Thread: Cella & Some 63

I got a new "croap" (hard cream) and cream in today! Woot!

Cella, and Pre de Provence No. 63



I've wanted to try these for some time but had to wait until I finished some of my other stuff first. Got the aftershaves to go with them too. I'm pretty excited. The Cella smells so good that you just want to eat it (Almonds with hint of cherry).

I'll be using the Pre de Provence tonight and get back with a little mini review. But I'd love to hear what you all think of it - those who've tried it.

As for the Cella - I'm sure many, if not all of you have used it before lol. But for me, it might knock my regular Almond Italian croap out of position. My Acca Kappa 1869. I can't believe I said that though. Since my first tub of Acca Kappa, I've never been without it again.

I do really enjoy Cella. Haven't used the Pre de Provence so I'll be looking to see what you think of it. But mmmmm.... Cella, good stuff

Initial impressions:


- Pre de Provence No. 63 Men's Shave Cream

If you ever look this shaving cream up, you'll see some pretty aweful reviews. So why on earth did I order it then!? Great question. I ordered it knowing something the vast majority of the poor slobs who ordered it don't know. And that is that this is a brushless cream, and not intended to lather.

Now, being the soap with the same name/scent has such glowing reviews, I can see why someone would go ahead and pick this up thinking it couldn't be THAT much different. LOL - well it is. A lot! The manufacturer really needs to make this more clear.

Anyway, just to see what everyone was talking about with respect to this stuff not lathering at all, I put a healthy amount into my stainless mixing bowl and floated it in hot water as I always do while prepping my face. When I grabbed my badger brush to try and mix it... I got two swirls in before the entirety of the cream was sucked into the brush. That was pretty impressive. No cream I've ever had got sucked into the brush like that. Either way, I swirled over and over trying to get at least a little lather - nope. This stuff will not lather. The reports were true lol!

But that wasn't really the most interesting part, I mean I knew that it wouldn't lather. I just had to try. No what was interesting is my Simpson Badger brush always floats up to the top if submerged in water. Doesn't matter if it's full of cream, soap or nothing, it floats. But not today. After I gave up trying to lather with it, still loaded with this cream that it sucked up, I "threw" my brush into the full sink and heard a clunk! It sank like a rock! That was impressive.

Does it Work?

Anyway. Like I said, I knew it wouldn't lather, I just wanted to see what not lathering looked like. I bought this cream with the express purpose of using it in the shower for those days when I'm running late. I don't need or necessarily even want lather when I'm shaving in the shower.

To test it, I put a new blade in my Feather Artist Club SS to have at it. A fresh blade in that tool always sees at min 4 or 5 weapers, the second shave is golden. So my thoughts were if I put in a new blade and got no weapers, it would be the best thing since sliced bread.

I put some cream into my hand and spread it over my face. You could tell immediately that viscosity would be good - and it was. This shave only saw one weaper. Unheard of with said tool of choice with a blade running it's maiden voyage. I was pretty darn pleased.

It's pretty odd shaving and not having the cream tell you where you have hit, and where you haven't though. Shouldn't be a problem if you've shaved any length of time - and we all have. The scent is floral. Floral nestled in a forest. It's masculine. Pretty subtle. I like it.

After the shave, I used the #63 aftershave to cap the event. So it's kind of hard to tell what effect the cream had on my face vs the aftershave. I can say with authority however, that used together, my face feels amazing! I'm pretty sure it's the shea.

The scent dies quickly by the way.

This is a quality product. There is no question. All you have to do is feel your face afterwards to know. I look forward to using it as I intend (in the shower - hopefully not often). If you have the soap and want to mix this in to make a superlather, yeah don't. Heck, if you need lather, don't. But if you're looking for a quality product that gives no lather but great viscosity and glide... 63 is your huckleberry.

I'll update after I have more shaves with it under my belt.

After your review I may have to give the Pre de Provence No. 63 Men's Shave Cream a try.

But first I bought a Kilo of Cella and after giving at least half of it away I have at a minimum 4 years worth left......

Originally Posted by 32t

After your review I may have to give the Pre de Provence No. 63 Men's Shave Cream a try.

But first I bought a Kilo of Cella and after giving at least half of it away I have at a minimum 4 years worth left......

LOL! Better package it as airtight as you can, and throw it in the fridge I say! It'll be yellow and cracked in a year otherwise

As for the Pre de Provence No. 63, I'm going to give it a couple more runs, but four hours on, my face still feels awesome and as smooth as a baby's bottom. Which gives me a strong feeling I might buy the soap for my regular shaves in front of the mirror.

You'll note cough, cough CELLA, that the soap comes in a nice self sealing tin.

Good points!

Wrapped tight and stored in the spare/extra refrigerator in the back corner.

Gotta have an extra refrigerator for such things as storing things like bait such as wax worms, fletching cement, croap, etc. that the spouse might think as bad in the kitchen. Also good for beer......

Pre de Provence 63 is an awesome soap with an awesome scent. Easy to lather, great performance. I have the hard soap rather than the cream shown above.

Another hidden gem is Haslinger Sheeps Milk (Schafmilch) Shaving Soap

Both of these are top performers that are reasonably priced.

** UPDATE **
A little more than my initial impressions now.

Color: This is an ODD cream. It really is completely transparent! When you rinse your blade, you can see your whiskers mixed with the cream, but that's the only clue you have cream going on anywhere. You can't get lazy and not pay attention as to where you've been, but that's kind of ok because if you do forget the...

Viscosity: ...the viscosity will carry you through the day. But there again, this cream is odd. It's not a glycerin viscosity. The cream can dry on your face and still work! It's crazy, and I don't get it ... but it works. If you do wet it some more, it doesn't become slimy like glycerin, it does seemingly become somewhat more viscous, but not slimy. When you pour enough water to clean it off, it cleans off dry, if that makes sense. I've never used a product like it before. It's odd - but it works!!

Scent: This stuff is subtle. It's clean. If you put a dollop of another cream into the mix, I bet it would take on that smell, kind of like tofu takes on whatever spices your put on it when you cook it lol. At least you can see the tofu in the pan though.

Anyway, I went at my face today with my Feather kami. I mean I wanted a close shave, and I got it. Honest - this has to be one of my closest in a while. The cream deserves some fame for that! It was more than a damn fine shave I'd have to say. I passed alum over my face when I was done and ney even a tickle. This cream works!! But it's still weird. Kind of like your IT person lol.

The Aftershave: The scent of the aftershave is really subtle too but oh so clean. I can't do scent descriptions well, but it's not going to offend anyone. I think it's soapy, my wife said forist. Odd. More importantly though, when used after the #63 cream, you get an incredibly soft feeling face! I can't say if it works on burn because that cream was so awesome, I got none.

Conclusion: I really don't know about this cream. I mean it really works! So I'll gladly use it. It almost begs to be mixed with something - but that's not what it's job will be for me. It'll live in the shower.

All said and done, I must be impressed because I just ordered the soap. There is something addictive about this product.

Keep Cella in the fridge, otherwise it likely will turn brown and smell rancid in a few months. Just take off enough to last you a few weeks at a time.

PdP creams are non-lathering creams, so the lack of lather is expected.

Cheers, Steve

I'm hijacking the thread a bit here but it's related as I'm getting ready to put some soap up for long term storage and I've been contemplating some options.

My own thoughts are that the two biggest enemies of our soaps are likely to be oxygen and the volatility of the compounds that make up the fragrances. Any substance that contains fat is susceptible to rancidity (oxidation), limiting the soaps' exposure to air is the only cure. The volatility of fragrant compounds is why our soaps and splashes smell so good but it is also why the scent will fade over time. Again, exposure to air is a major factor but heat also plays a part in the process. Hey, I have a background in science and it occasionally is helpful in less academic circumstances.

All of that said, it would seem that storing soap in a sealed container in a freezer could provide an improvement over the refrigerator. I have a loaf of bath soap and a couple of tubs of shave soap that I need to store and I'm considering popping it in the deep freeze. Each bar of soap has been individually wrapped in plasticized freezer paper and then be placed in a large ziplock bag. The tubs of shave soap, which would probably do fine under the sink, haven't been opened and will likely be placed in a bag as well.

I don't anticipate any real issues with this plan outside not knowing if ice crystal formation might cause me some trouble. Can anyone give me any reason why I should steer clear of this idea and simply dump the soap in the crisper of my beer fridge?