I find Proraso "easy" to work with but also find its lather lackluster and wanting.
I am currently using Le Piment de la Vie from
Catie's Bubbles. It's a bit expensive at $20 but it's a hard shaving soap as opposed to a traditional cream like Proraso and has lasted a really long time. And I absolutely love the scent.
I find that shaving soap is just as easy to work with (IMHO) but just needs an extra step. Here's what I do:
- Before I get in the shower, fill my shave bowl with hot tap water and submerse both my brush and my razor
- I also put about a tablespoon of hot tap water on top of the soap puck (this softens it)
- Once I'm out of the shower and ready to shave, I apply my pre-shave oil then dump out the hot water from my shaving bowl.
- I shake my brush out to remove excess water.
- I dump the water that was sitting on my soap puck into my shaving bowl (you need some water to lather it up so why not use the soapy water?!)
- I then run my brush over and over the softened soap puck (and even plunge it down a few times) until it's loaded with soap. You can tell you have enough soap with the brush's bristles start clumping together.
- Then I start working my sap-laden brush around my shaving bowl that has the soapy water until it lathers up.
If, after 30 seconds, there are still visible air bubbles in the lather, it's too wet. If it's too stiff, then there wasn't enough water. In the case of too stiff lather, add a couple of drops (literally just a couple of drops) into the later and keep working it. If it's too wet, squeeze the lather from your brush back into the bowl and then swirl your brush on the soap a bit more to pick up some more soap.
