Santa Maria Novella Crema da Barba

A tip for those, like me, who come slowly to the obvious.

Ok, so, I like Santa Maria Novella Crema da Barba. The lady who sold it to me was singing it's praises and said just to use my finger to take an almond size dollop of the stuff and smear it into the scuttle, or the palm of my non-brush hand to work up a lather. So, I heeded her instructions. Well, as you may know, though this stuff is mostly paste-like, it tends to become like a little leftover piece of soap, and to fly out of the scuttle or be swept out of my hand before the brush is loaded or a lather forms. It was very frustrating, and caused me to reach for substitutes more and more. Until today. I just said screw it: even out all of the finger gouges in the tub to get it as flat as I can, and use it like a tube of shave soap. It worked perfectly. The brush loads up fast, and a good lather forms quickly. I couldn't believe the energy expended before I tried this.

Offered for what it's worth.

Cheers,

Jack

P.S.: I still like the lady, and don't begrudge her a thing. This was all me.

I have mixed emotions about this cream. It works well, I'll grant you that, I like the way it leaves my face on warm days.

Other than that, it smells just like Proraso. Pharmaceutical. It's even made in the same town so probably by the same maker.
When I bought this cream I was out of Proraso, and I haven't bought any since so I wouldn't know whether it's actually the same.
I read somewhere that they are actually different creams, and, well, let's give that the benefit of the doubt.

But if they're different, I don't think they're different enough to justify the huge difference in price.

Honestly, when I bought it in a small town in Tuscany, went to the camping site and opened it after a shower my first thought was: "Shit! Tourist Rip-off !!"

Actually they are different creams but both are made by Ludovico Martelli. From what I have read, the SMN has better skincare properties than the Proraso green. Recently they have reformulated SMN and the lather has a very poor quality. IMO, NOT worth paying the price.