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ARKO Berber Tıraş Sabunu (Barber Shaving Soap) - 90gr bowl / Comparison with (old) TABAC

Hello all,

I purchased this soap as a potential future replacement for TABAC, and have been very successful and happy with it in the few shaves that I managed so far!

First of all, to the best of my knowledge, the ingredients of the soap in the bowl are not the same as the ones of the soap in the stick. I am posting here the ingredients that I found online for the stick, and the ones that I see on the bowl (and can confirm), and highlight some differences in bold font.

Stick:
Potassium Tallowate, Stearic Acid, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Parfum, Paraffinnum Liquidum, CI 77891, Tetrasodium EDTA, Etidronic Acid, Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulfonate, Amyl Cinnamal, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool.

Bowl:
Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Aqua, Glycerin, Potassium Cocoate, Parfum, Paraffinum Liquidum, Tetrasodium EDTA, Cl 77891, Etidronic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulfonate, Linalool, Limonene, Citronellol, Geraniol.

Anyway, I am not a chemist, so I do not know if there would be any perceivable differences (I see for example that potassium stearate is the potassium salt of stearic acid).

I found ARKO to lather best after letting it bloom a bit, because otherwise it may be hard to get the lather to soak up enough water and it will feel pasty. Here is an example of my lather.
arkolather.jpg

Also, it was hard to get the soap to lather in its own bowl, because it is not placed firmly and keeps rotating when trying to load the brush. So I squished it into my own wooden bowl and now it sits super tight.
arkosoap.jpg

To the best of my experience, the ARKO soap feels more tallow-heavy than TABAC. I can feel the glide due to the tallow between passes, and it gives me an excellent post-shave sensation, my skin feels like glass to the touch. Protection-wise, I would rate the two soaps roughly the same, in fact, ARKO might be just a tad better because of the tallow slickness. ARKO also explodes with lather a bit easier (when done correctly, see blooming remark above); TABAC is already super easy to lather with, but ARKO is simply ridiculous in that aspect, I need to pay attention not to overdo it. However, one aspect where I give TABAC the upper hand is that it feels milder and more comfortable on my face during the shave. ARKO gives me a slight burning sensation towards the end of the shave, that does not translate to any irritation fortunately, but may certainly give the impression of doing so. Perhaps there is too much salt in it or something like that. The ARKO scent is a bit overwhelming in the first uses, but it did not bother me and recently I have even grown to like it! I like the TABAC scent better though!

I do not know how long it will last, probably less than TABAC, but it is cheaper too, so it is hard to tell which is better value.

Overall, I think that this is a very good soap to have! I see that I can buy a 12-pack for 24 euros, which is more than 1kg of soap :p and I will probably go for it.
 
I got an Arko a few months ago but haven't had the courage to use it yet.I've been airing it for a few weeks hoping the scent dies down a bit.(The bedroon smells nice)I've heard it's really good just wish they did another scent or a unscented version.Glad it's working for you it's certainly great value if you don't mind the smell of it.Love Tabac though one of my favorite soaps.Happy shaves.
 
I prefer the puck over the stick because it fits into an Old Spice mug without any fiddling that you have with the stick. Honestly I never felt a difference in the lather or scent. For me it’s just the luxury (packaging) of Arko compared to the bread and butter Barber sticks.
 
Bought this a week ago from Amazon. Almost no scent, just a slight whiff of lemon. But it looks like the tub is 4 years old! That would explain the lack of scent, which happens to be a plus in my opiniion. Performance seems about the same as the stick but it may be a little firmer. Like the OP, I find Arko to be a harsher soap than most others. Lathering with a puck is easier on my face than a stick is, which is why I wanted to try this. It does lather like a son-of-a-gun.

Click to enlarge
IMG_20211104_183208390.jpg
 
Would you be so kind and post a picture of the manufacturing date printed on the bowl?

Thank you.
Yep!
arkodate.jpgarkobottom.jpg

Seems like I got one from the same stock as @Mempho did.

I would say that the scent of the soap in the bowl is more like lemon peel.

Btw, when I bloom the soap, I cover it with half a finger or so of hot water, and then (after about 10 minutes) I can use that water as an excellent pre-shave, it is like a splash of slickness.

Yesterday I also found a picture of the ingredients on the stick, so yes they are indeed a bit different and confirm my initial post. I think that the stick might be a bit softer, because I see stearic acid listed in the majority of shaving creams, but not hard soaps.
arkostick.jpg
 
The sodium palm kernelate used in the Arko tub formula is derived from palm oil which is primarily harvested from palm trees that grow in rainforests which are often bulldozed or burned to make room for more palm oil plantations. They probably don’t care about that in some territories but perhaps we should be more responsible?
 
My Arko stick is new (bought in Turkey 2 months ago). It has the same ingredients of my Arko puck that is from 2016.

They are the same and to me smell the same.
Wow, that is interesting! Perhaps a change in the formula over the years, or different variations, who knows...

Btw, I see your stick comes from Evyap Germany GmbH, but the soap from Evyap Sabun Yag Gliserin A.S, Turkey, which is odd, I mean, do they make the stick in Germany and then they export it to Turkey? Or, perhaps more likely, it was meant to be exported to Germany, but they also keep some stock to sell in Turkey?
 
Wow, that is interesting! Perhaps a change in the formula over the years, or different variations, who knows...

Btw, I see your stick comes from Evyap Germany GmbH, but the soap from Evyap Sabun Yag Gliserin A.S, Turkey, which is odd, I mean, do they make the stick in Germany and then they export it to Turkey? Or, perhaps more likely, it was meant to be exported to Germany, but they also keep some stock to sell in Turkey?
They don’t make the stick in Germany. It comes from Evyap Turkey. It’s written in Turkish first, then Arabic, then in German.

There is a large community of Turkish expats in Germany, I suppose it’s a big export market for Arko. As it must be the Middle East

I literally had to use a loupe to read, but it clearly says “Türkiye’de üretilmiştir”, ie, made in Turkey
 
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The sodium palm kernelate used in the Arko tub formula is derived from palm oil which is primarily harvested from palm trees that grow in rainforests which are often bulldozed or burned to make room for more palm oil plantations. They probably don’t care about that in some territories but perhaps we should be more responsible?
What would then be your suggestions for some organic?; vegan? and sustainable sourced shaving soaps for professional barbers and consumers?
 
Interesting indeed. The reason I asked about date of manufacture is because I remember a post years ago stating that the ARKO in a bowl was limited edition. According to that post, ARKO bowl was only made during 2015 or 2016 only and once the stock was exhausted, that was it.
And yet, we see bowls made in 2018.
 
Here in Turkey, Arko in a bowl became a difficult to find product. I learnt that Evyap produced them as a 100th year commemorative limited product.
According to EVYAP, it all started in a small atelier in Erzurum in 1927.
ARKO brand has been around since 1957.

So which 100 years are you talking about?
 
I haven't tried buying the bowl Arko but I don't mind shaving a stick and pressing it into one of my shave bowls. the processes is quick and easy. I don't care to stick lather but puck lathering Arko makes a fantastic lather and buying the Arko stick by the dozen is easy on the budget. Arko is is a main stay of my 3 soaps, Cella Vito's(kilos) and Arko. I will try the bowl though and compare.
 
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