23 vintage soaps and 21 creams. This doesn't include 3 soaps I finished in the shower because they suck (Trevarno, Bay Shave and Pendergrass Bay) and 2 soaps lost (L'amande Homme, unfortunately and Neal's Yard Lavender) with a couple of brushes and some blades because the imbecilic baggage handlers employed by British Airways are less able than drunken monkies.
I should have another 19 soaps arriving over the coming weeks.
PS. Please God, don't ask me to list them all.

Good God. I am in awe and envious!!

Glad I read the last part Glad I also read about the La Riana....I was considering it but not any more. Thank you!

Is there a recommended source in the U.S. with a good variety of Italian shaving soaps?

blade08 said:

There is one I'd like to add to that list: Cella Crema da barba all'olio di mandorla a tallow based soap containing almond oil. It's different from the Cella you already listed.

Click to expand...

I am a strong Cella fan. Please explain the differences between the Mandorla and the extra extra purissma versions of Cella. I believe the mandorla is the one sold in the red plastic tub, and the extra extra is sold in the 1K block. And I may be wrong about that. I'm just very curious!