My first dance with Arko

[Gryffindor]

What is this sorcery?

This soap is, quite simply, excellent! I went the route of leaving it in stick form and face lathering. I could stand to use a stiffer brush next time, but it still did awesome.

I’m trying to place the scent. The SO thinks that it smells like candy. I think it smells somewhat like lime. I paired it with Stirling’s post shave balm in Lime as a result. I like the mix.

Super happy that I decided to try it!

 

[fast shaver]

Arko is good shave soap & is in my soap rotation.

 

[Slipknot]

It’s a classic for a reason

 

[ajkel64]

It is a great soap and I need to buy more.

 

[BigJ]

What is this sorcery?

This soap is, quite simply, excellent! I went the route of leaving it in stick form and face lathering. I could stand to use a stiffer brush next time, but it still did awesome.

I’m trying to place the scent. The SO thinks that it smells like candy. I think it smells somewhat like lime. I paired it with Stirling’s post shave balm in Lime as a result. I like the mix.

Super happy that I decided to try it!

Good man!! Arko performs! Period...

 

[bluewing]

What is this sorcery?

This soap is, quite simply, excellent! I went the route of leaving it in stick form and face lathering. I could stand to use a stiffer brush next time, but it still did awesome.

I’m trying to place the scent. The SO thinks that it smells like candy. I think it smells somewhat like lime. I paired it with Stirling’s post shave balm in Lime as a result. I like the mix.

Super happy that I decided to try it!

Hi,

Yep, Arko is good stuff! A stick was one of my first soaps I used. It couldn't be beat for ease of building lather with hard water. The scent can quite polarizing, some of us like it, enjoying the stiff and clean citrus smell. And some of us liken it to urinal cakes. But few complain about the lather.

I've had to kind of drop it from regular rotation because I'm finding citrus scented soaps are causing me facial irritation. I can use it on occasion, but even a couple days in a row is bothersome. And I haven't replaced the last stick.

I do miss Arko.

 

[Tallships]

Great soap, it's one of 3 in my rotation

 

[MaDsHaVeR]

When I finish up the soaps i have now (5+years worth) I will grab some.

 

[les24preludes]

It’s a classic for a reason

Yes, because it's cheap and does the job........ nothing more. It smells just a bit better than Tabac and Cella but that's not saying very much. All these cheapie soaps made their reputation before much better artisan soaps started to get popular, and at least for me they should all be buried in the ground and forgotten.

 

[Boar Fighter]

What is this sorcery?

That would probably be the tallow base. It's easy to make tallow work. There is a reason why they say "grease the wheels".

I’m trying to place the scent. The SO thinks that it smells like candy. I think it smells somewhat like lime. I paired it with Stirling’s post shave balm in Lime as a result. I like the mix.

Super happy that I decided to try it!

Candy? That's the scent of the most famous laundry soap in Europe. Marseille's soap. Go to google images and put "savon de Marseille". That's what the scent is.These were the traditional laundry soaps, used in Europe before washing machines were around and housewives had to wash by hand. They were big soaps either in big cubes or bricks, so that you could grab one and pass it over clothes, without ruining your fingers, which would be the case using a thin soap.

Welcome to one of the most famous scents of the "Old World".

 

[gsurko]

Yes, because it's cheap and does the job........ nothing more. It smells just a bit better than Tabac and Cella but that's not saying very much. All these cheapie soaps made their reputation before much better artisan soaps started to get popular, and at least for me they should all be buried in the ground and forgotten.

Somebody always has to say something derogatory about Arko no matter what. Why can’t people just not buy it if they don’t like it?

 

[dmshaver]

Great writeup, I enjoyed reading it. Thank you!

 

[ShavingPanda]

I used Arko for the first time today. I received some from a very generous PIF. I was very happy with it, I like the scent (citrus, Cella, something else mixture?). The stick was easy to use and the lather was nice and slick. Looking forward to some more uses!

 

[les24preludes]

Somebody always has to say something derogatory about Arko no matter what. Why can’t people just not buy it if they don’t like it?

It's not that simple. What happens is that beginners in wet shaving read threads like this saying Arko, Cella, Proraso and Tabac are "perfect beginners soaps". I fell into that trap and ordered all four. I disliked all four and when I realised how hugely better all the artisan soaps were I ended up having to sell all four for a loss. So the downright lie that these are "perfect beginners soaps" cost me money. Someone has to put the other side of it on threads like this to inform beginners that there are so many better soaps out there, and that they should start shaving with something like SV, Grooming Dept, Eufros, or even something as simple as Mitchell's Wool Fat. That way beginners will develop a taste for the better artisans we are lucky to have in our hobby these days.

 

[Gryffindor]

It's not that simple. What happens is that beginners in wet shaving read threads like this saying Arko, Cella, Proraso and Tabac are "perfect beginners soaps". I fell into that trap and ordered all four. I disliked all four and when I realised how hugely better all the artisan soaps were I ended up having to sell all four for a loss. So the downright lie that these are "perfect beginners soaps" cost me money. Someone has to put the other side of it on threads like this to inform beginners that there are so many better soaps out there, and that they should start shaving with something like SV, Grooming Dept, Eufros, or even something as simple as Mitchell's Wool Fat. That way beginners will develop a taste for the better artisans we are lucky to have in our hobby these days.

To be fair, I’m a new shaver. I had no issues with the Arko. I also started with Stirling and Barrister and Mann. I find them all to be suitable for getting a good shave.

Just because you dislike the soap doesn’t mean that it’s not suitable for a new shaver.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cleanshaved]

Guys we are talking about a shaving soap here.
Remember that in the end, it's not solving world hunger. It's just shaving!

 

[global_dev]

y should start shaving with something like SV, Grooming Dept, Eufros, or even something as simple as Mitchell's Wool Fat.

I would be hard pressed to suggest those to a beginner. More difficult to purchase, priced at the higher end, scent profiles all over the place and MWF is super easy to get
lathering just as soon as you get all the planets align.

 

[les24preludes]

I would be hard pressed to suggest those to a beginner. More difficult to purchase, priced at the higher end, scent profiles all over the place and MWF is super easy to get
lathering just as soon as you get all the planets align.

There's no doubt that you pay a bit more for quality artisan soaps. But you can get around this by buying used soaps off the BST, which is what I did. Like a lot of us on these forums I accumulated around 25 soaps that way from SV, Eufros, Grooming Dept etc. Real top tier soaps. I'm not sure what you mean by "scent profiles all over the place" - scents are my number one priority and define the soaps I keep and the soaps I sell on. MWF was just an example of a good scent that a lot of shavers like, but there are plenty of other forum favourites like Pre de Provence, SV Dolomiti, WK King of Oud, T&H 1805 that give you a good idea of what a top soap is like.

Coming back to Arko I do in fact still have a pot of it though it isn't in my rotation. I preferred it to Tabac, Cella and Proraso which got sold on immediately.

 

[tipster_621]

So the downright lie that these are "perfect beginners soaps" cost me money

I'm not trying to start an argument, but I think "lie" is a bit harsh. Everything about wet shaving is so subjective - what works well for one won't necessarily work for someone else. Starting out, it's all trial and error, and sometimes you just have to try things to find out you don't like them... Me personally, yes, I like the artisan soaps, but I think that for the price, soaps like Williams Mug Soap and Arko work better for me. After I splash on some after shave, I can't tell what soap I used anyway.

To each their own...

 

[global_dev]

By scent profile all over the place i mean the vast number of scent releases that come and go and the loquacious narratives that accompany them. Do real beginners really drop $100s on artisan soaps now to figure out if they like the heart or topnotes of their soap? Or is an inexpensive proraso, arko, tabac, etc the gateway...

i like all the soaps, i just think hindsight is 20/20 and baby steps get folks into the abyss. none of it was an outright lie though