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Say hello to those Shave Sticks (All Turkish shave sticks reviewed)

I wrap a piece of aluminum foil around the bottom half of my GZD stick, flattening the foil on the bottom so that stick will stand on end. Not too elegant, but it works!
I like GZD, but still prefer the scent of Arko.

Doh! How come I can't think of the simple solutions!
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
I finished the Arko Shaving Stick week. I attached a few pictures of this morning lather. I didn't take much lather out of the brush as I needed some for the shave.

Overall impressions: The stick is more thirsty than what I'm used to (Palmolive Oz, Vintage Palmolive Fiji, Vintage Palmolive Oz, La Toja, Wilkinson Sword). However, once you get that water ratio right, no issues! The scent is a light citrus but not pulling toward citronella like Williams shave soap. It's so light that by the 3rd pass, it's barely there... It took me 3 shaves before I started to get the perfect lather which is good in my books. The first 3 shaves were all right but nothing impressive. With proper lather, it does make a bit difference.

I used the wrapper to protect the stick. I prefer doing this for sticks that have a wrapper. Using a sharp knife, I cut around the stick to un-protect the product. In the end, cutting it looks cleaner than ripping the paper.
$Arko Shave Stick 1.JPG

Here's a picture of this morning lather, it's thick and I have a few bubbles but not much
$Arko Shave Stick 2.JPG

Finally, the stick and lather on the shave brush post-face lathering.
$Arko Shave Stick 3.JPG

Now, would I buy this product again? Yes, it's cheap, easily available (easier to get than Palmolive euro or even Wilkinson Sword shave stick).

I will review the product eventually in the review section but I need to use it more. I need to use at least 3/4 of the stick.

So, from what I see above, Camelot is next?
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
I opened the Camelot this morning. I make sure that my hands are dry and I only wet the tip of the shave stick. I won't be transferring it to a container or wrap it yet, I will use the shave stick as it was sent from the manufacturer. This morning, I would say it worked well.

The scent is a slight green scent, it's very mild. First impressions, well, it lathers all right but I never get the best lather on day one so stay tune for the results on Saturday.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Really appreciating your write-ups on these, Luc. Arko is the only one I've used so far.

No worries, got to say that it was better than I thought using the stick without any foil... If I compare with Arko day 1, the lather was ok, not the best, not the worse. If I can get an equally good lather, that would be great!
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
This is where it's getting interesting... I now have 2 shave sticks to compare... The Arko versus the Camelot. I will list the pros and cons of the Camelot shave stick and then, rank it versus Arko.

First the pros:

  • Lather at least 1 notch above Arko
  • Very slick

The cons now:

  • No wrapper around the stick. I know, I could improvise a wrapper or transfer it to a container but the point is, Arko doesn't need that attention or any stick that comes with a wrapper/holder. I have to manipulate the stick directly with my fingers which is less than ideal. The only solution that I found was to wet the tip of the shave stick only and try to keep the wet tip down so water stays there while applying the product. If there's any shave stick makers reading this, please think about it.
  • The soap is very soft. And I mean S-O-F-T (You can see my fingers digging in the soap)! If you think that Arko is soft, well, go 50% that. My fingers are marking holes in the shave stick while I spread the product to face lather. Some would say it's good as the product will spread better. That's right but you got to be careful not to destroy the stick either. I also end up with a bit of the soap on my fingers making them slippery.

The scent is somehow green and a bit neutral. It's a very mild scent... Like Arko, nothing offensive but it's possible that you won't like the scent. I don't mind it as I cannot smell it anymore on the 3rd pass... I've been thinking about what it reminds me since I used a product with a similar scent. It was stronger and probably not the exact same but then, I finally remembered. Musgo real shave cream. Again, I'm not saying it's the exact same but the tube of Musgo that I had versus this shave stick is similar. Musgo had a much stronger scent where this one is weak but there.

From here, well, I would say that if Camelot would consider putting the stick in a wrapper it would be *miles* ahead of Arko. The non-existent wrapper is the major let down here. The price and ingredients are similar, which place them in the same league...

Current ranking:
  1. Camelot Stick
  2. Arko Stick

The shave stick with my finger marks...
$Camelot shave stick 1.JPG

The lather, it looks bubbly but it works very well. Very slick. I got better lather this week compared to this morning...
$Camelot shave stick 2.JPG

The stick and brush
$Camelot shave stick 3.JPG

Next, the Derby stick!
 

rockviper

I got moves like Jagger
Wow, miles above Arko :scared:
In about 5 years when I get through most of my current stockpile of soaps, I might have to try this out. If Arko ends up up the bottom of your list after trying the other two sticks, either there are some excellent products waiting for me or our tastes in soaps just differ :tongue_sm
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
As always, those are my first impressions on the Derby shave stick and I will post again on Saturday with a conclusion on how I did for the week...

This morning, I was very optimistic with that shave stick. It has a straight razor pictured on it! I mean, how wrong can it go? :ohmy:

Everything was fine.

The stick has a strong lemon scent (zest mainly) compared to Arko and Camelot. Arko is fairly mind, this one is a few notches stronger. It's nice, I enjoyed the scent, it wasn't very artificial, it was pulling toward a natural scent (that's good). Now that shave stick is hard. It's like I got two very extremes, last week, Camelot was ultra soft where this one is pretty hard, harder than Arko.

The lather explosion was what I expected (still looking at the picture on the label). I got that lather. I have to say, this one gave me more lather than the other two. First lather luck? We will see at the end of the week!

Oh yes, forgetting one point... The packaging, love that the stick has a wrapper. I used a sharp knife, cut the tip of the wrapper (like Arko) and voilà! Great to have it to protect my fingers and the shave stick!
 
Good info, Luc. It sounds like the Camelot is made for the way Turkish barbers use Arko: press it into a bowl and treat it like a puck. But unlike Arko and Derby they left the wrapper off, which makes it less suitable for stick users.

I wonder how much of the Camelot lather was due to "use more product"? I am thinking that the softer soap will mean more soap loaded. How would you place it against Palmolive EU?
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Good info, Luc. It sounds like the Camelot is made for the way Turkish barbers use Arko: press it into a bowl and treat it like a puck. But unlike Arko and Derby they left the wrapper off, which makes it less suitable for stick users.

I wonder how much of the Camelot lather was due to "use more product"? I am thinking that the softer soap will mean more soap loaded. How would you place it against Palmolive EU?

Well, since I face lather with the soap, a softer soap will probably leave more product in my beard compared to a hard soap. The Camelot worked pretty well IMO.

As for where to the Palmolive Euro, well, I would say between Arko and Camelot if I had to guess it.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
This will probably be much more interesting when I get to stick #5... However, 3 out of 5 so far, it's a good start.

The Derby shave stick is a very hard shave soap. Specially compared to the previous soap that I tried, Camelot Classic. If I come back to my original point of comparison, Arko, the Derby soap is still harder.
$Derby Shave Stick 1.JPG

A little list of pro and cons...

Pros
  • Great packaging
  • Very good slick lather. I got that explosion of lather like the picture on the package.
$Derby Shave Stick 2.JPG

Cons
  • Very hard soap. I know, in my last review I mentioned that Camelot was too soft. Now, I got the other extreme. It's so hard that water doesn't seem to soften the soap. I need to wet the tip of the shave stick 4-5 times while I spread the product. If this soap would be a tiny bit softer, that would be awesome.

The scent of the stick reminds me of lemon zest. It's stronger than Arko (scent-wise) even if I don't find that Arko has the same scent. I would say that the strength is regular meaning, it's not too mild or too strong.

I got to say that so far, the shave sticks in this experiment were pretty awesome. I hope the last two won't be as good to make my task easier...

Current ranking:
  • Camelot Stick
  • Arko Stick
  • Derby Stick

I placed Derby third only because the soap is so hard as the lather is pretty much the same than Arko. Look at the picture on the stick versus my brush, now that's not false advertisement!
$Derby Shave Stick 3.JPG

Next GZD Berber... In the interim, you could consult this thread: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/280628-GZD-Berber
 
Last edited:
With regard to the Camelot stick, when mine arrives it will go straight into a twist-up shave stick container like this one http://mamabearssoaps.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=222. I use the same container for Klar Kabinette, a soap well known for its softness, so Camelot will work much the same. These containers work GREAT and are the perfect size for a shave stick. If you dislike the whole foil thing, or have a soap or stick you just want to grate and put into a stick, you can't go wrong here.

Sadly, my Camelot stick seems to be taking its sweet time getting here. Nothing to do but wait.
 
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