I've shaved with soaps exclusively for about four years now. Tried maybe a half dozen creams I've gotten as samples and never been too happy. Always bowl lathered them. Always got lather that looked from a distance as good as ANYTHING I can make with soaps. With many of the creams, I got this lather in literally seconds (one to two flicks of the wrist and I've got cool-whip lather). Problem always seemed to be:
A: Lather was airy up close... lots of tiny, but visible bubbles... and it almost crackled like a bowl of rice crispy treats. No matter how much water, always felt dry to me. This likely related to...
B: Far less slip than soap lathers.
Well I looked at ingredients lists and most of the creams I saw used myristic acid as the primary "bubbling" fat source, rather than simply coconut (which is about 2.5 parts lauric for every part myristic). So I looked for a cream that used a "soap" recipe... forgoing the extracted myristic for whole coconut fat. Proraso fit. It didn't hurt that it was quite a popular and well thought of cream on top of that. And when the red came out with the divisive sandalwood scent, I was sold.
First the scent.
It's very pleasant. The people who called it Sandalwood straight up were probably right. It's Sandalwood fragrance almost as heavy as taking a whiff right out the Jug of Fragrance oil. I really like it. But like the people who complained (hippy's armpits, wet feet, etc), it's not going to smell like a sandalwood containing or even based perfume any more than smelling fresh rubbed leather at a leatherworker storefront will smell like "English Leather". If you like Sandalwood. Straight up, unadulterated. You'll like this scent.
Performance... was actually pretty damn good. I made a point to face lather this one. The lather was solid and lacked nothing really. It wasn't quite as slick as my favorite soap lathers, but it wasn't sub-par either... and I'd buy that with a little practice I could improve that aspect. Good shave overall. I aimed for exactly pea-sized amount, and I think in the future I'd go a touch heavier... the brush was pretty much tapped when I finished my third pass, so If I wanted a fourth pass or some touch-ups I might have been in trouble.
That said, a rough estimate on product says I'd get 40-50 shaves out of the tube. More of a guess than anything, but looks about right from eyeballing the stuff. Which puts it on the pricey end of things (Compare to a tabac puck... ~same cost, 100-150 shaves), but I still wouldn't call it expensive, and maybe I'm way off on uses. I'll know in the future, since this will be staying on my counter. Unscented I'd pass on it, but the performance is fine, and damn that smell just makes for a really pleasant shave.
A: Lather was airy up close... lots of tiny, but visible bubbles... and it almost crackled like a bowl of rice crispy treats. No matter how much water, always felt dry to me. This likely related to...
B: Far less slip than soap lathers.
Well I looked at ingredients lists and most of the creams I saw used myristic acid as the primary "bubbling" fat source, rather than simply coconut (which is about 2.5 parts lauric for every part myristic). So I looked for a cream that used a "soap" recipe... forgoing the extracted myristic for whole coconut fat. Proraso fit. It didn't hurt that it was quite a popular and well thought of cream on top of that. And when the red came out with the divisive sandalwood scent, I was sold.
First the scent.
It's very pleasant. The people who called it Sandalwood straight up were probably right. It's Sandalwood fragrance almost as heavy as taking a whiff right out the Jug of Fragrance oil. I really like it. But like the people who complained (hippy's armpits, wet feet, etc), it's not going to smell like a sandalwood containing or even based perfume any more than smelling fresh rubbed leather at a leatherworker storefront will smell like "English Leather". If you like Sandalwood. Straight up, unadulterated. You'll like this scent.
Performance... was actually pretty damn good. I made a point to face lather this one. The lather was solid and lacked nothing really. It wasn't quite as slick as my favorite soap lathers, but it wasn't sub-par either... and I'd buy that with a little practice I could improve that aspect. Good shave overall. I aimed for exactly pea-sized amount, and I think in the future I'd go a touch heavier... the brush was pretty much tapped when I finished my third pass, so If I wanted a fourth pass or some touch-ups I might have been in trouble.
That said, a rough estimate on product says I'd get 40-50 shaves out of the tube. More of a guess than anything, but looks about right from eyeballing the stuff. Which puts it on the pricey end of things (Compare to a tabac puck... ~same cost, 100-150 shaves), but I still wouldn't call it expensive, and maybe I'm way off on uses. I'll know in the future, since this will be staying on my counter. Unscented I'd pass on it, but the performance is fine, and damn that smell just makes for a really pleasant shave.
