Arko Men Face Shaving Soap Stick, Sensitive skin shave cream, White, ( Pack Of 12 )

After reading most of the wet shaving blogs, I decided to take somewhat of a plunge and purchased the 12 piece box. This has to be a most amazing item, even if I am going from a product made in Italy for one made in Turkey. Dont get me wrong, I am still very much in love with my Proraso creams, but this provides even more of a cushion, incredible lather, leaves my face in even better condition post shave and, although I have fairly sensitive skin, found it to be non-irritating. I agree with the reviewer who stated that Arko could have gotten 10x the price they are asking had they decided to put this out in more appealing scents such as sandalwood but, unlike many on here and like so many others, I did not find the scent objectionable at all. In fact it is more like Ivory Soap than it is like, as some have mentioned, Lemon Pez or, even more incredibly, lemon Mr. Clean. No way! Give me a break. Are you buying this for a top-quality shave at a ridiculously low price or are you looking to announce your existence by wreaking of Axe? I did not want to bother keeping it in the cheap wrapper, so I took it all off, heated the stick, unwrapped of course, for about 5 to no more than 10 seconds in the microwave to soften it (be careful because it will grow in the microwave like molten lava if you leave it in too long), and then stuffed the stick into my 2.5 oz., emptied out, deodorant stick twist container that I had not been using. I have used it all week by wetting my face and then the end of the Arko stick with hot water, rubbing the soap into my beard, re-wetting as needed and then wetting my badger brush with hot water, shaking it out some and then massaging the soap directly on my face. No scuttle needed. Explosion of thick lather! Even with my fairly soft silver-tipped badger brush! And here I was afraid it would take longer than if I had a stiffer bristle. I found it lathered faster than whipping a cream in my bowl. What a pleasure this is to shave with! My razor just glided and cut my whiskers like a knife through butter. What was even more incredible and impressive was the absence of any irritation and how smooth and conditioned my face and neck were afterwards. Who needs a strong-scented shave cream anyway if youre only going to put on some after shave or cologne later? I would not want to have several scents going on at the same time. I am not going to ever match my cologne or after shave with any of my shaving creams or soaps anyway. I say, better to splash on Tabac or Cool Water over Ivory Soap than over menthol or sandalwood. Get this! If you are afraid to buy the entire box of twelve at the unbelievable $1.61 per stick cost, then pay a little more and buy just one stick just to try it out. But at this price and the awesome shaving experience this product provides, you have very, very little to lose...except your facial hair.

Being a user of straight blades, brush, and barber shop wet soap for shaving. I have many years of using many different soaps. Of all the brands of barber soaps, none, and I repeat, none of the other brands of soap protect my skin from razor burn or cuts as well as ARKOs Cream Barber soap. I have even tried three different brands of canned razor soaps, and ARKO beats all of them for protecting my skin.

Ok, so theres a LOT of reviews on Arko. So lets break this down a little bit. Well use a scale of 1-10 and average it out at the end. The categories for grading will be: Price Performance Ease of use Travel ability Smell Price- on a scale of 1-10 i give it a 10. When i bought my 12 pack it was 15.25 and free shipping for 12 sticks each weighing in at 75 grams for a total of 900 grams or 31.7 ounces. Ive seen 4 oz of soap sell for the same price or even more. So yes that price point is a huge plus! Moving onto performance- i give arko shave stick a 10. The reason why is because it is very easy for me to whip up a lather with this soap. The soap is tallow based so that means its made from animal fat. A bonus to this is that tallow based soaps are known for a great ability to lather. Also this soaps lather can be easily customized if you start with a dryer brush then add in water till you get to the lather consistency you want. I like a thicker lather with a good balance of slip and cushion. Arko provided it. Also, i tried it as both a shave stick, and pressed it into a container. As a stick it lathered well but i preferred it in a container, but that will be talked more about later. Some press this into a deodorant stick. I tried that with an empty stick of speed stick Id saved when i decided to order this and found it didnt work out to well because it is the density of modeling clay which was too dense for a regular deodorant stick container that youd have to mold it to fit, but in a round deodorant stick it will work better. Ease of use- Another 10! Its customizable. You can use it in the stick form it comes into. If you buy a round empty deodorant container then you can just stick it over the rod in the center of the container and that works good. Because the lather whips up so thick and good i got scared i wouldnt be able to lather the soap on my face cuz Id layer it kinda thick. So because this soap has the consistency of modeling clay i pressed it into an empty tin i had laying around. And instantly it was a shave soap puck. Its easy to load, easy to use, and can handle a good amount of water. Travel ability- here i give it a 7. Its a round stick of shave soap thats the consistency of modeling clay wrapped in a paper/foil wrapper. You can buy this in a puck form or find a mug or tin to put it into but the shave stick is mostly thought of as a travel item. I wouldnt ever just toss a stick in my dopp kit after opening it. Its great that this can be put into any container you want but Im just not crazy that this travel stick isnt travel friendly. Even if they wouldve put it in a small ziploc type baggie it would have gotten a higher score. At least then it wouldve been protected and a good barrier wouldve been in place to protect other items in your dopp kit. Smell- lets face it. Smell is the most subjective thing there is. I passed it around to a group of people who know nothing of wet shaving. Hybrid of citrus and lavender is what we pretty much unanimously decided on. Very similar to original ivory soap. To me it reminded me of the lotion my grandmother used to bring home from the hospital. The smell strength was medium high to medium. Leaving it uncovered tames it a little more but i actually like it. Not my favorite smell but not overwhelming or overpowering. I have an autistic nephew with the nose of a hound dog and he is very sensitive to smells and he has no complaints over this soap. My sister and mom like it as well as almost a dozen other people i asked about it (none of them knew anything about wet shaving). The strength of the scent is definitely stronger than either van der hagen, italian barber, razorock, or proraso. But its not overpowering. So for scent i give it a 7.5 Out of 500 it scored 445. That is 89%, or a B+ grade. However, personally Id score a couple things differently and give it an A- or maybe even an A.

EDIT on 7/10/2013 OK, Ive been meaning to get back to this for a LONG time. I will leave the original review below and just add here at the top. This has become my go to soap for wet shaving. I have also switched over to face lathering (dip the end of the stick in water and rub on face, then apply brush). Biggest update, the scent. Once the stick has been opened for a few hours, the smell pretty much goes totally away and Ive noticed on my last reorder that it isnt that strong even when you open it now. So, overpowering scent is a NON ISSUE now. Also, with regard to the itching, yes, it was a problem with my rinsing routine. When I do a full rinse of my face after shaving, which is what I should have been doing anyway to begin with, I get zero irritation. This stuff also lasts a LONG time. One box lasted me for almost a year and a half, and that was after I gave away sticks to friends and family. GET THIS STUFF. Its the best budget soap you will EVER use. ****** OK, I purchased this product last week. Shipping was VERY quick (thanks seller!). Now, as to the quality: First, lets get one thing out of the way: Arko describes these as shaving sticks for creamy comfortable shave. Thats it. They dont go on and on about their scent, ability to end world hunger, or serve as a new power source for the space shuttle. This stuff is plain-Jane shaving soap. Do not buy this expecting some kind luxury product as some seem to have done. Thats NOT what this is. Tools I used: I bowl lather with a boar brush and use a double edge safety razor. Use: I basically took one of the sticks, unwrapped it, and mashed it down into a small shaving mug that I have (this stuff is soft enough to mold with firm hands). I worked up a lather and applied. The lather was good, but not THAT great. This could be an issue with my water however, as I know it is a little hard. I plan on heating some filtered water and trying that tomorrow. The blade slid with no real problems. The first day I used it, my face itched for a while afterword and I thought I must be having a slight allergy to the soap. I tried it again the next day and didnt have the same reaction, but made a much better effort at rinsing my face off afterword, so Im pretty sure that issue was my fault. Bottom line: This stuff is priced well and does what it says it does. I gave 4 instead of 5 stars for one reason: The scent. Yes, it has no scent added, but the soap scent is REALLY strong when youre using it. Its almost like youre snorting a line of pure soap flakes through a rolled up dollar bill. The scent washes almost TOTALLY away when you rinse, but its kind of overpowering while youre using it.

At $1.04 per stick ordered in a bulk pack of 12 (i.e., $13.25 for the box) this is the ultimate combination of high performance soap at rock bottom cost. Amazing value. Use is simple: wet the top of the stick, rub a thin layer on the stubble, scrub with a medium wet brush. The lather quickly erupts in to a slick, cushiony surface that provides smooth razor glide and protection from knicks and cuts. To each their own, but I find the scent refreshing and clean. It has an intense, old-school style barber shop soap smell with light citrusy notes. The soap washes off clean and the scent does not linger or interfere with aftershave. The skin is left soft and hydrated for the day. I have been using the stick almost daily for a few weeks now and it has barely made a dent on the thing. With 12 sticks this is probably a 3 to 4-year supply. Update 1/22/15: I still have yet to use up my first stick, which was purchased 3 months ago. I have used Arko for almost every shave during this period. I generally shave 5-6 times a week- and I am generous with the amount of product used each shave. There is still about 1/4 of the stick left. At this rate, I estimate that one stick lasts 3 to 4 months. This works out to approximately 25 or 30 cents per month if you buy the 12-pack (about 1 to 1.5 cents per shave). Basically, for about the price of a soda from a vending machine you get 3-4 months worth of shaving soap that produces a very close and comfortable shave with a DE safety razor. Some other recommendations for those new to wet shaving, and more shaving math: With a box of

I have been shaving since I was 15 (28 years) and have tried every method under the sun. I have always wet shaved (aside from one week of trying an electric razor when I was a kid) and I have used soaps and brushes in the past. But, I was never too happy with some of the soaps I was spending my money on and once Cremo Cream came along, I placed the brush aside (though I did miss it). This winter, the idea of squeezing the cold (albeit wonderful) cream out the CC tube did not sound appealing to me and so I decided to go back to the brush for a while. I decided on the Arko soap because it was cheap and had many positive reviews. Here are my pros and cons: Pros: 1) Lather = it lathers well and the lather stays (does not dry out). Im used to seeing nearly nothing on my face while shaving with CC, so its nice to have a nice, thick lather again. BTW: I now apply the stick directly onto my face. This can be mashed into a saving mug, but applying directly to the face will provide much more protection. You can still use your brush to create extra lather once it has been applied. 2) Protection = the soap is slick and it protects my face. I have been using for close to 2 weeks and have yet to cut myself or experience any sort of razor burn (same results as with CC). 3) Cost = probably should be #1 on the list as I have not found anything as cost effective as this soap. 4) Scent = it smells like old fashioned clean soap. As others have mentioned, it smells similar to Ivory soap, but not as pungent (to me). 5) Travel = easy to travel with in a Ziploc. Cons: 1) Scent = if you dont like Ivory soap, you may not like this. Needless to say, my faith in lathering with a brush and soap has been reestablished. Ive had some real stinkers in the past, but I will be venturing back out into the land of soap and money soon enough. At least for the winter months.

Arko is amazing stuff. I’ve used expensive creams and soaps before, but I always end up coming back to Arko: it’s incredibly inexpensive and it creates a luxurious lather that rivals the best out there. The scent is a dishclean/lemon which I actually enjoy (has become nostalgic to me), but arguably is not as desirable as some of the stuff that cost 20x the price. Application really comes down to personal preference. The stick-to-face method is one way of lathering that is especially convenient when traveling — using a brush or no brush (in a pinch) will do the trick. I will typically use this method on business trips because the Arko stick fits perfectly into an old medication bottle for travel storage. But personally, my preferred at-home method is to mash the stick down into an old bowl, and let hot water sit on top of the soap while you shower. This will let the soap “bloom”, making the top layer soft and easy to extract onto your brush — In my opinion, this method has yielded me the most robust lathers the fastest. PRO TIP: before discarding ALL of the “bloom” water prior to bowl lathering, rub some of this soapy water to your face as a preshave. Now, lather directly on the soap puck, and apply to your face. Keep in mind, you can always wet your face/brush if the lather gets too dry or is too thick for your liking...but you can’t remove excess water from an airy lather, so I recommend starting off with a thicker, soapy-er lather, knowing you will wet your face with hot water before applying more lather with your brush. As far as longevity of an Arko stick...there really is no need to be stingy with a stick that cost about $1...use plenty and yield a great lather that will provide you multiple passes — the thing will still probably last you 6-12 months, or longer. You could probably make a stick last double the time using the stick-to-face method, but for the $0.50 you’d save, I think it takes a lot more time and effort to soften up the soap to obtain an equally luxurious lather compared to my preferred method. Again, these are just my personal preferences, YMMV.

Ive tried two of Prorasos soaps, Trumpers Avacado shave cream, Williams, and Van Der Hagens soaps. Arko eclipses each of these in feel under a blade and the quality of lather. Its also moister on ones skin than those Ive mentioned. The menthol in Proraso irritated my skin, even the companys soap for sensitive skin irritated my skin. I had gone back to Williams and was using a preshave cream, which worked OK. However, I can use Arko with no preshave cream and it feels great: smooth, moist, and comfortable when gliding a stainless-steel blade across my face. It is easy to whip up a luxurious lather with an Edwin Jagger Best Badger Brush

A little lasts a long way. I bought the 12-pack for right around 20 bucks, which I predict will last me for another year. The smell isn’t as glorious as some soaps from the artisans. It’s more of a citrus detergent smell, but not a bad one. Some say it smells like a urinal puck. I can’t confirm, as I’ve never dared to smell one of those. Overall, I’m so glad to have purchased Arko

Arko makes you feel like a man. PEEL the foil paper back like a banana, SHOVE the end in some running water and then SMASH it on to your skin and DRAG it across your face. Haha. Seriously, that’s all there is to it. Skip the mug. Your whiskers will pull some soap off the stick and that’s all you need. A little bit goes a long way. You can easily get 3 passes with a brush without reapplying the soap. One stick seems to last forever. I bought a box of 12 for $15 and I’m thinking it’ll be YEARS before I get through it. That’s an incredible value. A brush is necessary. You need to lather up the soap and while you can get by massaging with your fore fingers - it’s just faster, easier and much better with a brush. A friend recommended I buy an Ecotools Bamboo Finishing Kabuki brush. It’s meant for make-up, but it’s probably the best shaving brush ever made and it’s just as affordable as this soap. On Amazon you get a 2 pack for $13. I keep one at home and one in my travel kit. Some people hate the smell and some people love it. There must be an ingredient in the soap that causes certain people to gag. To me, it smells fresh and lemony – that classic barber shop smell you experience no matter where you are in the world. When ladies step in to my bathroom they immediately ask me, “what’s that lovely smell?” Even though it’s more expensive, I suggest buying only one stick first to see if you have the “Arko smells like a urinal” reaction. The smell disappears quickly after use. It’s rather light. Some men like their soap smell to stay on them like a cologne. Although this scent doesn’t bother me, I’m still thankful it doesn’t linger on my face. I don’t like perfumes at all and if you do like cologne, then you don’t have to worry about it mixing with your preferred scent. If you object to the use of animal products, you might want to look in to another shaving soap. A lot of soaps switched to palm or coconut oils, but Arko still uses a traditional soap recipe that uses tallow. Personally, I’m okay with it because animal fat tends to be a byproduct of slaughtering cows or sheep for food. If they killed animals just for shaving soap, I might think twice about it. Arko is an old brand (50 years?), so if you ask around in your family there is probably someone who is familiar with it. If you have a Mediterranean grocery store near you, check and see if they sell it cheaper. Typically you can buy it for less than a dollar per stick.