finding my stride, tripped over Bigelow.

[Ruck]

I've been at this for right about a month now, shaving with puck soaps and rarely I'll use Barbasol. My go-to has become a '40s SS with a Feather, Dorco, or Crystal blade, Bayrum & Sandalwood soap. Now, I'm no pro by any means and I'm still hitting more doubles than home runs, but just as I started to think I was finding my groove, I decided I wanted to try out a cream in case it was better suited to me.

Holy mother of god, I must be a glutton for punishment, because I keep trying to figure out the Bigelow. Sure, it fluffs up nice and pretty, makes you feel good about being able to make mounds of coolwhip quickly, but first shave with it-- no slickness. Raw on the 3rd pass. Worse I've felt so far. Tried again with more water, still blood and burning. So I switched down to a more mild blade, and cut the Bigelow with the Bayrum & Sandalwood soap for a little superlather action in hopes of gaining some slickness. Minor improvement, but still terribly uncomfortable 3rd pass... plus additional burning because of the perfumes on top of the irritation. Not my finest week in shaving. Not by a long shot!

Being that it's cheap stuff, I didn't have the highest expectations... but man, that was BAD. I'm not big on resigning to failure, but I think I'm going to have to pif or trade the two tubes I bought to keep myself from further self-destructive experimentation. I'll probably send the matching ASBs off with it. After destroying my face with the cream, the balms give me little lasting comfort. Luckily, I've got a few other options in the ASB department (thank you, Nivea! Sweet, sweet relief...)

I guess part of the process is discovering what doesn't work for you as well as what does.

So, next up: slick puck soap. Who has a recommendation for me? Right now I've got VDH, 2 flavors of Ogalalla, Williams modern and Williams vintage.

 

[Sueto]

I have had problems where it would be fluffy, but still a bit pasty. The resolution in my case was to add a bit more water. It looks like you have tried that though. I am not sure I would go through a complete pass if I didn't think the lather was slick or felt right in the hand first. My experience with Bigelow is that it can take on a fair bit of water. Without the water there it ends up drying kind of pasty which makes for an uncomfortable experiences, even if it did make fluffy coolwhip like lather.

 

[Topgumby]

Your vintage Williams is a great, easy to get along with soap, and if you can make it tick the more temperamental modern Williams can be very slick.

While I'm "a soap guy" in general, I find I can now get great shaves with creams that I gave up on as a bad job when I was a few months into the game. In fact, one of my current favorite soaps, Cella, is kind of a soap-like cream, or is it a cream-like soap?

If I were you, I'd put away the Bigelow, stick with one of the pucks you have for awhile (I vote for vintage Williams, but as we all know, YMMV) and try it again after another two months.

 

[Explorerkid]

If I were you, I'd put away the Bigelow, stick with one of the pucks you have for awhile (I vote for vintage Williams, but as we all know, YMMV) and try it again after another two months.

I had recently done this, but in doing so I noticed that I had to add ALOT more water than expected, and then the Bigelow was great. I have used the majority of a small tube recently and have had only a few less than par shaves. Don't go all the way through with a pass if the cream feels too dry, moisten and re-lather. YMMV, but I would try the suggestion made by Topgumby.

 

[poppi]

Bigelow is a wonderful cream for me. Lots of cushion and slick as snot on a doorknob. Love the stuff.

Like others have said, try again in a couple of months and see what happens. Hopefully it will be better for you.

 

[Ruck]

Your vintage Williams is a great, easy to get along with soap, and if you can make it tick the more temperamental modern Williams can be very slick.

While I'm "a soap guy" in general, I find I can now get great shaves with creams that I gave up on as a bad job when I was a few months into the game. In fact, one of my current favorite soaps, Cella, is kind of a soap-like cream, or is it a cream-like soap?

If I were you, I'd put away the Bigelow, stick with one of the pucks you have for awhile (I vote for vintage Williams, but as we all know, YMMV) and try it again after another two months.

Haven't spent any time with the vintage Williams, but sounds like a good direction to go in. I'll stash the Bigelow away for a while. I think I also need to start looking for unscented soaps in general... another good reason to try the vintage I suppose.

 

[MrShake]

Bigelow is a wonderful cream for me. Lots of cushion and slick as snot on a doorknob. Love the stuff.

Like others have said, try again in a couple of months and see what happens. Hopefully it will be better for you.

I have to agree with this... Bigelow is a go-to cream for me. I tend to have much better luck with creams than soaps, but Bigelow and Godrej would rate the slickest of what I've tried so far!

 

[Ruck]

My experience with Bigelow is that it can take on a fair bit of water.

I noticed that I had to add ALOT more water than expected, and then the Bigelow was great.

Maybe my scientifically calibrated measure of 'more water' is off. There's enough people loving it to tell me that it is most likely user error. Maybe next week, when my face grows back

 

[jones2289]

You're not alone. I have the same problem with the Bigelow. Nearly everytime I shave with it I end up with bloody spots somewhere on my face. I've tried it several different times, but just can't get it right. I'll probably end up PIF'ing it to someone eventually.

 

[Southside]

My humble opinion is most likely user error.

Lets talk about your prep. Are you wetting your face with lots of hot water? Do you have a fresh blade in? How hard are you pushing the razor?

Frankly I find Bigelow/Proraso to be one of the most forgiving things I've used. I use a Merkur HD38C with Personna blades, and most of the time I use either Bigelow or ToBS cream. Both are very forgiving to a newbie I think (which I still am as well, 1 year) and both of them seem to be very, very slick.

But give it a rest for a while and stick with what works for you. No sense getting beat up by your razor.

 

[jakespoppy]

When I've used Bigelow, the lather didn't seem cool-whip like. It wasn't that fluffy. It was more thick and slick, and I consistently got very close shaves with it. But I still had to give it up because the eucalyptus in it caused some irritation for me. I now have the Proraso Ultimate Comfort soap, a very soft soap, and it smells like, and has mild menthol like Bigelow/Proraso, but no eucalyptus, and works like a charm. Good luck finding out what works for you!

 

[Ruck]

Lets talk about your prep. Are you wetting your face with lots of hot water? Do you have a fresh blade in? How hard are you pushing the razor?

Lots of hot water? I shave in the shower. Check!

Fresh blade? I've only taken a blade to 4 shaves once; rarely ever now do I let one go past 2 shaves. Check!

How hard am I pushing? Middle finger/thumb pinch-grip most of the time. Occasionally switch to the 'holding a spoon" grip. I pay a lot of attention to this, since it seems to be the culprit in a lot of harsh shaves.

Could be blade angle, could be evil combination of tough beard/sensitive skin... could be too little water. I usually go with a soaked and squeezed badger brush, adding 5-10 drops of water as I start to build lather and then 5-6 more drops as I go. Usually a couple drops at least when I get to the 3rd pass.

 

[michiganlover]

My humble opinion is most likely user error.

Frankly I find Bigelow/Proraso to be one of the most forgiving things I've used. Bigelow or ToBS cream. Both are very forgiving to a newbie I think (which I still am as well, 1 year) and both of them seem to be very, very slick.

I would have to chalk it up to user error as well. Bigelow is one of the best, and one of the easiest creams to lather.

... could be too little water. I usually go with a soaked and squeezed badger brush, adding 5-10 drops of water as I start to build lather and then 5-6 more drops as I go. Usually a couple drops at least when I get to the 3rd pass.

In my opinion, your cream is way too dry, which cold very likely be the root of your problems. I have not measured it, but I bet in the course of whipping up my cream, I work at least 2 teaspoons of water into it. The cream is still fairly thick at that point; others seem to use even more.

Mantic recommends you do an experiment to get a feel for just how much water a cream can soak up before it is ruined: start to whip up a batch of cream, but keep adding water, add small amounts of water, until you are far beyond what would be considered normal. Continue to add water until you have a soupy mess.

By the way, a lather that looks like cool whip is way too dry. A good lather should have the consistency of plain yogurt (regular yogurt, not the whipped kind, or the kind with gelatin added).

 

[Speedwell68]

I haven't used Bigelow but I use Proraso, which is an identical product so I am led to believe, and it is awesome stuff. Easily the best cream I have tried, certainly the best lubricating and certainly the best feeling on my skin. I have however noticed that it requires a little more water than say Palmolive or Boots cream.

 

[chickpea]

As others have said and from personal experience, you are likely using too little water in your cream prep. Use more. See if you can make it too watery, then dial back the water a bit next batch and that should be just about right. Honestly, the first 2X I used Bigelow/Proraso, I got REALLY bad irritation and almost gave up using it (even though I desperately loved the scent/feel of the cream). But after a few weeks, before PIFing it, I tried again and it just clicked.

Instead of squeezing out the brush, just give it one vigorous shake and then try building your lather add a little more water if necessary. Honestly, it's hard to get too much water into Proraso.

 

[Ruck]

More water. Got it. Will do. Face is feeling fairly OK this evening, will consider giving it another try tonight. Might go to the vintage williams instead, just for a night off. Probably not. Again with the 'doesn't know when to walk away' mentality.

So I'm shooting for just this side of soup, eh? Maybe a nice New England clam chowder? I don't know what plain yogurt looks like, all I have is Dannon Light & Fit (it has kosher gelatin in it, who knew?).


This could hurt. This could be awesome. I'll hope for the latter.

 

[512Lyle]

Ive had the same experience with the bigelow cream. To me the KMF is immensly more comfortable. Maybe Im not using enough water either. I hope to get it down because I enjoy the coolness. If not you will find 4 tubes of bigelow in the B/S/T.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Bigelow should be so full of water that it looks like the lather will start running down your brush if you add another drop.

 

[512Lyle]

So I tried with more water with the same results... a red neck. my lather seemed thick but loose enough to slightly drip off my brush. I seem to get the same results from my moma bear soaps. The KMF is the only thing that I have used that works like a dream. Ill be going back to that for a while...

 

[Ruck]

Had some down time this evening. Went and played "waterboard the Bigelow" in the bathroom. Long story short, wow, can this stuff hold water

After 5 highly scientific "palm scoops" of water.

After 10 highly scientific "palm scoops" of water: (approx 2 tablespoons, I went down to the kitchen and did somewhat equal palm scoops into a measuring cup)

At this point, I was having a hard time fighting the urge to lick it. What can I say, I love me some ice cream.

After 13 scoops (notice the remainder of the giant bubble... couldn't get the soap off my hand fast enough to grab the camera before it popped):

Caught this one just in time:

And finally, taking the advice given previously to 'add water until you've got a big soupy mess": It took me 13 palm scoops plus 2 XL "meh" scoops and a "good god, this is a mess" scoop.

So, which one looks right? I'm thinking somewhere around the 10 scoop mark.