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PRORASO RED YAY or NAY

Got a sample of it and tried it out for a couple of days. It gives as a good shave as would be expected from Proraso. But, to me, the scent is like nails on a chalkboard. Not for me.
 
For me, it lathered as expected: excellent. The scent made me give it away after one use. If you can stand the scent though, this is a good cream and could be a top pick for use. I found nothing subtle about the scent at all, about as subtle as when a Harley rides in front of my house several times at 3 AM, at top speed: jolting, overly strong, and left a strong impression that left repercussions that everyone who dealt with me had to deal with for the rest of the day. ^_^
 
After a few shaves the scent did grow on me.I have been using the red in the tub and bowl lathering it with a couple of pumps of KMF.I use the lime,and the lavander and shea.Outstanding lather and even better shaves.
 
Love it! Great Proraso performance and a nice masculine scent that is similar to AOS but less sophisticated, more barbershop.
 
The scent's definitely too strong, but its grown on me. Shave quality is only average though, plus it leaves my skin dried out. I'll always have a soft spot for it as it was my first wet shaving cream. :laugh: But I won't be reordering once my current tube runs out.
 
Yay for me. I really enjoy my Proraso in all flavours. The red lathers up well and the smell is masculine. No it doesn't smell like some other sandalwoods but that doesn't stop it smelling good. Will definitely buy it again but probably in the tub next time.
 
Proraso Green and Red creams were the first "premium" shaving products I bought, and they still remain the standard against which others are compared -- for performance, experience, and value. In my first month of DE shaving I started shopping around for a step up from Williams soap, and Proraso's brand just keeps coming up as a great performer, a classic, and, at $10/tube or tub, provides premium performance at the bottom of what you might begin to consider premium prices. As advertised, with the shea butter, Proraso Red is a bit slicker, a bit more protective. I enjoy the scent: it smells deliciously woodsy, soapy, masculine, satisfying (the same soapy base note is also in the Proraso Green). To me the scent says: old fashioned quality barbershop shave, and if anything I wish it were stronger! Every time I smell it, I imagine I've just had a classic barber shop shave, out of Mad Men's Manhattan or Milan in the 1950s/60s.

I, too, curious to try other sandalwood creams and soaps, have just begun: just this morning I first shaved with Castle Forbes Sandalwood/Cedarwood soap. Castle Forbes turns up on a lot of favorites lists on this site, and is among the higher-end premiums at $38/tub (The highest end these days is around $60.) Wow, that's a great scent! Intense, rich, warmly spicy. But, with one CF SW/CW shave thus far (and lathering off of soap chips from a sample, my first time around I didn't get an optimal lather) I'll have to try it a few more times with a proper lather, but as far as shaving performance goes, I can't say the CF outperforms the Proraso, or has equaled it. In my admittedly limited experience, the Proraso Red compares quite favorably in scent and performance with a deluxe brand which turns up on many favorites and best performers lists (as does Proraso - even more), yet the Proraso is about 1/4 the price.

I wouldn't worry about buying anything Proraso. In the unlikely event you don't like it, or simply decide you prefer something else and want to thin your den, it'll sell in a flash here on B&B. Even if I were to decide CF is my BCF/BSF (best cream/soap forever), I rather doubt I'd sell my Proraso anytime soon.

Bob L has some useful insights from the dark arts of product management & marketing. Like Dovo/Merkur, they're companies who've been around long enough, and gotten large enough, to have learned product management quite well. They've specced out their market, target markets, competition, features, benefits, sweet spots, positioning quite well. They've become the biggest, most widely accepted/respected brands in their market space. Everyone who shops these markets, or is even just beginning learns these brands early, often, and feels they need to at least try them -- and their performance is close enough in enough key ways to the market leaders at a price point just at the cross over from moderate to premium that they provide a high value experience for mid-market price. That makes them hard to beat in value. And affordable by a large segment of the market. For a significant part of the market, they represent the most expensive product they're willing to buy.
It's a marketing / product management thing... Proraso knows and understands its market. They have created inexpensive products that share quality characteristics with more expensive products. They are providing a "big bang for the buck". (Pardon the USAism...)
  • Are their products the best out there? IMO many would say no, but more would say they are better than others. I have always been pleased with my Proraso Red and Green shaves.
  • Are they consistent? IMO most would say yes. Consistency and dependability are part of their cachet.
  • Do they perform well on a price-to-quality / price-to-performance basis? IMO most would say yes. This is something they aim for.
  • Can they be purchased by virtually anyone who shaves with a DE or straight razor? IMO this is another yes.
Proraso products are not my all time favorites. But, I always seem to have a tube in the house. Green is the current flavor.
 
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I like it a lot. I bought two tubes a few weeks ago and I have used it more than anything else since it came in, and I have a lot of soaps and creams.
 
I love the lather, it's wonderful. The scent smells like sandalwood and mildew to me. If they improve the scent, I might be content with it for the rest of my life.
 
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