As some of you might remember, I bought a ton of new soaps last week and they started arriving yesterday. I'm going to review some of these as I use them and hopefully these reviews will be beneficial for some. This got to be a little wordy (sorry) so just skip to the Final Comments if you'd like.
Thanks!
Soap: PannaCrema San Francesco
Cost: <$20
Appearance and packaging: The soap appears to be a firm, soft soap. What I mean is, its not as soft as Cella or some of the Razorock Italian soaps, but a firmer version. The soap can be easily dented with your thumb and has an almost gummy consistency. The color is a light tan or khaki color and it comes in a cheap plastic container that has a rather small opening. The package is similar in size to a Cella container. If you are loading a big brush, this could be a problem.
Scent: The company claims a sandalwood base and oriental spice, but I get more of an earthy clay with maybe a hint of sandalwood. The scent is pretty subdued in the jar but opens up quite a bit when its being worked into a lather. I think I can make out some lavender and vanilla, but I dont really get oriental spices at all. All in all, the scent is not unpleasant but is a far cry from some of the fantastic artisan soaps available.
Workability and Lather: I soaked my brush in warm water for about 5 minutes and added a drizzle of water to the top of the puck for the same amount of time. I let my brush drain and gave it 2 good shakes, directly downward and also poured off the water from the surface of the soap. I still had a fair bit of water in the brush, but this is how I normally load so I didnt want to change my normal process. I loaded the soap for about 30 secs (15 clockwise, 15 counter-clockwise) and the soap seemed to load a fair amount in that time period. The one thing I noticed was that the soap instantly went into making proto-lather. There were very few large bubbles even at the start.
I palm lathered, since I always palm lather a new soap. I like the tactile feedback I get by palm lathering a soap and I get to learn pretty quickly how much water a soap can take and when it starts to break down. I worked the soap for about 30 seconds on my palm and the soap appeared to be a little dry, so I dipped the brush tip in water and worked it for another 30 seconds. At this point I had shaveable lather. It was thick and yogurty, it had a nice sheen and could hold peaks. Personally, I like a wetter lather, so I dipped the brush again and worked for another 30 seconds to 1 minute. The extra water got the soap to the lather explosion point and I had a handful of nice dense, well hydrated lather. This was more my style of shaving lather.
Slickness, Glide, Cushion, and Retention: This may be the slickest lather Ive used to date. I dont really know how else to explain it, this stuff would be dangerous if you dropped some on the floor and walked over it. When I rubbed it in-between my fingers, I couldnt really feel the skin on my fingers, just the pressure of rubbing them together. Of course the glide of the razor was fantastic because of this slickness so it gave a wonderful shave. This was like driving a Ferrari on ice, but I still felt in full control of my razor. The Cushion was OK, but not as good as some of the other soaps Ive used. I think Proraso and Cella both have better cushion. I let some lather hanging out on the side of my brush scuttle for the duration of the shave (~30 minutes) and at the end, the lather was still full and hydrated. I would say lather retention is quite good.
Face Feel and Moisturizing: The soap feels great on your face, not greasy, even with how slick it is and the after shave feel seems good. My face feels well moisturized even though I skipped my normal shave balm today. I wont say this is the most moisturizing soap out there, but its on par with most of the artisan soaps Ive tried.
Final Comments: I can see why people love PannaCrema; its a fantastic performance soap with a decent price. This soap offers spectacular slickness and glide, has very good lather longevity and water retention, and its cushion is on par with some of the other good soaps available. PannaCrema was easy to work into a lather and seemed to have a pretty wide sweet spot for hydration. Unfortunately, getting your hands on this soap may be a problem. You either have to import it or find a local dealer that actually keeps it in stock. This availability issue can have an impact on the final cost of the soap. Also the scent of this soap may not be for everyone. I didnt mind it, but I could see some wrinkled noses upon first sniff of this product. In the end, I would highly recommend this soap to anyone who is interested in it and I would definitely buy this product again.
Notes: I have softened water and this probably impacts how I lather soaps.
Equipment Used:
Weber PH Bulldog w/ Polsilver Super Iridium (2)
Semogue 610
Proraso White Pre-save
Floid Blue Aftershave
Thanks!
Soap: PannaCrema San Francesco
Cost: <$20
Appearance and packaging: The soap appears to be a firm, soft soap. What I mean is, its not as soft as Cella or some of the Razorock Italian soaps, but a firmer version. The soap can be easily dented with your thumb and has an almost gummy consistency. The color is a light tan or khaki color and it comes in a cheap plastic container that has a rather small opening. The package is similar in size to a Cella container. If you are loading a big brush, this could be a problem.
Scent: The company claims a sandalwood base and oriental spice, but I get more of an earthy clay with maybe a hint of sandalwood. The scent is pretty subdued in the jar but opens up quite a bit when its being worked into a lather. I think I can make out some lavender and vanilla, but I dont really get oriental spices at all. All in all, the scent is not unpleasant but is a far cry from some of the fantastic artisan soaps available.
Workability and Lather: I soaked my brush in warm water for about 5 minutes and added a drizzle of water to the top of the puck for the same amount of time. I let my brush drain and gave it 2 good shakes, directly downward and also poured off the water from the surface of the soap. I still had a fair bit of water in the brush, but this is how I normally load so I didnt want to change my normal process. I loaded the soap for about 30 secs (15 clockwise, 15 counter-clockwise) and the soap seemed to load a fair amount in that time period. The one thing I noticed was that the soap instantly went into making proto-lather. There were very few large bubbles even at the start.
I palm lathered, since I always palm lather a new soap. I like the tactile feedback I get by palm lathering a soap and I get to learn pretty quickly how much water a soap can take and when it starts to break down. I worked the soap for about 30 seconds on my palm and the soap appeared to be a little dry, so I dipped the brush tip in water and worked it for another 30 seconds. At this point I had shaveable lather. It was thick and yogurty, it had a nice sheen and could hold peaks. Personally, I like a wetter lather, so I dipped the brush again and worked for another 30 seconds to 1 minute. The extra water got the soap to the lather explosion point and I had a handful of nice dense, well hydrated lather. This was more my style of shaving lather.
Slickness, Glide, Cushion, and Retention: This may be the slickest lather Ive used to date. I dont really know how else to explain it, this stuff would be dangerous if you dropped some on the floor and walked over it. When I rubbed it in-between my fingers, I couldnt really feel the skin on my fingers, just the pressure of rubbing them together. Of course the glide of the razor was fantastic because of this slickness so it gave a wonderful shave. This was like driving a Ferrari on ice, but I still felt in full control of my razor. The Cushion was OK, but not as good as some of the other soaps Ive used. I think Proraso and Cella both have better cushion. I let some lather hanging out on the side of my brush scuttle for the duration of the shave (~30 minutes) and at the end, the lather was still full and hydrated. I would say lather retention is quite good.
Face Feel and Moisturizing: The soap feels great on your face, not greasy, even with how slick it is and the after shave feel seems good. My face feels well moisturized even though I skipped my normal shave balm today. I wont say this is the most moisturizing soap out there, but its on par with most of the artisan soaps Ive tried.
Final Comments: I can see why people love PannaCrema; its a fantastic performance soap with a decent price. This soap offers spectacular slickness and glide, has very good lather longevity and water retention, and its cushion is on par with some of the other good soaps available. PannaCrema was easy to work into a lather and seemed to have a pretty wide sweet spot for hydration. Unfortunately, getting your hands on this soap may be a problem. You either have to import it or find a local dealer that actually keeps it in stock. This availability issue can have an impact on the final cost of the soap. Also the scent of this soap may not be for everyone. I didnt mind it, but I could see some wrinkled noses upon first sniff of this product. In the end, I would highly recommend this soap to anyone who is interested in it and I would definitely buy this product again.
Notes: I have softened water and this probably impacts how I lather soaps.
Equipment Used:
Weber PH Bulldog w/ Polsilver Super Iridium (2)
Semogue 610
Proraso White Pre-save
Floid Blue Aftershave
