~Spyne~
Member

So I bought this a while ago, thinking it would be a good, cheap back-up soap/cream/croap for the occassional change-up with my TOBS Jermyn cream or those rare times where I run out of TOBS inbetween orders.
After all the reviews/comments I had read about Proraso being a great beginner's cream that would lather without trying, blah, blah, blah, I thought it would be a safe bet.
Alas, no.
Now I'm not exactly some n00b who's never lathered before. I've tried numerous TOBS creams, some Queen Charlotte samplers, Palmolive sticks, a RazoRock croap and a couple of Trumpers creams.
No matter what I try; face lathering, bowl lathering, boar, badger, minimal water, more water, lots of water, double or triple loading, I simply can NOT get this Proraso to make a satisfactory lather. I can get a lather that can be used for a single pass, but even then it's either too dry or too wet, more often than not, too wet. I have never got anything remotely close to a usable second-pass without heavily reloading the brush.
I have no idea how this particular croap could be recommended for beginners as the balance point is just about impossible to find.
The 'normal' Proraso might be a different beast, much more user-friendly, but even though it's cheap to try, I'm not spending money to find out when I can get either some TOBS or another Palmolive stick which work perfectly.
The scent is nice, and there is still a little bit of menthol in there to 'freshen' up your face when you rinse off which is nice.
Overall, I'd rate this 4/10. YMMV
Pros:
Cheap
Nice, classic scent that's not too overpowering
Slight menthol tingle
Available just about everywhere
Cons:
Just will not lather properly for me.