L'Occitane vs Pre de Provence shaving soap experiences?

[chris1978]

I would like to know if you had any experiences with amazing french L'Occitane Cade and Pre de Provence shaving soap? Because of this, I love Shea Butter. I was planning to buy both of them as soon I can. I was looking forward it. How do you compare to these french shaving soaps? Do you really use very often? I had been watching a lot on youtube about the great soaps that going on my minds lately. By the way what the Pre de Provence shaving soap smell like?

My question is: Does it has any cushions during shaving? the slickess? lathering performance on both brand?

Chris A

[Brutus]

Not much help from me, I'm afraid, although I have both in my cabinet.

I don't use them that often, as I like D.R. Harris, Tabac, Martin de Candre, Musgo Real, Palmolive and Valobra better.

They both perform o.k., but nothing that I would describe as "outstanding".
I use Pre de Provence even less than L'Occitane, but sometimes I like to use L'Occitane Cade because of the scent.
There is nothing really wrong with the products, it's just that in the morning when I reach for the shaving soap there are other soaps that I rather use.

Would I buy them again?
Some L'Occitane soap or cream maybe; Pre de Provence probably not.


B.

[brothers]

I used the Cade soap regularly for a while. If I recall accurately, I think Cade soap might have had less slickness than I would have preferred. The lather and scent were good.

[SteveinMN]

I'm using a cake of Pre de Provence right now. I've managed to dial in a lather that works very well for me. I'm not good at describing scents I'm unfamiliar with; let's just say it's very lightly floral without obvious tones of rose/vetiver/cooking herbs with which I'm familiar. I've never tried L'Occitane to be able to compare it.

PdP is not at all a bad shaving soap. There are products which beat it in one category or another: latherability, cushion, scent (such a subjective thing), ... But it's a good combination of all of them for me and one of the few soaps I can buy hands-on here in town that's not 1) a cream; or 2) more marketing than performance.

One thing I've noticed -- in my wet-shaving sojourn as well as some other areas of life -- is that I'm less and less willing to spend limited time/money/energy chasing after a grail product that might be better than what I'm using. After the initial wet-shaving ADs all of us have gone through, I find I'm back to the second razor I ever bought and my third brush and a soap I tried not too far into my exploration. The stuff I bought after that -- goodies for someone else to try. The PdP works well for me, but, as always, horses for courses!

[Brutus]

One thing I've noticed -- in my wet-shaving sojourn as well as some other areas of life -- is that I'm less and less willing to spend limited time/money/energy chasing after a grail product that might be better than what I'm using.

Same here, and I suspect this applies to many other "old hands" too.

In the beginning, I experimented and followed many newly announced "discoveries" that were reported, but over time I settled down with a range of true and tested products and it takes now quite a bit of endorsement (preferably from members whose posts I have learned to value) to get me to try something new.


B.

[Oscar11]

I have both. Cade and PdP No. 63. In a nutshell, I prefer Cade and find it to be a very good soap. While both soaps shave well for me I find Cade has better post shave skin feel. I don't know why but it does. I prefer the newer version of Cade to the old.

[Raze R. Blade]

I have used L'Occitane Cade and found it to work very well. Smells great and is excellent all around. It lasts a long time, too.