Can't Get Proraso Soap to Lather Right

My last shaving cream was Taylor of Old Bond Street (Sandalwood). Fantastic. A tiny dab applied with the brush directly to my face makes wonderfully thick, rich, later. With the much ballyhooed Proraso in a tub, I get a great menthol fragrance, some pretty good glide, but terrible volume. It's--well, the opposite of rich lather. I've tried juicing it up with a drop or two of glycerin, but that seems wrong somehow. Advice?

I, too, am using the Proraso in the familiar green tub. Are you using a mug/bowl to lather in? Typically, I will take my wet brush, holding the bristles in a three finger grip and the load the brush with several passes across the soap. I'll then whip the brush in my bowl, and watch the lather build

That is somewhat strange..at least for me..I've never had a problem getting a good lather from Proraso. Just the usual advice of start with a tiny amount of water and work your way up.

My technique:

. . Soak the brush;

. . Squeeze out most of the water;

. . work brush against Proraso soap to pick up some soap;

. . Put a little water into bowl, and develop the lather in the bowl.

Charles

jimrobb,

You might find it helpful to scoop out a meaured volume of the Proraso soap into a lather bowl and proceed as normal. That way you will have a quantitative measure of how much soap is needed and works.

After that you can then adjust the brush loading time to make the same quality lather as above.

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LAsoxfan

I, too, am using the Proraso in the familiar green tub. Are you using a mug/bowl to lather in? Typically, I will take my wet brush, holding the bristles in a three finger grip and the load the brush with several passes across the soap. I'll then whip the brush in my bowl, and watch the lather build

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Sad but true. I was trying to use Proraso like I do TOBS. Now that I know that this stuff isn't supposed to go directly to the face via the brush, I'm fine. It's a great soap--leave skin a bit dry, but glide is great!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimrobb

Now that I know that this stuff isn't supposed to go directly to the face via the brush, I'm fine. It's a great soap--leave skin a bit dry, but glide is great!

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I'm not sure that it "isn't supposed to go directly to the face", you should be able to lather it both ways. Proraso is one of the easiest soaps to lather, you may just have to experiment a bit more. Try loading the brush more, using a wetter or drier brush, etc..
However if you found a method that is working for you, by all means go for it.

I notice that this started off with a mention for Taylor's Sandalwood Cream (nice barbershop almost next door to the Turnbull & Asser shirt shop, but would you like to guess how much a shave costs?), before moving on to Proraso.
Are you sure we are not talking at cross-purposes here, and muddling Proraso Cream with Proraso Soap? I'm certainly a bit confused.....

My Proraso face lathers just fine. Each soap and cream, like others have said requires experimentation, and memory.

For my proraso in a tub: My stiffer brush (a frank shaving), loaded after all the moisture has been shaken out, and then drops added while either palm or face lathering.

Very different than my Kent, which I prefer with a loose Vulfix brush, and it needs to be wet.

It just took a bit of time to figure it out. Hope this helps.