Proraso is an Italian barbershop icon.

Proraso is a lesson in an authentic barbershop staple. It is the flagship brand of Ludovico Martelli, a Florentine company founded in 1908; the Proraso line itself debuted in 1948 (created by Piero Martelli, the founder’s son) in a small Florence laboratory. For generations it has been a fixture of Italian barbershops, and it remains a family-owned business.

Its icon is instantly recognisable: the green shaving cream — the original 1948 formula built on eucalyptus oil and menthol for a cooling, refreshing shave — sold in a distinctive dark-green metal tube (and jar). It is the “Refreshing” line, and it is the product Proraso was born with.

Around it, Proraso built a clear colour-coded system: Green (Refreshing, eucalyptus and menthol), Red (Nourishing, sandalwood and shea for coarse beards), White (Sensitive, green tea and oatmeal), and Blue (protective/moisturising), plus a premium, vintage-inspired Single Blade range. It is authentic Italian heritage, natural-leaning ingredients, affordable quality, and retro branding — a favourite of the wet-shaving revival. (Honest notes: the company Ludovico Martelli dates to 1908 while the Proraso brand debuted in 1948 — keep the two distinct; the classic cream is in a dark-green tube, not white (white is the Sensitive line’s colour code); “Azur Lime” is a scent within the Single Blade range, not a core colour line; line names vary a little by market; and no official brand hex is published.)

Proraso lives in a green-and-cream barbershop palette. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Proraso’s identity is fresh, retro and Italian — a deep Proraso green, a cool menthol mid-green, a warm barbershop cream, a vintage charcoal, and a soft eucalyptus sage. The palette reads like the green cream itself: cooling, minty-fresh, and classically barbershop, with the deep green as the unmistakable signature. It signals authentic heritage and a refreshing shave rather than modern gloss. The honest caveat: with no published brand hex, these tones are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party values.

The lesson is a green-and-cream palette signals fresh barbershop heritage. Proraso’s world reads as cooling and classic. For designers, it is a reminder that a signature deep green with a cool mint accent, on warm cream, can own a category (the refreshing shave) and feel authentically retro. The takeaways: let a signature colour (deep green) carry the brand; add a cool accent for freshness; and treat any single hex as unofficial when there is no published spec.

The wordmark spirit is a retro slab — heritage and warm.

Proraso’s identity carries a retro, warm, heritage spirit — a “Proraso” wordmark, often with vintage barber imagery, whose classic forms match a decades-old Italian barbershop brand. A retro slab captures the mood: it is sturdy and nostalgic, the register of a mid-century barbershop rather than a modern startup. Set against a green-and-cream palette, the retro slab feels heritage and friendly — exactly the green-cream, Italian-barbershop personality Proraso carries. It is warm rather than sleek, mirroring a tube that has looked much the same for generations. (Proraso’s real wordmark and imagery are trademarks we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact typeface is not something we assert.) Because the specific marks are not ours to use, the honest description is “a retro slab spirit,” not the Proraso logo. The type behaves like the brand: retro, warm and heritage.

Proraso stands for the refreshing shave.

Proraso is a lesson in owning a colour and a sensation. Its green cream — cooling eucalyptus and menthol in a dark-green tube — is so consistent and recognisable that the colour green itself signals “Proraso” and “refreshing shave” to a generation of barbers and shavers. Extending that into a clear colour-coded system (green, red, white, blue) made the whole range legible at a glance. That combination of authentic barbershop heritage and a disciplined, ownable colour identity is exactly why Proraso rode the wet-shaving revival so well: it already stood for something specific.

For designers and brand-builders, Proraso offers a clear takeaway: a consistent signature colour, tied to a real sensation, can define a category. The lessons: own a colour and keep it consistent for decades; use a colour-coded system so a range reads instantly; and let an authentic heritage do the talking. It is also a reminder to keep the facts precise: the Ludovico Martelli company dates to 1908 while Proraso debuted in 1948, the classic cream is a green (not white) tube of eucalyptus-and-menthol, and the lines are colour-coded — with the palette here an unofficial interpretation. Proraso owns the green — proof that a signature colour can be the difference.

Keep Proraso’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.