New Proraso Green vs Old Green

I purchased a tub of the new formulation of the Proraso green shaving soap, and since I was eager to try it out, I decided to compare to the old formulation tub that I have in back to back shaves, and share my experience. The first thing I noticed when opening both tubs is that the New Green does not have as strong a menthol smell as the old, confirming what everyone else has said about it. The Old Green in my case is over two years old. I also noticed that the New Green has a somewhat harder consistency than the old. Maybe this will change over time as I use it. But it did not affect the quality of the shave.

So the for the first shave in my comparison I used the Old Green. My shave routine was a follows: First using Proraso pre/post shave cream and working into my beard; whip up some lather with a boar brush in this case a Semogue 830; I used a Muhle R41 (new version) with a Lord blade: and then a three pass shave WTG and nose to ear, then ears to nose (I would call that XTG but I’m finding that below my jaw line some of those passes are actually ATG). So I had a great shave, good and slick, especially the first pass, typical for what I get when I use the Proraso Green. it was a near BBS. And I wrapped it up with some Aqua Velva. Note: I do have and like the Proraso green aftershave, but I had an overdose of menthol with the shave, so I went with the Aqua Velva.

I used the exact same process and razor and blade for my shave with the New Green this morning. For the brush I switched over to a Semogue 2000. The blade was 4 days old at this time and definitely showing its age in the R41. I don’t get more than three days or four days with Lord Blades in other razors so I was pushing it with the R41. I worked up the lather and realized I had to pay more attention since this is a different product than the Old Green, basically I needed to longer to load the product. The first pass was slick but I definitely felt the blade more on the first pass as compared to yesterday. The second and third passes were much slicker, as compared to yesterday with the Old Green, and I barely felt the blade at all. Again a near BBS shave. However my skin feels softer than when I finished up with the Old Green, almost as soft as when I use Cade. My take on the New Green is that it is a good improvement on a very good product.

Thanks for the insight. I still have to try the new formulas both green and red. So far it seems to get a thumbs up from most users.

Great to see reformulation gone well. I recieved my new formula white soap today. The old formula white was my first product, and is one of my favourites. Will probably post a comparison thread in some days.

used my new formula cream a couple times now and definitely feel that my face is softer (and not greasy) with the new formula than with the older cream, not that the older left my skin dry or feeling greasy

Thanks for the compare. Great to see that it's an upgrade vs. a downgrade.

The old Proraso container has a screw top lid, is taller and is a lighter green colour. The new soap is just as good, if not better.

There has been another reformulation since the pucks you have pictured, Sunbird. That light green Proraso container must be one old container of soap! The dark green container/green "Proraso" writing is what people have been using the past few years. The newest packaging has "Proraso" in white with black outline of the letters IIRC.

Hi mharris127,
Thanks for the update. Looks like now I am going to HAVE to buy the latest Green Proraso.
I have just searched the internet and have not found any photos of the packaging as you described. Maybe everyone is still selling "old stock"!
Thanks,
Sunbird

This is the newest:

Ok, now I really want the old, old formula, or at least the tub. Anyone have any???

LeftyT said:

Ok, now I really want the old, old formula, or at least the tub. Anyone have any???

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Lefty, if its as good as my Old it will probably last forever! So there may be some around.

Brent said:

Thanks for the compare. Great to see that it's an upgrade vs. a downgrade.

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Brent, my pleasure! This is the first time I've has a soap in rotation when a new formulation came out. Given all the discussions about the English hard soap reformulations I wanted to do a back to back check for the Green.

Cool looking tub!

I guess the new logo is in black letters on the green tub version. I had only saw the white tub version so I didn't know the logo color was different on the other tubs.

That lighter colored tub is sweet looking to bad they still don't make those. Would love one as well.

I used the new green tub for the first time today and it was a great shave. The scent is similar, but different. Can't put my finger on it yet. I also felt more of a menthol kick. Thumbs up!

Ben

agree by and large with what's been said here. i also tested the old formula green tub and new back to back. here are the basic changes:

- new formula feels milder, less likely to irritate sensitive skin. not by a very big margin
- new formula lathers and performs better, hands-down. again, not by a huge margin because original proraso was already good, but it's clearly a superior product.
- new formula smells a LOT more like eucalyptus and a LOT less like spearmint. old formula had more of a candy-ish smell, very sweet. new formula smells like dusty eucalyptus leaves (in a good way).

Both are great. I do prefer the old scent though. The new scent has woody notes that I don't particularly like.

vitalMyth said:

agree by and large with what's been said here. i also tested the old formula green tub and new back to back. here are the basic changes:

- new formula feels milder, less likely to irritate sensitive skin. not by a very big margin
- new formula lathers and performs better, hands-down. again, not by a huge margin because original proraso was already good, but it's clearly a superior product.
- new formula smells a LOT more like eucalyptus and a LOT less like spearmint. old formula had more of a candy-ish smell, very sweet. new formula smells like dusty eucalyptus leaves (in a good way).

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I concur with your observations on all accounts. Same with the smell. I think I like the old smell better, but I've found smells tend to grow on me, so after a dozen uses, this may become a favorite, too. I think you nailed the difference in the scent in your description, though. Nice soap indeed.

Well, I didn't want to get wrapped up in the new Proraso reformulation business, but somehow, I snapped. Yesterday I went out to Shopper's Drug Mart and bought myself an old-stock green tub (shiny), and a new stock white tub (matte). I had to go to a second location to find the old stock white tub (shiny), but now at least I will have one each of the old stock on hand *SIGH*... the trials and tribulations of a SSAD man!

vitalMyth said:

- new formula feels milder, less likely to irritate sensitive skin. not by a very big margin

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I think that's because they replaced the Sodium Lauryl Sulfate with a less harsh surfactant. SLS is really hard on my skin in general. The new formula doesn't have any negative effects at all. I love it! For once, reformulated is better!