Just had a better shave today with Gillette Foam than with Prorasa :(

I ran out of the Prorasa stuff which I have been using religiously for the last few years, and after trying to foam up hand soap (ouch!) and glycerin (no foam), I went over to my brothers bathroom and borrowed his Gillette Sensitive skin foam and got a noticeably better shave from it today than the Prorasa. I would even shave against the grain in my chin area with complete ease which I can't normally do. (I shaved normally otherwise - post shower, quality brush, slant razor, feather blade).

Now I'm downright conflicted:cry:

Try another soap or cream, IMHO Proraso is a nice soap, but not amongst the best performers out there.

+1 to Zephyr's comment.
In addition, a new soap or cream would perhaps force you to work a bit on your technique:)

The traditional way will most certainly yield the best result in most Cases, but not without practice and good execution;)

I almost always mix my soaps or add glycerine in the mix. I dont have one soap that I am satisfied with "out of the container". My proraso mixture is 40 swirls in the container with a wet brush and one pump of glycerine, that may help.

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Originally Posted by epd

I almost always mix my soaps or add glycerine in the mix. I dont have one soap that I am satisfied with "out of the container". My proraso mixture is 40 swirls in the container with a wet brush and one pump of glycerine, that may help.

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That kind of surprises me, if nothing you have satisfies you out as is, I'm inclined to say "You're buying the wrong stuff." I used to add glycerin to prety much everything. Then I actually took some time to lather different soaps and creams, got rid of the ones I didn't like. I have no problem now. I noticed adding glycerine gets your soap behaving more 'soapy', but also drying up a bit more easily.

PS: I stopped überlathering as I really didn't see the point. I get great lather without any soap ritual that includes mixing and adding stuff; it will not work better for me or really feel any different.

Correct about drying faster, I dont add glycerine to everything, but I do prefer proraso with it, and mix everything else. I could use any of my soaps alone and no question they would provide sufficient lather, but im not in this for sufficient ;) .
I found that the wilkinson puck and williams puck can use a small drop of nivea shave cream.
That nivea is actually pretty great by itself. I also have a puck of coates (rosemary?) sitting on the shelf because ontop of making poor lather, it also gives me terrible irritation.
Next time I am making an order im going to add MWF, I have heard great things.

The new Proraso performs a bit better than the old, but my first thought is that if you say you got better results with foam, that you need better prep. Foams are junk for slip/cushion, but they soften the beard quite well ( they actually make an effective if unpleasant pre shave.)

So, soak your beard, and maybe try a preshave like 3P or Proraso Pre. You should find that improves your shave considerably.