This grew out of my trying Proraso Red last week, for the first time. I am not normally a fan of sandalwood scents, but Proraso Red I really like. @Marco was singing its praises and he is, perhaps, the foremost soap/cream expert at B&B, and I take his recommendations seriously.
I have a tub of Taylor Peppermint which has been my summertime "cool shave" and I wanted to pit it against Proraso Green, surprised that I could not turn up a comparison of the two already. Let me preface this by saying, in general, creams are always a tier 2 shave for me. I've never had a cream that rose to the tier 1 lathers for me (tallow Tabac, Cella orginal, Stirling mutton tallow Varen, S.V.), but I enjoy using them occasionally. My favorite cream of all time in terms of shave comfort and post shave feel was Taylor's discontinued Avocado. But I have been very much enjoying the tub of Peppermint I have.
To keep things as close as possible for the left/right half shave today, I bowl lathered so I could be very tuned in to what I was doing. I used two synthetic brushes, a Stirling Tuxedo, and a Reyes Restores reknotted clear acrylic brush I use in my travel kit. I did not have Proraso branded cream, but rather a C.O. Bigelow tube I also use in my travel kit, which is Proraso Green. I can't keep track of reformulations, but that tube is maybe 3 years old, and was definitely the current formulation for that time. I was able to generate identically hydrated lathers with each. The razor is a Henson AL13++, the blade a Gillette 7 O'Clock Black, shave #4 today.
I wanted to do an "everyday" shave which is why I did not grab a new blade. I did not do touch-ups, per se, but I did a light 3rd pass, then a 4th pass on my neck and jawline. Here is the kit for today's shave. I figured the alum block would give me feedback on any difference between right/left sides of my face, and the AV Ice Blue is a fairly strong Alcohol Splash and a perfect finish for this cooling shave.
I have to tell you I will disappoint you. When these comparisons are done, the audience wants a clear winner--and I just can't give you one. This is like the old Ninja vs Spetznaz blade thread I did in 2011, sent out a bunch of Gillette blacks and blues for shavers to try and the results were a dead heat. Same here.
From a shave standpoint, the alum block did not highlight any differences between right/left half. After the alum, I used Thayer's WH, and a plentiful splash of AV Ice Blue, again, could not feel any difference. After a half hour dry down, I cannot tell much of a difference between closeness, although there might be a very slight edge to the Taylor side. Overall the shave was 9.5 DFS very comfortable. If it was not shave #4 on the blade, I'm certain it would have been a BBS, which I get easily on the blacks on shaves #1-3.
From a subjective side, which may not be how you feel about things, I'd have to say the Taylor was more pleasurable. After 13 years of regular use, the Proraso is familiar, and I like the scent, but the Peppermint is simply more pleasant to my nose. Both Peppermint oil and Eucalyptus are good for the skin, which is why both work so well, but my subjective feeling is the Taylor felt, well, colder than the Proraso. It's hard to describe in words but the Proraso was cool, the Taylor was cold. Neither is like the arctic menthol bomb some of you like (I don't) but the Taylor felt colder to me.
Overall, I think these two creams are equals in terms of shaving efficacy and comfort post-shave, you can use either with confidence. And I suspect your favorite will come down to purely subjective evaluation like how you like the scent or feel, I doubt anyone will detect much of a difference in the shave itself.
Tie!
Both of these are excellent shaving creams, and will always have one or the other in stock, probably not both, it would seem redundant to me. Well, I'm likely to always have a small tube of C.O. Bigelow because along with an old La Toja stick, those are my travel lathers. But I would say buy either with confidence if you've not tried them. If you have tried one, try the other, and see what you think. You could pair these with any number of cooling aftershaves, the Proraso Green is highly regarded here, although I've not tried it. For you cool freaks, either of these would be a nice prelude to your arctic splashes. Highly recommend both.
I have a tub of Taylor Peppermint which has been my summertime "cool shave" and I wanted to pit it against Proraso Green, surprised that I could not turn up a comparison of the two already. Let me preface this by saying, in general, creams are always a tier 2 shave for me. I've never had a cream that rose to the tier 1 lathers for me (tallow Tabac, Cella orginal, Stirling mutton tallow Varen, S.V.), but I enjoy using them occasionally. My favorite cream of all time in terms of shave comfort and post shave feel was Taylor's discontinued Avocado. But I have been very much enjoying the tub of Peppermint I have.
To keep things as close as possible for the left/right half shave today, I bowl lathered so I could be very tuned in to what I was doing. I used two synthetic brushes, a Stirling Tuxedo, and a Reyes Restores reknotted clear acrylic brush I use in my travel kit. I did not have Proraso branded cream, but rather a C.O. Bigelow tube I also use in my travel kit, which is Proraso Green. I can't keep track of reformulations, but that tube is maybe 3 years old, and was definitely the current formulation for that time. I was able to generate identically hydrated lathers with each. The razor is a Henson AL13++, the blade a Gillette 7 O'Clock Black, shave #4 today.
I wanted to do an "everyday" shave which is why I did not grab a new blade. I did not do touch-ups, per se, but I did a light 3rd pass, then a 4th pass on my neck and jawline. Here is the kit for today's shave. I figured the alum block would give me feedback on any difference between right/left sides of my face, and the AV Ice Blue is a fairly strong Alcohol Splash and a perfect finish for this cooling shave.
I have to tell you I will disappoint you. When these comparisons are done, the audience wants a clear winner--and I just can't give you one. This is like the old Ninja vs Spetznaz blade thread I did in 2011, sent out a bunch of Gillette blacks and blues for shavers to try and the results were a dead heat. Same here.
From a shave standpoint, the alum block did not highlight any differences between right/left half. After the alum, I used Thayer's WH, and a plentiful splash of AV Ice Blue, again, could not feel any difference. After a half hour dry down, I cannot tell much of a difference between closeness, although there might be a very slight edge to the Taylor side. Overall the shave was 9.5 DFS very comfortable. If it was not shave #4 on the blade, I'm certain it would have been a BBS, which I get easily on the blacks on shaves #1-3.
From a subjective side, which may not be how you feel about things, I'd have to say the Taylor was more pleasurable. After 13 years of regular use, the Proraso is familiar, and I like the scent, but the Peppermint is simply more pleasant to my nose. Both Peppermint oil and Eucalyptus are good for the skin, which is why both work so well, but my subjective feeling is the Taylor felt, well, colder than the Proraso. It's hard to describe in words but the Proraso was cool, the Taylor was cold. Neither is like the arctic menthol bomb some of you like (I don't) but the Taylor felt colder to me.
Overall, I think these two creams are equals in terms of shaving efficacy and comfort post-shave, you can use either with confidence. And I suspect your favorite will come down to purely subjective evaluation like how you like the scent or feel, I doubt anyone will detect much of a difference in the shave itself.
Tie!
Both of these are excellent shaving creams, and will always have one or the other in stock, probably not both, it would seem redundant to me. Well, I'm likely to always have a small tube of C.O. Bigelow because along with an old La Toja stick, those are my travel lathers. But I would say buy either with confidence if you've not tried them. If you have tried one, try the other, and see what you think. You could pair these with any number of cooling aftershaves, the Proraso Green is highly regarded here, although I've not tried it. For you cool freaks, either of these would be a nice prelude to your arctic splashes. Highly recommend both.
I guess I can't get in too much trouble.
