Santa Maria Novella Review (SMN)

[Madeinussr1981]

I have used SMN pretty extensively. Sure it’s not cheap by any measures. If you treat your self once in a while you buy a soap and their splash that around $160 here in nyc. It will last you about 6 months if you shave daily. $160 for 6 months that not that bad. But if you buy this set meanwhile you have another 50 or 100 soaps stacked up on the shelf then yeah it’s crazy expensive and you will use it only a few times since the rotation is pretty high.
Performance wise I find it great. Although cannot compare it to Razorock never used that stuff.

 

[Atlantic59]

...Performance wise I find it great. Although cannot compare it to Razorock never used that stuff.

The Razorock SMdF is a fairly simple Italian-style soft soap with lanolin, eucalyptus, menthol, camphor and the Tobacco Tuscano fragrance. It has a nice, short ingredient list. It performs well if you load somewhat generously. I find the post-shave is just right, not greasy, rinses very clean. If you like simplicity, it is easy to enjoy this soap.

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Aqua (Water/Eau), Cocos Nucifera(Coconut) Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance(Parfum), Eucalyptus Globolus Oil, Menthol, Camphor, Lanolin

Size: 250ml

 

[Madeinussr1981]

The Razorock SMdF is a fairly simple Italian-style soft soap with lanolin, eucalyptus, menthol, camphor and the Tobacco Tuscano fragrance. It has a nice, short ingredient list. It performs well if you load somewhat generously. I find the post-shave is just right, not greasy, rinses very clean. If you like simplicity, it is easy to enjoy this soap.

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Aqua (Water/Eau), Cocos Nucifera(Coconut) Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance(Parfum), Eucalyptus Globolus Oil, Menthol, Camphor, Lanolin

Size: 250ml

I forgot to mention we have a physical store here in nyc SMN so I bought it there service and people working there are second to none. May be I am biased not sure.

 

[OldSaw]

FWIW, it took me a couple of shaves to get this one dialed in, but very worth it. I may try SMN someday but am in no hurry. While it's not my absolute fave, it's super compelling to me and gets used more often than others I like more. If that makes any sense.

Definitely makes sense. There are certain things that I just reach for instinctively, like Tabac (tallow version).

 

[OldSaw]

Gave the SMdF another try today and it was much, much better. I still have to give the win to SMN in a head to head match up, but the SMdF is no slouch.

I came home with five days of beard growth and was eager to get clean shaven. I really prepped well (which I frequently don’t do with SMN), good face wash and warm water soak with a washcloth. Face lathered with my Omega boar brush. I normally do a WTG stroke and immediately follow with an ATG stroke, relying on the residual slickness of the lather, except around my chin area which gets two separate latherings and two passes. Today I did WTG using an aggressive Henson Ti22 followed by a second lathering and ATG with a mild Henson AL13.

The result was a fabulous, nick free, BBS shave and not a single weeper in sight. It really was a very enjoyable shave.

So my big take away on this one is that the residual slickness that I have grown to rely on with products like SMN and Tabac just isn’t there with SMdF and that’s OK if one normally reapplies lather between each pass.

 

[JanVanDerVoort]

I would say there is no scent other than a very mild menthol but fades into the lather unless you go sniffing for it like a hog.

No scent = COVID ;-)

 

[JanVanDerVoort]

I could tell that there was slightly more drag than the SMN. As soon as I took an ATG stroke I could tell that I was in trouble. After shaving about half of my face I washed everything off and relathered with SMN to finish the shave.

Exactly my experience with SMdF. Residual slickness = 0. It's like installing brake pads on your razor. Forget about little touch-ups after rinsing your face... Even cheapy Proraso can do that!

 

[Steve56]

SMN is one of the great ones.