Pre de Provence Shaving Soap

This is one of my top soaps.

Price - Not inexpensive. In my opinion, a good value. The puck is big and hard so it lasts a long time.

Quality - Very nice. The tin is also first rate.

Scent - My favorite French soap scent and top three overall.

Lather - Gobs of thick lather. In my experience very easy to lather.

Efficacy - Good

Moisturizing - Very good

I rationalized buying and trying this by arguing that I needed a soap in a tin for travel. It is a nice tin. It is a very nice soap. SWMBO is familiar with shea butter and thought that would be a good thing to put in shaving soap.

I think I paid under $15. Well, you do get a tin with it, but it is a little more than a number of decent soaps. I've paid more for a puck of DR Harris and didn't bat an eye. A more cost-conscious wet shaver might point out that you can get four pucks of Col. Conk for about the same money.

The quality, in my opinion, is very nice. It looks expensive. It is impressive in that tin what with the birds...cool. They don't last long, the birds, but these guys had a plan to impress and they executed it.

I don't remember being aware of the scent other than it smells like soap, a nice soap.

It lathers nicely. I can load the brush once and build three or four passes in the scuttle without going back to the puck. (Scuttle? No, I haven't actually traveled with this soap, yet). The lather holds up well. I like shaving with it.

Efficacy? It produces the desired effect. I can say no more about that.

Moisturizing may be its strongest suit. I forgo the Thayer's unscented with aloe and go right to the AS. No dry skin with this soap. I gather its the shea butter.

In conclusion: I recommend it.

i love this soap! the shea butter makes my skin feel great and the price for a puck this size is awesome. plus, i like that it comes in a travel-friendly container. will definately be in the rotation

I had a puck of this soap sitting in my closet unused, until I happened upon Ron's review. So, I dug it out, tried it, and kicked myself for the delay! I'd be hard-pressed to come up with any negative comment about this product.

I, of course, had read all the "wonders of tallow" posts, so I focused on trying those soaps. I have a few glycerine-based soaps that are nice, but this is my first shea butter product. It easily generate loads of slick, fragrant lather, shaves beautifully, and washes away clean.

Its a keeper!

I have been working with new soaps for the past month. I started with Tabac soap, working on my lathering technique. I then moved to Mama Bear shaving soap (Sapmoss), and Bigelow Cream in the green tube. For the past two weeks, I have been using nothing but Pre de Provence soap for my shaves. I found Tabac to dry out my skin, but Pre de Provence leaves my skin feeling moisturized. It is easy to create a thick meringue-like creamy lather from the soap using my Savile Row 2824. I have tried both face lathering and bowl lathering using Pre de Provence with Astra blades and my Edwin Jagger DE89L, and have had great shaves either way. This soap has given me the best shaves yet.

Price: More than Mama Bear soaps, but Phil at Bullgoose shaving supplies has it for around $14.00. For a soap over 5 ounces, it is well worth the price and a great value.

Quality: The shea butter really helps my skin, and I have had nothing but great shaves since I started using it. It lathers easier than Tabac, and is very slick.

Scent: Mild, with hints of sage and rosemary. This scent doesn't last long, but will not interfere with a cologne or EdT.

Lather: The soap is practically a solid cream. After a minute of loading my brush, I created a thick lather that was very protective. Great value here.

Efficacy: As I have stated a few times (and it really does bear repeating), the lather is protective, thick, and does not bother or irritate my sensitive skin. I do not know if I will go back to Tabac after working with this soap.

Moisturizing: My skin still needs an aftershave after a 3 pass shave, however it is close. I could probably do without the aftershave and be OK. Far more moisturizing than any other soap that I have tried. It has to be the shea butter.

To conclude: This is a great soap that is a wonderful value. It will last for a while, and creates a lather that is a joy to shave with. Do yourself a favor and at least try Pre de Provence soap. I think that you will be happy that you did, but YMMV.