I had previously tried the Red Sandalwood soap and preshave, as well as the Green soap and preshave. I have used this white variety in conjunction with the green preshave (menthol and eucalyptus), as well as by itself. I found that it loads the shaving brush with lather as quickly as the other Proraso soaps, which is to say that you'll have all the soap you need in the brush within 30 seconds. Note that you will have to soak your shaving brush for a few minutes to make this happen. I found that blooming the soap was of limited utility, as this isn't a hard soap puck, but rather more like a stiff cream.