Thread: The Great Common Soap Experiment!

Originally Posted by crouton976

It was rebranded as C.O. Bigelow for purchase at Bath and Body Works, typically found at your local mall.

I've got to correct this - C.O. Bigelow is a pharmacy in Greenwich Village in New York City, they title themselves as 'the oldest apothecary in america'. They also sell the cream in the proraso packaging, and at the same price point every time I've been at the store.
They've got a lots of good stuff actually - not uber high scale, but pretty nice too, like MPG, Diptyque, AdP, etc. and some that are hard to find anywhere else like I profumi di Firenze.
Here is their website C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries - Natural remedies, bath & body products - they've got a bunch of semi-goofy proraso ads.

The availability at Bed Bath and Beyond is much more recent thing.

Originally Posted by gugi

I've got to correct this - C.O. Bigelow is a pharmacy in Greenwich Village in New York City, they title themselves as 'the oldest apothecary in america'. They also sell the cream in the proraso packaging, and at the same price point every time I've been at the store.
They've got a lots of good stuff actually - not uber high scale, but pretty nice too, like MPG, Diptyque, AdP, etc. and some that are hard to find anywhere else like I profumi di Firenze.
Here is their website C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries - Natural remedies, bath & body products - they've got a bunch of semi-goofy proraso ads.

The availability at Bed Bath and Beyond is much more recent thing.

Thanks for the correction, Ivan... I wasn't aware of that!

Post updated!

I haven't been able to find it at BB&B in my area. Bath and Body Works has it though.

Originally Posted by tedh75

I haven't been able to find it at BB&B in my area. Bath and Body Works has it though.

Yeah, I've never seen it there either, but Bath and Body Works definitely has it..

Yeah, me neither, have no idea why I typed 'bed bath and beyond' since I haven't been in that store in years (staples also carries co2 for my sodasteam so i go there instead).

Sorry wasn't trying to confuse... only wanted to note the bigelow pharmacy as a rather worthwhile place to check out if you happen to visit nyc and are in the area.

A little face massage with your pre-lathered brush should get some nice lather going on your face, you dont want to just paint it on and be done with it, a bit of backwards and forwardsing is a good thing.

Nice post.

Great post!

I think something a lot of newbies, myself included, don't realize the time it can take to whip up a good lather. As you stated you it took around 2 min to get a good lather from these soaps/creams. Every new wet shaver should keep this in mind when they feel their lather is not adequate enough as the time they are spending whipping up lather may not be enough to produce quality results!

Thanks for the info on these soaps/creams! I recently grabbed a small tube of C.O. Bigelow from bath and body when I got dragged in there with the gf... Looking forward to using it as soon as I can get away from my Mitchell's wool fat for one shave hahaha

Speaking if tallow soaps, I have trouble getting decent lather out of cella crema. I probably just need to whip it longer.

Thanks for the post...that was great...I have williams, wilkenson sword, proraso, AoS and some samples from whipped dog I haven't opened yet and I am definitely hit and miss with the lathers for sure. I was thinking about getting a wilkenson sword brush, but couldn't figure out if it was a boar brush or nylon?
Thanks for the notes...will have to relax and spend more time on that lather building phase, it is crucial. no need to rush!