Is Proraso White a good soap?

[karacha]

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.

 

[geneaut]

I keep a tub in rotation. I find I like to use it on days after I've been overly aggressive with a razor or a blade. I find the cream slightly 'calming' if that makes any sense.

 

[Chandu]

It does seem to be a reliable brand with good manufacturing practices, even if some of their products won't suit everyone, of course.



I think it depends on overall "shaving style". The cushion school seems to favor tallow soaps, not surprising since tallow is mostly stearic acid, and it's used as a bulking emulsifier, the slickness school favors glycerine soaps and creams.

I like tallow and non tallow. Williams is a favorite because it doesn’t off much cushion and is slick.

 

[Chandu]

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.

Thank you!

When you say protective, you are including post shave skin feel. I was thinking only of during the shave. Unless a soap burns or something I don't care about it's post shave too much. I can always use a little balm if something i not right. Derby is one of the few that feels like it's saponifying the oil from my face as I shave.

I like lathered and non lathered products. I just need slick. I have no problem using something like Billy Jeaolousy or Carvers Shave butter. They work exceellent for me. The drawback to them for me is that they are not white enough so it's hard to just glance and see where one has been or needs to go.

But I also like traditional lathered soaps, tallow and non as well, even foam from a can. They all work for me as long as i can get enough slickness.

 

[RayClem]

It does seem to be a reliable brand with good manufacturing practices, even if some of their products won't suit everyone, of course.



I think it depends on overall "shaving style". The cushion school seems to favor tallow soaps, not surprising since tallow is mostly stearic acid, and it's used as a bulking emulsifier, the slickness school favors glycerine soaps and creams.

Personally, I like soaps with both great slickness and great cushion. Having great post shave feel is also nice. There are soaps will all three, Proraso is not one of them.

 

[Billy T.]

Hmm, you said the green was irritating. Both soaps share menthol, green has a lot more though. Green also has eucalyptus oil. If you are sensitive to menthol don't buy the white.

 

[AZBronco]

If you are thinking you will turn a profit selling on an auction site, you’re probably better off keeping it. At most you’ll make $1 or $2. Places like Italian Barber regularly have it on sale for $5.

 

[FireDragon76]

Hmm, you said the green was irritating. Both soaps share menthol, green has a lot more though. Green also has eucalyptus oil. If you are sensitive to menthol don't buy the white.

Eucalyptus bugs my skin more than menthol does. If it only has a little, that should be OK.

The Green Proraso feels like a big face freeze, but after I rinse it off I really feel the eucalyptus burn.

 

[FireDragon76]

If you are thinking you will turn a profit selling on an auction site, you’re probably better off keeping it. At most you’ll make $1 or $2. Places like Italian Barber regularly have it on sale for $5.

If I don't like it, I could always give it to my dad. He really needs to upgrade his soap. He's been using the same C&E Sandalwood pucks I gave him years ago. Aside from the bowl and pretty scent, it's not that great to actually shave with. If I give him something, though, he's bound to try it.. but he's cheap and won't buy anything unless he absolutely has to.

 

[naughtilus]

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.

 

[FireDragon76]

How does Proraso compare to Cella? They both seem to have similar ingredients.

 

[Atlantic59]

How does Proraso compare to Cella? They both seem to have similar ingredients.

Cella is a classic Italian soft soap with a recipe that goes back to the turn of the 20th century. It has only a few simple ingredients including lots of tallow. Once you learn to lather Cella, it basically explodes into big clouds of very slick lather that does not dry out.

The scent is a synthetic almond marzipan that people tend to love or hate. But the scent wishes off entirely when you have finished shaving.

You can buy a kilogram of Cella that will last the average daily shaver around two years for $20 - 30 with shipping if you shop around. A 150gm tub costs $6-10 depending on where you buyi t.

Cella has expanded their product range with shaving creams, aftershaves, balms, etc. They recently added a vegetable-based line. Before all that, the only thing we saw was the soft soap.

Proraso has a lot of similarities to Cella but it is a vegetable-based soap with more preservatives and synthetic ingredients. A huge mass market industrial product that comes in several different varieties and two different product lines. It is available in a tub as a soft soap and also in tubes as a cream. They also have lots of different varieties of aftershaves, balms, pre-shaves, etc.

 

[FireDragon76]

Cella is a classic Italian soft soap with a recipe that goes back to the turn of the 20th century. It has only a few simple ingredients including lots of tallow. Once you learn to lather Cella, it basically explodes into big clouds of very slick lather that does not dry out.

The scent is a synthetic almond marzipan that people tend to love or hate. But the scent wishes off entirely when you have finished shaving.

You can buy a kilogram of Cella that will last the average daily shaver around two years for $20 - 30 with shipping if you shop around. A 150gm tub costs $6-10 depending on where you buyi t.

Cella has expanded their product range with shaving creams, aftershaves, balms, etc. They recently added a vegetable-based line. Before all that, the only thing we saw was the soft soap.

Proraso has a lot of similarities to Cella but it is a vegetable-based soap with more preservatives and synthetic ingredients. A huge mass market industrial product that comes in several different varieties and two different product lines. It is available in a tub as a soft soap and also in tubes as a cream.

I have been told there's two kinds of Cella, one is an old-fashioned shaving cream, the other is a soft soap that comes in blocks. They are only really different in terms of the water content.

I'm interested in how the lather compares to Proraso. Cella is alot more pricey.

 

[CJB3]

Except for the new “Bio” line, Cella is a tallow soap. They seem pretty different to me, but it’s hard for me to describe the differences.

 

[76vibrochamp]

Cella on its worst day is a lot better than Proraso at its best. Unless you're allergic to the almond, which quite a few people are. I am, but I can handle Cella or Figaro; P.160 and Antica Barberia Colla both cause me to turn bright red. It lathers easier than Proraso, and the lather is a lot slicker and more protective. I don't know if that's the tallow (probably not, Valobra and TFS make high quality vegan shave soaps that also outperform Proraso) or just better ingredients in general. My cynical side tells me that if Proraso was as slick and protective as Cella, then Ludovico Martinelli wouldn't sell as much pre-shave cream.

 

[Atlantic59]

I have been told there's two kinds of Cella, one is an old-fashioned shaving cream, the other is a soft soap that comes in blocks. They are only really different in terms of the water content.

I'm interested in how the lather compares to Proraso. Cella is alot more pricey.

Agree 100% with @76vibrochamp.

Cella lathers better, slicker and more protective. Like I said before, clouds of lather that don't dry out. Proraso is OK, perfectly fine. Cella is great.

Hopefully, you are not allergic to the benzaldhyde almond scent. If you leave the soap out exposed to the air for awhile, a lot of the offending chemical goes away.

If you order Cella from the UK it costs the same as Proraso, or less if you buy the kilo brick. A tub costs around $8 shipped. The kilo is like buying 6 tubs for $5 each including shipping. You could share with friends and family.

 

[FireDragon76]

I can read some Italian and one kind of red Cella tub says "crema da barba" (shaving cream), another box says "crema sapone" (which I believe means "cream soap").

I suppose the benzaldehyde would be a concern for me as I have reacted to that sort of thing before, especially if it's a strongly scented product. Another would be the relatively short shelf life. It seems like a product you really have to love to use.

 

[MTG Jr]

Yes

 

[Atlantic59]

I suppose the benzaldehyde would be a concern for me as I have reacted to that sort of thing before, especially if it's a strongly scented product. Another would be the relatively short shelf life. It seems like a product you really have to love to use.

It is the same chemical used for artificial almond flavor in cakes and cookies, etc. Whether you have a skin reaction is dependent on your individual sensitivity and the chemical concentration in the product. Cella has a low concentration compared to some of the other Italian creams. The concentration goes down a lot if you leave the cream open to the air for a few days.

If you look at the label on the tub, it suggests you use it within 12 months of opening. A tub might last for 100-125 shaves. That works out to 6.5 - 8.0 cents per shave. Pretty inexpensive.

 

[FireDragon76]

It is the same chemical used for artificial almond flavor in cakes and cookies, etc. Whether you have a skin reaction is dependent on your individual sensitivity and the chemical concentration in the product. Cella has a low concentration compared to some of the other Italian creams. The concentration goes down a lot if you leave the cream open to the air for a few days.

If you look at the label on the tub, it suggests you use it within 12 months of opening. A tub might last for 100-125 shaves. That works out to 6.5 - 8.0 cents per shave. Pretty inexpensive.

How does it hold up when frozen or refrigerated?

150grams of relatively dense shave cream is alot (I can't imagine buying a kilo unless I had a barbershop). I use small synthetic brushes and only do 1-2 passes. Typically, an almond size amount of cream is all I need. A puck of Williams or a tube of Derby used to last me months.