I was in target yesterday and decided to find the proraso products. Talk about a major effort. It's not in the shaving section of course. After an eternity of searching I finally found a target employee that actually knew what proraso was and took me to a "men's skin care" aisle, located deep within the confines of the "health and beauty" section. There was proraso pre-shaves, post shaves, mid shaves, . . . . well you get the idea. There was only one shave "soap" the other was the tubed cream.

I splurged and spent the $3.98 (u.s. funds) on the soap in the green plastic tub. I got in the car and opened it up. a nice menthol scent but the soap was VERY soft, more of a hard cream than an actual soap. I read the ingredients and noticed that it DID NOT list lanolin or aloe, which I thought were major ingredients in this soap. I know I've read that in a couple places but cant recall where.

Does proraso make 2 different kinds of "soap" in a tub like that?

As for the shave, I used the proraso this morning. Since the soap was so soft I treated it like a hard cream. I warmed up my empty bowl within my scuttle with the brush warming in the same water. I poured out the warming water and refilled the mug of my homemade scuttle, emptied the bowl and replaced it into the mug. I shook the brush out, recharged it with hot water from the sink, gave it a single hard shake and began to carefully massage the soap with the tip of the brush until the brush tip was properly loaded. I then quickly charged the brush under the running hot water and started working the lather up in the bowl.

MY "Professional Newbie" take on proraso soap from target?

The good:
  1. The soap maintained moisture through the entire first pass and again through most of the 2nd pass. I only had to touch up the upper lip and chin.
  2. I did NOT have to reload the brush with soap before the 2nd pass. I just quickly charged the brush with hot water again and worked up a 2nd lather. (I got that idea from one of Lynn's post about a cream)
  3. I like the tingly feel of the euchalyptus and menthol
  4. It out performs soaps like Williams, etc.
  5. The soap gave an overall pleasant shaving experience


The Bad:
  1. The lubricity wasnt the best (wasn't the worst either) compared to other store bought soaps such as Van Der Hagen (surrey)
  2. After the shave my skin wasn't as soft or "silky" as I like it to be after a shave
  3. I have to treat the soap like a cream and not a puck of shaving soap. (I don't like creams
  4. My face was slightly more irritated when I finished than usual. (probably a sensitivity to the ingredients)
  5. ANTIFREEZE. Propolyne Glycol was a main ingredient in many industrial antifreeze prodcuts years back until they found they could use this in small quantitites as a preservative in certain foods without immediate negative effects. Now it's a food and cosmetics preservative.


Over all I think it's an ok soap. If there is a better version of it I'm sure it would be a better experience.

For me personally, Soaps with Aloe and Lanolin are better for my skin and provide a protection against irritation. Plus I prefer a soap with better lubricity.