I’ve been remiss in offering full reviews of some of the new lathers I’ve been trying, so let’s dump a bunch of them into one post and get it done with for now.
Pre de Provence No. 63
I don’t know what it is about the French and Italians, but for my face, they really seem to know what they’re doing in making shaving lathers. But they can also offer some let-downs in some areas.
Pre de Provence No. 63 is a hard soap that lathers well into a thick and rich foam, has a nice light floral aroma, and seems like it would be a slick base for a shave. But it isn’t as slick as I expect or would like. With a good slick pre-shave, it’s fine and works well, but on its own, it feels like it comes up somewhat short. At the price paid for it ($24 for the tub), I expect it to be a little more luxurious in its feel and performance as I’ve got other soaps that cost the same or a little less that really seem to deliver a slightly better experience.
That being said, though, it’s better than many lathers out there, and I could certainly do worse. And I’ll continue using it to see if maybe there is some lathering technique issue that I need to improve upon. But bonus points for pairing it with the Pre de Provence No. 63 aftershave balm. As a set, they make a solid and enjoyable shave.
Proraso Nourishing Shaving Cream (Red)
I figured it was only a matter of time before I tried out the Proraso Red line, though I haven’t been able to get a sample of the aftershave balm. But the shaving cream is what we’re talking about here, so let me talk to that.
All of the Proraso creams lather very efficiently and provide a nice, slick base for a shave. The pre-shave lays down a good slick layer, so the two of them perform about the same as any of the other Proraso pre-shaves and creams.
The scent, however, I’m not sure about. I’ve decided that I’m not a big fan of woody scents like sandalwood or cedar. I mean, they’re nice, but they have that habit of overwhelming other fragrances in a product. This scent is good–one thing Proraso always has going for it is not overpowering their products with too much fragrance. This is warm smelling and understated, and I appreciate that. But I just don’t find that warm scent appealing.
Performance-wise, though, this lands up toward the top with the other Proraso gems. Not quite as high as the white or blue, but certainly with the rest of the pack.
Proraso Azur Lime Shaving Cream
This one’s kind of an oddball. Proraso makes–or made, to be more correct–a series of professional shaving products which were based around 4 key fragrance profiles: the Refreshing (green) of the consumer level, Cypress & Vetiver, Cedar & Spice, and Azur Lime. While the two greens in the line might be confusing (Refreshing and Cypress & Vetiver), I’m sure it made sense. But they stopped making the shaving creams in all but the Refreshing line for the Professional series. These, by the way, were packaged in large pouches that could be squeezed.
Now, I’d come by the Azur Lime fragrance line via Proraso’s beard card products. I picked up some Azur Lime beard oil and beard balm, and really fell in love with the fragrance. It’s light, lime-forward without being sweet or too tangy, and just pleasant. Again, they just know how much to scent their products.
I saw on their site that they had an aftershave balm in the scent (which I still haven’t bought), but no sign of a shaving soap or cream. Some research discovered it had been discontinued, but I managed to find a pouch on ebay for about $30.
This stuff, while labelled a cream and in a supposedly squeezable pouch, is thick–croap-like thick. In fact, I’ve squeezed it all into a tin and lather it from there because it’s just not a great experience trying to squeeze it out into the brush or bowl. But it lather’s very well, as you’d expect from a Proraso cream. It’s slick, rich, and thick, and the scent lingers for a little while, even mingling with a lightly scented aftershave.
Again, not top of the line performance from this Proraso product, but just a notch under the white and blue’s performance.
Tabac Shaving Cream
This is one of those divisive products along the same lines as Arko. In fact, it’s frequently compared to Arko in terms of its scent. Both are strongly soap-forward, and offer little other fragrance. Arko is Turkish and Tabac is German, and that may be the root of some of the choices here, but I’ve found the Tabac fragrance to be earthier or deeper. There’s more something there, but it’s still a soap-first smell.
By the way, it’s pronounced Tah-bahk, for those of you scoring at home.
Tabac is slightly slicker and richer, which probably explains the fact that it’s more expensive than Arko by a wide margin. The tube you see here cost me almost $15, while the Arko sticks are usually $4-6. The fragrance also lingers longer. I’ve found that Arko’s scent fades pretty quickly, whereas the Tabac continues to power its way through any aftershave.
No, this clearly isn’t a luxurious lather, but it’s aiming higher than Arko, which is squarely targeting the bargain-basement crowd who wants a solid soap with good performance for an absolutely minimal price.
Overall, this is ranked at the same point as the Arko. They each have plusses and minuses–I find Tabac’s lather richer and slicker, which generally helps a shave, but Arko is just simple and quick and efficient. I can’t really complain about either, and I don’t really prefer one over the other.
Saponificio Varesino 70th Anniversary Shaving Soap
Saponificio Varesino–or SV to the cool kids–is a shaving and cosmetics company started in Brebbia, Italy in 1945. They practice the art of Marseille soap making (no, I’m not sure what that means), but they insist on their website that few soap makers still use that process. They make a series of soaps using a vegan base that does not use palm oil but does use an olive base.
For their 70th anniversary in 2015, they created this 70th Anniversary fragrance that is light, fresh, slightly floral, and just pleasant. The base, even though it’s tallow-free, is slick, and creates a thick, rich, wonderful lather that provides a great shaving experience. In fact, it’s one of the best lathers I have, both in terms of performance and fragrance.
This soap does have a luxurious feel to it, and I’ve looked forward to every shave I’ve had with it so far. It seems like the kind of product that has had pride and care taken in producing it, even if it likely isn’t a small-batch kind of product.
After just a couple of uses, I’m really excited by this soap, and after the first, I was inspired to purchase their 80th Anniversary soap, so you’ll see that review coming soon.
Stay tuned for the 80th review!
Mike’s Natural Soaps Unscented Artisan Shaving Soap
Mike’s is one of the longer-running founded-in-the-basement-or-garage artisan soap makers in the wet shaving world, though where it’s made or comes from is interesting. Everything I’m seeing says that it’s currently made in Portland, OR, but the website says Parlin, NJ, and I’ve seen some reporting it’s from somewhere in Michigan.
Wherever it’s from, it’s another one of those small batch, artisanal soaps, which for me have been generally hit-or-miss. Cooper & French, made just blocks from my home in Minneapolis, is an outstanding example. Hoffman’s Grooming also seems to have excellent soaps. Catie’s Bubbles also seems good. But some others, like Carden Farms and Barrister & Mann have been somewhat disappointing. While Stirling Soap Co. started out in this category, I won’t count them there these days, as they’ve become a much bigger operation, and I suppose the same goes for Razor Emporium for it’s soaps and it’s Rex Supply lathers.
It’s a tallow-based soap, which seems to work well for me. This helps make it nice and slick. But unlike many of the other tallow-based soaps I have, this one has so far lathered up fairly wet, and with less lather than I’d expect for the effort and amount of loading of the brush I’ve done. Obviously, I’ll keep working with it to see if it’s just technique, but after two shaves with it, I’m expecting better. It is a slick shaving base, though, and I do like it for that.
As a tallow-based unscented soap, in the tub, it smells pretty earthy and funky. There’s a particular fragrance to any kind of animal fat or milk in a soap, and it earthy and bordering on meaty (for obvious reasons). And this comes on strong right out of the tub. But with some lathering, it fades quickly and leaves no scent behind after the shave.
All-in-all, though, there’s nothing about this soap that excites me about it. I don’t particularly look forward to using it, it doesn’t feel luxurious like so many others do, and it doesn’t perform above its cost or surprise me with every shave. It’s just there and it gets the job done, which is better than some of my lathers, but not as good as others. Obviously, as I’ve got a full tub of it, I’ll keep using it, but it won’t appear as one of my top favorites.