perhaps i had misread some time ago or maybe i just label the soap wrong from early readings on this board, but i have always had no interest in trying proraso cream. i have sensitive skin and thought a higher end, more well known name brand creams were always the way to go.

after buying the C&E almond last week that i dind't like, i put it up for sale/trade. had a fella really wanting the cream but he didn't have much of anything i wanted (he was a DE shaver). after some back and forth PM's i realized that i could help him out with a top quality cream that he really wanted to try by giving him my CE. thats what shaving is about, enjoying the shave/prep/ and results. so i agreed and sent it to him, in return he sent me a Proraso red tube and a small cake of col. conk (really make small cakes don't they!).

so i recieved the package today and since i needed to shave i tried out the Proraso even though i had all these prejudices about it. boy was i wrong. the cream is fantastic! the smell was right up my ally, perhaps mediciny smell but definitely not floral, the tingling feeling was intense but never burned or hurt. the lather was superb, thick and rich, overflowing my mug and was just as thick the last stroke of the SE as it was when i applied it to start. the shave was smooth and it lubricated very well (not quite as good as the CE or nancy boy). as i sit here now my face is smoooooooooooth and feels great.

also, i was having a good day at work, so i decided to meander over to the AOS store during lunch today. crazy experience. i keep hearing how great the AOS lavender is so thats why i went and low and behold i DID buy a tube of it becuase well, i just had to try it (can u believe i didn't even use it today for my shave!). but that was just the start of the experience. they had 4 creams. unscented which i didn't like the scent, it smelled like a cheap-blow up plastic raft for a pool when you first open it. they had sandalwood which i found very pleasant. soft and mild, warm and not overpowering at all. they had lemon which i won't talk about becuase it isnt worth my words. and finally the lavander. i must say the lavender smells strong. it wasn't one of my favorite smells but i have to try it anyways, at least it isn't as floral as some others and the wife likes the smell of the cream so ill wait to pass judgement till i give it a real good shave. Now, they were doing shaves in the back and a fellah walks in and askes about their straights on the wall (they had 4, cheap carbon with plastic scales, next was a stainles steel with metal scales, next was carbon with bone scale and the top was a stainless steel frameback with some kind of scales. anyways the guy starts asking about them and the shave person they had on site comes out front to answer questions and he goes on to tell the guy how carbon steel was cheaper and stainless was better. handed the guy the blades and said "feel the weight"... WELL DUH, one had metal handle other had plastic. i couldn't believe it. then he goes on to say that the stainless steel needed to be sharpend at a knife store when you buy it and then it would need to be sharpend once a year after that. i looked at the customer and could see he wasn't prepared to buy anything today so i kept my mouth shut when i wanted to tell the worker to go back to his feathers where he belonged. and thus, i left AOS definitely not impressed. OH, they did have a very nice selection of brushes though. very nice

in conclusion, i started off with prejudice of a cream but made a trade becuase i wanted to help someone else experience the shave he really was hoping for. in doing this i ended up with a cream that i really enjoy that i would have never tried on my own. just one of those times where doing the right thing yielded more then one could ever had thought. it was a good day.

~J

ps. i also got some fabulustre in the mail today. 1lb tube, has metal at the bottom and white chalky hard top. is this the fabulustre itself and if so how the heck do i apply it to my felt buff for the dremel? its way too hard to get on there. or is this top just a plug and the fabulustre is inside which i need to cut open the tube to get to? so confused and don't want to ruin the tube by just choppin into it randomly.