Proraso Sandalwood & Shea butter: first lather, review & pics

[Mad Man]

Greetings lads,

continuing the Proraso 'Love' this week with my first run this morning with the new Proraso "red" or Sandalwood & Shea butter (yesterday was the Green).

First impressions? Sandalwood fans stop reading now - this cream has no discernible (IMHO) sandalwood scent and I concur with some others who have written of it's herbal/medicinal scent. Considering the challenge I had with dialing the "green" in yesterday I was keen to really give this a go immediately and compare and contrast the two.

Prep was BAU with a shower, application of the new Proraso "white" Preshave and proceeded to bowl lather with a pre-soaked SR 3824.



Below pic: at 30 seconds, not looking good at all, brush had been "pumped" once to dump excess water...


Below pic: at roughly 60 seconds and 2 finger tips of water added...thinking this is a "thirsty" cream...


Finally: at 2 minutes and 2 more dribbles of water...


Close up prior to application: almost 2 minutes 30 seconds of mixing and I'm quite pleased with the result

 

[Kevan]

First impressions? Sandalwood fans stop reading now - this cream has no discernible (IMHO) sandalwood scent and I concur with some others who have written of it's herbal/medicinal scent.

You mean to say that, unlike almost every other sandalwood product available, it actually smells like the real thing. Not high-end crystalline Mysore oil mind you, but it's the real thing and exhibits similar characteristics. The fact that Proraso was able to swing this is amazing IMO.

It doesn't have a discernible cologne-inspired sandalwood scent, you're right. So, cologne-inspired sandalwood fans should avoid it. Sandalwood oil fans will love it.

 

[Mad Man]

Review

It's slick lads - and I mean "snot-on-glass" slick. It's a thirsty lather to mix compared to the Green, it lacks any obvious sandalwood scent but it's performance on the face is superb. Even a 3-day old Feather slid across the skin and gave me a second pass "wow-I-can't-feel-the-blade" smoothness. In terms of moisturizing my face does feel great - possibly NOT as soft as after a run with the "fat" but certainly not as tight or dry as some other creams/soaps. The only down-side may be it's ability to cushion and protect with a blade that's nearing the end of it's service life. I did get a tiny weeper and am feeling a little warmth on the neck 5 hours later and I put this down to the blade, my technique (I may have been rushing in my excitement) or a solid combination of those two factors.

Would I order it again? If the Green is a superb warm weather cream then this would and could do duty as a BAU colder-climate cream. It's scent will polarize but it's lather will not. It's not ticking ALL the boxes but it's ticking enough...I like it.

 

[Mad Man]

You mean to say that, unlike almost every other sandalwood product available, it actually smells like the real thing. Not high-end crystalline Mysore oil mind you, but it's the real thing and exhibits similar characteristics. The fact that Proraso was able to swing this is amazing IMO.

It doesn't have a discernible cologne-inspired sandalwood scent, you're right. So, cologne-inspired sandalwood fans should avoid it. Sandalwood oil fans will love it.

Can't objectively say as I've not smelt sandalwood oil but certainly NOT even close to my EJ Sandalwood soap or my Fragonard "Santal" cologne.

 

[Kevan]

Right. But trust me....this is sandalwood. The cologne you enjoy is sandalwood "accentuated" by other aromatic substances. I have a string of sandalwood beads from India as well as several boxes of straight sandalwood incense and slices of wood directly from the santalum album tree, as well as some oil.

Mix some lather. Put your nose in the bowl of lather, then take it away. Do this several times until your sense of smell starts to discern the slightly mapley, buttery almost cool woody fragrance in the cream that wafts up. That, my friend, is sandalwood.

 

[Mad Man]

Right. But trust me....this is sandalwood. The cologne you enjoy is sandalwood "accentuated" by other aromatic substances. I have a string of sandalwood beads from India as well as several boxes of straight sandalwood incense and slices of wood directly from the santalum album tree, as well as some oil.

Mix some lather. Put your nose in the bowl of lather, then take it away. Do this several times until your sense of smell starts to discern the slightly mapley, buttery almost cool woody fragrance in the cream that wafts up. That, my friend, is sandalwood.

Yep, that's the olfactory memory that was eluding me...cool wood. Almost a dampish timber scent.

Cheers Kevan. Appreciate the info and at least I've nailed down what was proving diffcult to define.

 

[T-Box215]

So, cologne-inspired sandalwood fans should avoid it. Sandalwood oil fans will love it.

I'm with Kevan on this one, I loved it! The scent is quite nice IMO. Not overpowering, but having quite a depth to the scent.

 

[Marco]

I also agree with Kevan. To my nose this is the most natural and pure Sandalwood scent I've ever found in a shaving cream.

 

[Mad Man]

Thanks everyone for the clarification on the sandalwood; added to the list of "stuff B&B taught me...volume 2".

And thanks for not taking the **** out of my lather!

 

[oakeshott]

And thanks for not taking the **** out of my lather!

Uh oh. Is THAT the missing ingredient from my lather? With the others on this. My favorite scent to date and reminds me of a dark wet wood...and the hippy chicks I chased in college who used to wear sandalwood oil they got when they were at the ashram last summer.

 

[Oblique Human]

The lather looks like it could be better. Use more product perhaps.

 

[Jayk]

Just had my first shave with with this cream. I really enjoyed the scent, smells exactly like the sandalwood incense my ex used to burn. I find it smells especially natural, perhaps this was intentional to highlight Proraso's move away from parabens? I found the cream a bit more viscous out of the tube than the green, but it whipped up to a Great lather. Nice and slick.

 

[Mad Man]

The lather looks like it could be better. Use more product perhaps.

Gotcha oblique,

It WAS a generous squeeze for a "first go" then I remembered I usually use a bit more product with the Italian creams...

Cheers mate.

 

[Blondie]

The lather looks like it could be better. Use more product perhaps.

Or maybe a little less water. Even when lathering creams, I start with a relatively dry brush, like in the "How to make great lather from a soap" tutorial. I also face lather as well, and like my lather a touch on the creamier side.

 

[seizure]

Holy monstrous snurdle, Batman!

Just teasing you, but that looks like PLENTY of product to me.

Thanks for the review, I've been toying with the idea of trying the new Proraso stuff... You may have just pushed me over the ledge.

 

[NickyBobby]

I agree with Kevan. The scent here is remarkably sandalwood. It is not synthetic or EDT smelling. It's amazing.

 

[Mad Man]

Update: went for the sandalwood again today.

Slightly less product, slightly more water. Bit thinner but still slick and moisturizing so it appears the "window" or sweet-spot is quite wide in this cream. Really feels even MORE newbie proof than Proraso normally does. I really focused on the scent today and got that softer, "cool wood" fragrance. Had to look for it but once my nose picked it I enjoyed it's subtlety and quietly masculine tone.


I'm loving it.

 

[Sledgehammer39]

Thanks for the review.

 

[Big Dookie]

Got my tube of this in the mail today. The smell really is hard to describe. Very earthy, and quite pleasant. Looking forward to my first shave with it tomorrow morning.

 

[josie67]

I agree with the above posters regarding slickness. I went three days without shaving just to see how it would work on longer stubble. Let me tell you that I did one pass with a Gilette Slim/Astra combo and I swear I could have left well enough alone just like that. Super slick, no pulling from the blade, and fantastic protection. I did a second pass and was left with a DFS. I love this soap even more than my beloved Proraso Green, and yes, I also agree that it is thirties than the green. Wow, Proraso hit a home run w it's this one. And I really like the scent.