I have been waiting on my 6 sticks of Arko to arrive from Turkey to Australia - very fast by the way - and they arrived yesterday "after" my morning shave. I like most times to bowl lather so took a stick and molded it into an empty soap container. A very easy task with no grating or heating, just 2 arthritic thumbs. I loaded my brush this morning, a Proraso Boar brush and started to build a lather in a bowl. Boy, think the best peaky lemon meringue white topping and you are there. No time at all. Very dense lather with excellent cushion and slickness. The shave was great and the lather remained in a great state right to the end. I think some of the comments on the smell of Arko are a bit extreme but suffice to say it is clean and fresh. I have been using Proraso Green and for me it has dried my skin too much and seems to have caused some sought of reaction. At least 12 hours have passed since my shave and my skin is fine. Looks like I may need to procure a further dozen sticks in case world wide shaving stocks disappear overnight My personal verdict - excellent and regardless of price equal to the best lather I have had.
My wife says the Arko soap reeks, but I actually love the scent. To me it smells exactly like an old-school barbershop in the Middle East.
I also really like Arko - performance and scent. I think Arko unfortunately, just like the Veg, suffers a bit from a 'blood in the water' scenario where it's fun/easy for people to hop in and bash something that has been beaten up in the past. Enjoy your Arko. It's great.
There is not a thing wrong with Arko, i use it frequently and enjoy every moment of it! The scent is nice, clean, and refreshing to me. You cant go wrong with the price, its a steel!
Smells clean and soapy to me. Tastes great! Performs awesome! I haven't tried a ton of products yet but a stick pressed into a mug is by far my favorite soap so far.
I bought two initially, and pressed one into an old deodorant container. I really like it. I piffed the other to spread the joy. I will be replenishing though.
My two pressed in sticks are airing out for a while. I don't dislike the scent, its reminiscent of a ton of cleaning products from my youth (detergent, soap, dish washing liquid, steel polish, etc) but it is way too strong out of the box wrapper for my nose, makes me sneeze alot and that's not good when wielding a sharp steel on your face. Can't argue the performance and cost benefits tho!
As a BIG fan of Arko, IMO it's one of those soaps, based on performance and price, that should be in every den. Every shaver should at least try it out, the smell will dissipate with time and exposure to air.
Even though I was recently given about 6 different samples of soaps (Catie's Bubbles, ect.) and four other full tubs of RazoRock soaps, I'll never be too good for Arko. I guess the fact that I got all those soaps yesterday and still shaved with Arko today says something.
I've gone through a couple dozen sticks over the last 5 years. The scent dissipates fairly quickly when left exposed. It works very well and cannot be beat for the price. Still the best price I have found for it is on Amazon especially if you have Prime with the free shipping. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VAWZ2U/?tag=thshde-20
The twist up stick dispensers they sell at West Coast Shaving are perfect for that. Almost a "must have" item if you are a regular user of Arko sticks. You can even peel a label off and stick it on the dispenser... http://www.westcoastshaving.com/Twist-up-Shaving-Stick-Containers-75-oz_p_650.html
