So, Arko. I’ve heard a lot about Arko’s shaving stick, before I gave it a shot. It seems to be a “love it or leave it” proposition. Most of what I heard about it lead me to believe that I wouldn’t like it. I was right. The smell. It’s chemically, like a cross between medicine and cleaning product. I’ve heard comparisons to Borax tossed around, as well as urinal cakes, and “Ivory soap on steriods”. A bit more kind of a comparison was probably to lemon pledge. Actually, yeah, I think the urinal cake comparison is probably the most apt (unused at least!). Strength-wise, it was definitely noticeable and never really faded all that much. Naturally, what might be a good thing for a soap that smells nice is a bad thing for a soap that doesn’t.

But, anyways, Arko is mostly a popular soap mostly despite its scent, , not because of it, although there are indeed some people who like it. It performs well, and is insanely cheap to boot. It lathers up quite easily (I should note that it’s supposed to be particularly good for folks with hard water), nice and thick, good glide. Takes about what I’d say is a medium amount of water, and has a decently large “sweet spot”. I can’t say I noticed much in the way of moisturization after the fact. But still, a good shave and cheap.

3/10 Scent Pleasantness

8/10 Scent Strength

8/10 Quality of Lather

Anyways, I still don’t like it. 4/10, the performance of the lather is

not, IMHO, good enough to rescue the stench..

Cost: I got the stick shown off of someone over on the shave bazaar, but as mentioned they can be found elsewhere quite cheap, such as this offering for $18 per dozen 75 g sticks, or $2.39 for a single off the same site.

Gear used:

Brush: Wee Scott

Razor: 1966 Gillette Tech

Blade: Merkur Super

Ingredients: Potassium Tallowate, Stearic Acid, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Parfum, Paraffinum Liquidium, Cl 77891, Tetrasodium EDTA, Etidronic Acid, Disodium Distrylbiphenyl Disulfonate, Amyl Cinnamal, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool.