Everything’s blue for today’s shave! The Proraso blue formula, the Henson AL-13 mild razor, the, uh….Okay, not everything. Just most of it.
I recently jumped on a discount on a bunch of sample soaps, creams, pre shave, and aftershave products, and I talk about that in a post that will be coming out soon. But basically, samples allow people to try out products that they may be interested in without having to buy a big tub or bottle of product. In fact, the cost of all three of the Proraso blue samples shown above was only $7.99. I’ll probably get 4 shaves out of them, which will give me plenty of experience so that I’ll know for sure if I want to get the full size products in the future.
Quick reminder, because it’s been a couple of weeks since I first tried the Dorco Platinum HQ Red blade in the Rockwell: the Dorco is one of the last few blades in my collection to try. In fact, I now only have 3 blades in my collection that I haven’t tried, and I’ve got (or had–the Kai blades are gone) 22 blades. And just a funny note, I’ve got 116 blades available (not including the one I started today), which means I’ve got 348 shaves left before I’m out of blades. Seriously, that’s over 2 years of shaving before I need to think about replenishing the stock.
Anyway, on to the Proraso blue formula. Proraso has four formulas of soap, cream, pre shave and after shaves, and I’ve tried and love the Proraso white sensitive skin (green tea & oatmeal) formula. People who use them tend to love them and extol the virtues of using whichever formula they love. I’ve been wanting to give the others a try, so with the sample deal that showed up, I jumped on the chance to get the blue and green products.
No, I’m not terribly interested in the red nourishing and coarse beard formula (sandlewood & shea butter). I’m not sure why, but that doesn’t interest me a whole lot.
Back to the blue Protective formula, though. It’s an aloe and vitamin E formula meant to be moisturizing. The pre shave looks and feels the same as the white–a cream, but with little tiny chunks of something in it. But the fragrance to this formula is stronger–not bad, but stronger. The aftershave balm is also about the same as the white–a slightly thin lotion that goes a great job of moisturizing my face. It too has a stronger fragrance.
The one wild card here is the fact that the shave cream is a cream, not a soap. And unlike a cream like the Barbasol 1919 or Cremo, it’s designed to be lathered with a brush. So instead of grabbing a chunk from the sample tub, or lathering directly in the soap tub, you load a dime-sized dollop onto a damp brush and then lather it on the face or in a bowl or mug.
It seemed to take a little more effort for me, but I got a nice thick rich lather in the mug, and it went on my face really well after the pre shave. The cream also has a stronger scent–the best I can describe it is slightly medicinal, but definitely similar to the smells you get in most hair salons. I don’t necessarily associate this smell with shaving, but I don’t immediately think it isn’t what shaving should smell like, either.
In all three products, there’s also a slight cooling feeling, but no menthol smell. I initially thought maybe Maggard’s Razors got confused when they made up the samples and gave me the green (menthol & eucalyptus) formula, but I experienced that in my barber shave earlier this year.
So, to rate the products, I really like them. They work very well. But I’m not sure about the stronger scent. I’ve got to try it a few more times to let me get used to it and decide.
The Rating
Shave #150. The Proraso blue sample Sunday shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13 mild
- Blade: Dorco Platinum HQ Red
- Pre-Shave: Proraso blue pre shave
- Brush: Proraso Shaving Brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso blue shaving cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso blue aftershave balm
This was a double experiment: using the Proraso blue products, but also trying the Dorco blade with a very mild blade. Now oddly, the Dorco blade worked better with the more aggressive plate (I got as high as plate 3). Plates 2 and 1 gave comfortable shaves, but weren’t as close as I had with plate 3, so they rated lower overall as they needed additional passes and needed more effort.
So I expected about the same with the Henson. And strangely, I was proven wrong. While I believe that the mildness of the Henson falls somewhere between plates 1 and 2 on the Rockwell, there must be something about how the Henson is made and how it works with the Dorco blade that just made it super comfortable and remarkably close. Yes, the shave needed an extra pass or two in spots, but it really didn’t increase the irritation much. There was some minor sting with the alum, but not enough to make my face uncomfortable. And the balm did an outstanding job at soothing and moisturizing my face. Just as its white formula counterpart.
Comfort: 5 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 4.750 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
