C'mon now. Proraso Pre/Post is really Noxzema, isn't it?

Am I missing something? Why not just buy Noxzema? ...

and where DO you buy Noxzema these days?

I've heard this discussed in the past, but I will tell you there is something definitely different between the two. I can use the Proraso pre/post on my face for my final ATG pass and the cooling menthol is fantastic and soothing. I tried this once with Noxema, and my face felt like it was getting stung by a hundred bees and was on fire! Just my simple observation for what it's worth. Has anyone else tried to replace Proraso Pre/Post with Noxema and gotten similar results from the both of them? I for one will keep Noxema around as a face cleanser, and continue to use Proraso for my Pre/Post shave! It's worth the extra money for the nice cooling menthol!

I've used both side by side and there is very little difference that I can tell. The main difference is the smell and the menthol in the Proraso.

Try PREP Classic Cream. It has menthol and some other oils like thyme, peppermint and wintergreen. It's really nice.

I used regular noxema tonight instead of Proraso preshave. The shave seemed about the same as normal. While the Proraso isn't -that- expensive as shaving goods go, at ~$12 for 100ml, it's a LOT more than noxema if it does about the same thing. My noxema is 14oz (414ml) for roughly $4.50

Ingredients:

Noxema:
Water, Stearic acid, linseed oil, soybean oil, fragrance, ammonium hydroxide, camphor, menthol, eucalyptus oil, propylene glycol, gelatin, calcium hydroxide.

Proraso pre:
Water, Stearic acid, Sorbitol (thickener), Glycerin, camphor, Eucalyptus, Potassium Hydroxide, Menthol, Fragrance, Amyl Cinnamal, coumarin, Eugenol, geraniol, cetearyl alcohol, eucalyptol, methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone.


With a little googling, most of the ingredients in both appear to be: emollients, fragrances, and preservatives. With the additional ingredients contained in Proraso generally being preservatives and fragrances.

while the ingredients are very similar, the thing that's missing from noxzema is the glycerin, which in this case is one of, if not THE beard softening agent. interestingly, it's also a major component of trumper's skin food, which is also a pre/post lotion.


i'm curious now how noxzema does in actually softening the whiskers...

I used to use Noxzema to wash my face when I was a teen. Dried the heck outta my skin.

I use Proraso Pre/Dopo, from a jar labeled pre-shave. The second thing I noticed about it was how perfectly moisturizing a post-shave it was.

They also have completely different textures. The Proraso is almost like boot polish, the Noxzema is like a milky liquid soap.


So I don't really see how you'd relate one to the other except that they both cause some tingle.

Hey, if you're happy using Noxzema, that's great. I just don't see the need to say "A causes tingle, B causes tingle, therefore A = B." There's more to it than that. If it's not happening on your end, that's too bad for you - or maybe too bad for me, that I can't get it from Nox

"used to use Noxzema to wash my face when I was a teen. Dried the heck outta my skin. "

Have you used Proraso to wash your face? Here, I'm more concerned with Noxema used as a preshave than for its washing properties. They do market it as a 'moisturizing skin cleanser'. Though I don't see specifically what ingredient in it would make it any more soap-like than the Proraso.

"I use Proraso Pre/Dopo, from a jar labeled pre-shave. The second thing I noticed about it was how perfectly moisturizing a post-shave it was."

It is not marketed (by Proraso) as a post shave anymore, they have dropped anything having to do with Post from their label. I am more interested in it as it functions for it's intended purpose from the manufacturer, as a preshave.

"Hey, if you're happy using Noxzema, that's great. I just don't see the need to say "A causes tingle, B causes tingle, therefore A = B." There's more to it than that."

I'm not saying a=b because they both have a tingle. I'm saying that they seem to perform similarly as a preshave, and both have similar primary ingredients. I'm not trying to disregard public concensus of "what actually works better", but if ingredients are roughly the same, and it works roughly the same as a preshave (for me), I'm not paying 12x as much.

"the thing that's missing from noxzema is the glycerin, which in this case is one of, if not THE beard softening agent."

Yeah I noticed that too. However, I did notice the Noxema contains propylene glycol which it turns out is similar to glycerine and is considered in the same category of water-retaining, moisturizing, lubricating substances, a Humectant. I did not notice any difference in the beard softening effect. Though I have thick whiskers and don't get a whole lot of beard softening from anything regardless.

cjlindem said:

"used to use Noxzema to wash my face when I was a teen. Dried the heck outta my skin. "

Have you used Proraso to wash your face? Here, I'm more concerned with Noxema used as a preshave than for its washing properties. They do market it as a 'moisturizing skin cleanser'. Though I don't see specifically what ingredient in it would make it any more soap-like than the Proraso.

"I use Proraso Pre/Dopo, from a jar labeled pre-shave. The second thing I noticed about it was how perfectly moisturizing a post-shave it was."

It is not marketed (by Proraso) as a post shave anymore, they have dropped anything having to do with Post from their label. I am more interested in it as it functions for it's intended purpose from the manufacturer, as a preshave.

"Hey, if you're happy using Noxzema, that's great. I just don't see the need to say "A causes tingle, B causes tingle, therefore A = B." There's more to it than that."

I'm not saying a=b because they both have a tingle. I'm saying that they seem to perform similarly as a preshave, and both have similar primary ingredients. I'm not trying to disregard public concensus of "what actually works better", but if ingredients are roughly the same, and it works roughly the same as a preshave (for me), I'm not paying 12x as much.

"the thing that's missing from noxzema is the glycerin, which in this case is one of, if not THE beard softening agent."

Yeah I noticed that too. However, I did notice the Noxema contains propylene glycol which it turns out is similar to glycerine and is considered in the same category of water-retaining, moisturizing, lubricating substances, a Humectant. I did not notice any difference in the beard softening effect. Though I have thick whiskers and don't get a whole lot of beard softening from anything regardless.

Click to expand...

I do worse with the Proraso than wash my face; I leave it on my skin. Believe me that that would have been impossible with Noxzema. I believe that Proraso is de-emphasizing use of the pre/dopo as a post-shave to encourage sales of their aftershaves. I don't see any other reason for it. Despite the change in labeling, the Italian website still refers to it as pre/dopo. 70 years of use in that capacity is more important to me than the latest marketing maneuver by the American distributor.

The first post in the thread says nothing about judging them merely as a re-shave, either, so there's no reason to limit the discussion now.

Similar ingredients do not by any means mean the product is equivalent. Noxzema is loaded up with oils to dilute it in advance of even the fragrances which precede the ingredients useful for beard-softening. Proraso has the gelatin right up there as the fourth ingredient. It's like comparing arsenic poison to arsenic tonic.

In any case, the only important question to judge their similarity is "what does it do for/to you?". Proraso Pre/Dopo makes a difference for me as a pre-shave and as a post-shave, helping to speed up stubble softening and then leaving my skin feeling supple and amazing. Noxzema did a great job of drying my skin out, despite being applied for perhaps a twentieth of the time I spend shaving. In my experience, they work quite differently. Therefore, despite the use of some similar ingredients in differing quantities, I think it's clear that they are not that similar a product. I certainly would not recommend that any person having success with the pre/dopo should just skip it and buy Noxzema because I know from personal experience that in some cases Noxzema sucks.

That personal experience trumps any simple investigation of ingredients. Even if an expert chemist made claims that they were equivalent, I would know that it wasn't true. Of course, that would be quite unlikely because there are material differences in the ingredients and (even where they are the same) in the quantities used.

The simplest answer to the original posters question is that I found them to be quite different. Because of that I wouldn't suggest recommending them out of hand as being the same because you could cause people with skin reactions to one or the other to avoid the other product, which may have worked for them. Hopefully my experience is of some use to someone.

I have experimented more with Noxzema and Proraso pre.

I have to agree with previous comments that the Proraso shines as an aftershave treatment. It cools the burn and makes my face feel cold and tingly like nothing else, which is very pleasant.

Also, being kind of thrifty, I like that on a damp smooth face, a tiny bit of Proraso goes a very long ways, a tiny bit more and you end up with a white film. As a preshave it took quite a gob of it to get coverage which felt wasteful to me. I still find Noxzema and Proraso function similarly for me as preshaves, and because of this have defaulted to the cheaper Noxzema.

But for postshave it's Proraso hands down, Noxzema burns the heck out of my shaven skin for some unknown reason, Proraso cools and soothes it. Why proraso doesn't call it pre/post anymore in the US I don't understand.

If you read the box, in Italian it's still a Pre/Post