ARKO Rocks Man, this stuff is awsome! You get a first class shave soap at an incredible price. I too am confused by the moisturizing category in the review. Alot of people wince at the smell of ARKO, I quite like it. The scent does not linger. There is a deal on Amazon at the moment...18 sticks of ARKO for $ 14.99.
Arko Shave Sticks have set the standard.... Arko Shave Sticks have set the standard that I judge, not just shave sticks, but soaps and creams by aswell, and at a fraction of the cost of most, if not all world-class, quality lather-makers. I agree with JEFF, that I would pay $20.00, for this great lather, but instead it usually runs less than a dollar a stick. The scent is a very clean soapy scent, but fades so quickly that it is a non-issue, whether you like it or not; I personally like it. Some people like to squash it into a bowl or mug, and make their lather the usual brush and bowl way. Personally I like to make the lather directly on my face. I originally got this stick, because I got back into TWS while living in Turkey, and its in every store here, and too inexpensive. My wife got it for fun as an impulse buy while standing at a register. The stick sat in my Shave Closet for weeks. The first time I used it was after not shaving for 3 days. I thought using a shave stick would be an easy way to "nail-down" my changing "direction of hair growth" pattern, so I wet the exposed end of the stick under hot running water; which makes it soft; and then rubbed it, with a circular motion, directly on my face and each whisker seemed to stand up and grab a bit of soap. That in itself was a great part of the prep...Then when I hit it with the wet brush it exploded into such a fantastic lather, I was in lather heaven ) Then I proceeded to have one terrific shave...I walked around all day rubbing my face with my hand, not believing what a great BBS I had gotten, with No irritation. At that time, I was such a confirmed cream man, I wouldn't have believed I would shave without one of my favorite creams, but now Arko Shave Stick is my "Go To" lather maker...And it always delivers mountains of great, thick, quality lather...that my razor loves to glide on, and it leaves my skin fresh as well.
Gold standard for the price I got mine free from a trade so can't complain on the price, however from what I read on ebay and amazon, its hardly more than 2$ at best most places. Very old school printing on the packaging, though the packaging itself is purty good, but once you start using the stick, you will have to look for alternate solutions to preserve the stick. As soon as I ripped open the top of the package a strong limey-citronella, bathroom cleaner type scent hit me. While it was pretty strong it isn't repulsive. And its atleast got a decent personality than some soaps and sticks which are plain soap scented. It was easy to rub the stick on the wet stubble before taking a medium soaked boar brush to the face for face lathering. It instantly burst in to a thin lather and some more work resulted in a thick slick lather. 3 passes with a Super Platinum black 7OC blade in a Slim at 5 made great work of the stubble. Even some hours after the shave, the face feels soft and smooth. Its the most wonderful feeling. I must say its more moisturizing and face protecting than the local Godrej Shave Round. The lather has great cushion and slickness for a smooth razor glide which is somewhat lacking in the Godrej shave round lather. I am already worried that this stick will be over soon and I will be deprived ! However I have faith and trust in my friends to send me more or order some from Amazon at the cheap rates.
I agree 1,000%. This soap is extra special. If you get a shave in any barbershop in Turkey, this is what the barbers use.
Kevin was so kind as to PIF me a stick of this, and it's a great little soap. I took to the smell immediately. Since this was given to me I'm not familiar with the pricing, but I hear it costs next to nothing. I have one other stick--Palmolive--and I must say I prefer Arko to that. Thumbs up from me; if you're on the fence about this one, go ahead and pick it up. You won't be sorry.
Thanks to member wknicholas "Nick", I gave Arko a try and am glad I did. It provides a really great three pass shave for me. I heard a lot of descriptions about the scent of this product, but the bottom line is, it smells like soap, a bar of Ivory soap. To all you youngsters out there, if your Mom never washed your butt with a bar of Ivory, well, you just missed out. Now, I personally prefer to load my brush with soap, make a lather in a cup/bowl and then lather my face. After talking with Nick, here is what I did and how I do it. Step 1: Order four sticks from TSD Store. That's three sticks as a spare. Step 2: Grate the stick until it looks good enough to put on your pizza. (I highly recommend you do not do this). Step 3: You can use what you want, I chose an empty beechwood shave soap bowl. Compact the shavings in to the container of your choice. Step 4: Build a good lather on your brush and go to town. It will perform as well as any other soap you put on your face.
