Arko shaving soap stick

I have used my first stick for about a week. Overall, I would say this is a fantastic product. I cant say that it's the best soap, but I can see myself using it once a week.


I, like others, have put mine in to a little container. About 15-20 swirls and you're on your way to some nice, smooth, slick, lather. Some complain about smell, but I think it smells great. It's a clean flowery lemon smell. Like laundry detergent. I wouldn't shave with it before going out on a Friday night, but I love getting home after work and taking a shower and shaving with it. Upon opening it, you will immediately know if you like the scent or not. It's wrapped in a foil paper with a nice retro logo and design on the label.

The price is definitely right. You can buy a stick for about $5 online just to try it and see if you like it. I've decided to spend the $25 and get an entire case to save some money.

It performs well, smells clean, and is very low cost. At least give it a try, it definitely impressed me.

I recently bought two sticks from another member and, after grating the sticks, smashed them into an old 4 oz. Mama Bear's soap dish. The two sticks fit perfectly.

After that I decided to cobble together an ARKO label to cover the old label and this is what I came up with. The label is foil so I covered it with clear packing tape. Can't say that it's a great job but hopefully it will give someone an idea to do the same.

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With all of the recent hoopla going on lately about the Arko shave stick, I figured I'd take a leap and see what the fuss was about. Not like it costs a lot to take a leap to try this. This is damn cheap for a tallow soap, a couple of bucks tops for a lovely tallow experience.

Arko's price point is nowhere near indicative of its quality. Unwrap it, give it a nice pass over your face and then get your brush ready for the oncoming explosion of lather. Seriously, one nice pass rubbing it on your face and neck and a somewhat wet brush will give you enough lather for at least 3 passes. And the lather is slick and cushiony. I started to wonder whether I was actually cutting whiskers during my first pass.

I'm a fan of "soapy" (for lack of better phrasing) smelling soaps. I'm not a big fan of goofy scents so Arko wins points with me. The scent is strong but sweet for a soapy smell and can take some getting used to but the shave is worth the scent.

Arko doesn't moisturize my face as well as a soap like Cella, but it did a pretty good job.

If you are looking to try out a tallow soap and see how it's different from other soaps or creams, Arko is the lowest risk investment you can make and it is well worth it.

Arko, is utterly fantastic. The scent to me is rather nice, a strong clean scent. I have an extremely good sense of smell and I really enjoy this stuff, but I can see how it may overpower some...

The value is unbelievable! I bought a case from Amazon for $12, this should last me a very long time. Quality - The lather that is quickly and generously created from just a little bit of Arko is mindboggling. Its a rich thick lather that lasts for 3 or more passes. I have unbelievable shaves anytime I use Arko. I have a stick of Arko in my travel kit. Im thinking about leaving one at the office just in case I need to shave.

Arko, is one of my favorite soaps around.

Unbelievable lather with my boar brush and fantastic shaves. But as with most products that have Citronella, the urinal puck scent association is a bit overwhelming at first.

I get better shaves with Arko than Trumpers, DR Harris, Tabac, Mitchell's Wool Fat, Speick, VDH, Colonel Conk, Classic shaving, QED and Williams. The only two soaps that I think are superior to Arko are Valobra and AOS.

I can't believe the pictures on the first page that claim ARKO cannot create lather. In my experience, the only soaps that are equally as good as Arko in this regard are Tabac and Trumpers. Weird.

Decent everything.

I had a feeling a stick could be better for me, as it might soften my beard more. So I ordered an Arko stick to try. Had to experiment a little too see how much water it needed, but had a good lather quite soon. With a 7 am blade in my Flying Eagle travel razor, I had a great shave. It was better than when using Godrej cream. Comfortable, close and smooth. No irritation. The blade even went smooth over the chin to adams apple line, so Arko made 7 am into a great blade
Just ordered 12 more, as this one wil stay. The scent is ok for me, nothing special but not too strong.

PS Just found out that an Arko stick fits in the holder of a Vergulde Hand stick, so VGH is good for something ...
And yes: I am a shave stick man/addict now...

The Arko shaving stick gives a rich thick lather very fast and smells great.
You can't beat that for the price, and the packaging is very old-school, wich i like.

Got one as a PIF from Melyus ( as such I haven't rated price and I'm not sure if I can get locally here in Aus )

This stuff is just so easy to lather.

Used for the last week as a shave stick, have used my Vintage Vulfix Boar, Omega 21047 and TGN Finest as brushes.

No problems lathering whatsoever, it just explodes onto the face.

The smell, well when first opened I thought I'd fallen face first into an urinal overstocked with toilet candy

Now it's been open for about a week, it's got a nice and pleasant citrus smell.

Once I use up this one, I'll be looking for more as I've become a shave stick fanatic now

A cheap turkish soap with the scent of a detergent...You can shave with it, that's all

A fantastic soap indeed! Its a huge stick (75gr). I milled it into a container as I prefer pucks.

It lathers up in a rush and is very slick. Provides great cushion for the blade. The scent was really like detergent when I first opened it but today it was like more citrus started coming through. I am really starting to like the scent.

Its not great at moisturising but it doesn't dry out the skin either so its perfect. I don' rely on soaps to moisturise anyway. Its just a bonus that soaps like MWF and C&E sweet almond do so well.

Every wetshaver has to try the arko stick atleast once in their journey.

Simply brilliant soap. This and Irisch Moos are the best. Fantastic lather, slick and smooth.

I am glad that I received this product free with a purchase of derby blades, because if I would have paid for the product I would have been unsatisfied. The lather is in fact pretty good, but in my opinion the smell is terrible.

I first got my stick of ARKO from when I ordered my replacement package of Derby blades online. The vendor had included a free stick of Arko soap in the order as a complimentary item. Well it looked cheap and smelled cheap so I didn't think too much of it. I was pretty set on my routine with Taylor of Old Bond Street soaps to give any others much thought. Eventually though, I decided to unwrap the stick and give it a try.

Now some people have their own ways of using these stick soaps--mashing them up into cups, cutting off small pucks...etc...but I just decided to do it the quick and dirty way, wet the stick, wet the face and lather. Rubbing the stick on bare skin makes it look like it is the cheap soap that it is....there is hardly any visible resemblance of a lather being built up...and its easy to keep rubbing away. But man, once you bring out that brush does this soap lather!! That's really when I began to see what the fuss was about. The lather is thick and instantaneous, it also seems to have a slickness that allows my Merkur to glide effortlessly, even against week old stubble. The scent can be overpowering, but it is a clean yet neutral smell as others have described and allows the scent of your post shave balms to come through. The animal fat used in this is soap seems to rejuvenate your skin after each shave, but might be offensive to some people (vegans etc). And after learning just how much soap you need to lather up...one stick seems to last an eternity. I am on my third month now still on the first stick and its not even a quarter of the way used. The best part though is the price....simply unbeatable. Each stick can be had for about 3 dollars...I bought an entire case (5 sticks) for 10 dollars plus shipping from an auction site. Do yourself a favor and add Arko to your collection, you wont regret it.

Really great stuff, highly recommended product. I'm glad I gave this soap a try as I am more of a creme guy. Can't beat this price.

This soap deserves a B- in my books. There's nothing really to complain about, it's super cheap, has a decent scent if not bordering on soapy, lathers just fine and it's relatively easy to come by. But, there's nothing really to rave about either.

I used to carry it occasionally when I traveled because I was not worried about losing it, and the stick shape fit well into a leather bag I used to carry my gear in.

If it cost anymore it would probably get a worse grade, but for the price, it's hard to complain.

I just received this in the mail this morning and I was impressed enough on the first use to write up a review.

Concerned about the scent, the first thing I did was rip open the box and pulled one stick out to smell it. I must say that while I wouldn't go as far as calling it heavenly, IMO it was an OK scent. It was a little on the 'detergenty' side but wasn't overly overpowering or offending to me. I guess, I'm fine thinking about it as a barbershop scent and leaving it at that

I did shave with it today and was highly impressed with the performance. This soap lathers as well as anything else I have ever used. I got a rich lather which kept going for 3 passes without adding any more product to the brush. It keeps the skin adequately hydrated and protected.

I'm a fan of the packaging. It has a unique vintage feel to it that seems quite fitting for this soap.

I will state the obvious again.... The love/hate relationship associated with this soap has no bearing for myself. I love trying new and different things. This is truely a diamond in the rough. It gives mounds of thick rich lather. No matter what type of water your using, hard or soft, I still get a great rich lather. It is my opinion that the advantages are greater than the minus's. The only thing I can ding this soap on is the scent. I like the scent, but don't go hog wild over it. I like the clean scent you get, but it is slightly strong for me. Don't hesitate to try this very inexpensive soap. I have a hard time reaching for my glycerin soaps after being turned onto tallow.

I finally broke down and added an Arko stick to a recent order. After a number of years of shaving this way, I never tried Arko.

Price - Very inexpensive.

Quality - This is good, simple soap.

Scent - Pretty decent and pleasant but nothing to want in an EDT.

Lather - I used it as a shave stick. Lathers easily and quickly.

Efficacy - Nice, close shave. Not especially slick, but a good lather nonetheless.

Moisturizing - Not bad at all for a soap.

I like the charmy packaging of this soap. It is easy to use and a very effective soap. It is by no means a luxury product nor is it particularly easy to travel with in its packaging. You would have to squash the soap into a bowl, but then you lose the stick aspect of it. I will just leave this soap at home in the shave drawer and pull it out when I am looking for something like a Wiliams Mug Soap and Aqua Velva kinda day. And I think I will definitely keep this one on hand.