It's slick enough and I find it quite protective because my skin feels good after shaving. Also, cushion does not impede the shave for me. I find Proraso soaps provide the right amount of cushion for me to get a very good & enjoyable shave and the slickness is perfectly acceptable. I've shaved with slicker products, but many of them were not as enjoyable for me as Proraso. There are plenty of modern brushless creams that are extremely slick, but I don't like shaving with them very much. Some people probably do and that's totally fine with me.