Try thayers cucumber witch hazel, no alcohol and smells just like fresh cucumber. Arko smells like very cheap soap, not something I want to use while grooming when so many other options work just as well and smell MUCH better.
Arko Smell? Really?
- Thread starter SteveWY
- Start date
Try thayers cucumber witch hazel, no alcohol and smells just like fresh cucumber. Arko smells like very cheap soap, not something I want to use while grooming when so many other options work just as well and smell MUCH better.
I don't see why not. Cut and paste away!
I am not a finicky person, but man, my Arko is still untouched. When I first got it I was curious and opened it for a smell. Damn near brought tears to my eyes. The urinal cake description was dead on IMHO. I have left it open for months and it has calmed down to something I may finally use.
All I can guess is one of 3 things
Poor quality control between batches
The guys who actually like it are receiving old stock.
The guys who actually like it live next to a garbage dump or refinery and welcome any strong odor.
Anyway I am glad you are happy with yours. I am keeping mine around and will see what it smells like after I finish my new puck of Mystic Water (from the looks of the puck, 6 months). If I am still on the fence it's getting Piffed!
All I can guess is one of 3 things
Poor quality control between batches
The guys who actually like it are receiving old stock.
The guys who actually like it live next to a garbage dump or refinery and welcome any strong odor.
Anyway I am glad you are happy with yours. I am keeping mine around and will see what it smells like after I finish my new puck of Mystic Water (from the looks of the puck, 6 months). If I am still on the fence it's getting Piffed!
welcome to the arko club. wait until you lather it!!
Actually I tend to prefer unscented products. But a product that smells like Arko, basically like soap, I can tolerate.
As for Hazel, I have adapted to her oder just fine and I'm no longer grossed out by her. I add a couple drops of glycerin and that seems to help, too. But thanks for the suggestion. Several here have suggested Thayers and when I'd done with the CVS bottle, I will check it out. Which scent I have not decided. But you think the alcohol free is better, I take it.
Thanks to you all for adding more confusion to what was once a very simple process.
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Mine gave me a headache instantly, and my lady wouldn't let me even leave it in the bathroom because it made the whole room smell like a cheap car air freshener. To each his own.
Short and on point.
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Well done! I don't agree, but funny nonetheless.
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Arko smells like electric lemon PEZ to me. Pretty great stuff.
Funny thing is the ones I ordered from Bestshave.net smelled up my whole bathroom and part of the house for weeks. I used to put one in the toilet as an air refresher.
Since I found that a Turkish store here in the neighborhood sells them (1,50) I buy them there and those never smell this strong, you have to bring them close to the nose or lather them up to smell them so there seems to be a big difference between them.
The stronger smelling ones however seem to loose their strong scent after a couple of weeks when opened up and used as an air refresher.
I also grated one and mixed it with a tube of Old Spice shaving cream, after drying for a week (with a porcelain lid) it's among my best lathering/performing soaps I have, recommended!!!
Since I found that a Turkish store here in the neighborhood sells them (1,50) I buy them there and those never smell this strong, you have to bring them close to the nose or lather them up to smell them so there seems to be a big difference between them.
The stronger smelling ones however seem to loose their strong scent after a couple of weeks when opened up and used as an air refresher.
I also grated one and mixed it with a tube of Old Spice shaving cream, after drying for a week (with a porcelain lid) it's among my best lathering/performing soaps I have, recommended!!!
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4 sticks on the way from bestshave. Think I better go and get this before they land:
the reports of repugnant odour have been greatly exaggerated - some people just gotta be haters, you know?
I reckon that secretly, members of the Arko Haters Club have a stick or two of Arko stashed for private use.
I reckon that secretly, members of the Arko Haters Club have a stick or two of Arko stashed for private use.
The only entity you will be needing this for is the "VEG" heed every warning and multiply by infinity.
I'd eat Arko before I'd smell the "VEG" again !
I'd eat Arko before I'd smell the "VEG" again !
4 sticks on the way from bestshave. Think I better go and get this before they land:
View attachment 326727
- Thread starter
- #34
Well fellas, here is my report on Arko Shave #1... The deadly lemon-scented industrial cleaner odor did not materialize. I'm still getting a lemon soap smell. I'm realizing that I can't relate to the urinal puck and lemon Pez description because I just don't have olfactory memory of those. I can relate to lemon car air freshener though. Maybe a little much up my nostrils first thin g in the morning but it kind of wakes me up and is refreshing.
I used it in stick form, rubbing it on and face-lathering with my B&B Essential boar brush. I may have to play with loading as the lather was gone after 2 passes. The lather was slick and protective and my razor and blade glided and cut well. So far, Arko has met my expectations and performed like a good tallow soap similar to Tabac & MWF (which I was looking for). I think I'm in for Arko but only time will tell if I am a true disciple.
I used it in stick form, rubbing it on and face-lathering with my B&B Essential boar brush. I may have to play with loading as the lather was gone after 2 passes. The lather was slick and protective and my razor and blade glided and cut well. So far, Arko has met my expectations and performed like a good tallow soap similar to Tabac & MWF (which I was looking for). I think I'm in for Arko but only time will tell if I am a true disciple.
Not to steal your thread, Steve, but why start a new thread for the exact same subject. Today was also my first Arko shave and our experiences were very similar--particularly with the scent. Not overpowering and overall rather pleasant. Dissipated quickly afterwards too--which I like.
Like you I used the stick directly and face lathered. But I don't shave with my first lather. I use it to soften my face while I condition my hair, defog the shower mirror and--at least today--mixed the uberlather. There was plenty of Arko lather on the brush. (I wasn't sure how much Arko to use, so I used more product--and it worked!). And while the initial lathering was softening my beard, I added some Kiss My Face and a few drops of glycerin to my very warm shaving mug. I did a quick mix in the bowl (I'm not going to work that thing for several minutes, sorry.) Then I finished building the lather on my face again.
The resulting shave was absolutely fantastic. As good as almost anything I have used---almost. The only things that were better were very expensive.
Now for the negative. I hate the stick with no holder/container. Just don't like it. I know I can mash it into a bowl, but that defeats the purpose of the stick. So I think a stick holder/container is in my near future as I will be stocking Arko going forward.
Like you I used the stick directly and face lathered. But I don't shave with my first lather. I use it to soften my face while I condition my hair, defog the shower mirror and--at least today--mixed the uberlather. There was plenty of Arko lather on the brush. (I wasn't sure how much Arko to use, so I used more product--and it worked!). And while the initial lathering was softening my beard, I added some Kiss My Face and a few drops of glycerin to my very warm shaving mug. I did a quick mix in the bowl (I'm not going to work that thing for several minutes, sorry.) Then I finished building the lather on my face again.
The resulting shave was absolutely fantastic. As good as almost anything I have used---almost. The only things that were better were very expensive.
Now for the negative. I hate the stick with no holder/container. Just don't like it. I know I can mash it into a bowl, but that defeats the purpose of the stick. So I think a stick holder/container is in my near future as I will be stocking Arko going forward.
Just load more. I can 3 pass with arko and have plenty left over (Face lathering w/ Semogue 620).
@The Dean, check out one of the traveling twist-up tubes from WCS. I've heard a lot of guys have had success with those. Arko is soft enough, that it can just be pressed onto the shaft.
@The Dean, check out one of the traveling twist-up tubes from WCS. I've heard a lot of guys have had success with those. Arko is soft enough, that it can just be pressed onto the shaft.
I was pleasantly surprised when I sniffed my first stick of Arko. I was expecting something overpowering and awful, but that wasn't the case at all. It's not my favorite scent, but I like it just fine. However, I'm the opposite of most everyone else. The performance of that little stick just isn't there for me. I can't seem to get a good shave with it, or any other stick for that matter. I may be the only person in the world that likes the smell of Arko but not the performance.
So, amongst the multitude of threads about the stench of arko, I see this over and over again, and I often ask the same thing over and over again, and get no replies... My grandmother used ivory soap almost exclusively while I was growing up, and I recall the smell of it pretty decently, as being just sort of.. soap. As for arko, whether you like it or hate it, everyone agrees, it is lemon scented to some degree or another. I don't recall ivory soap as ever having *any* lemon in it... so, either my memory is off from my childhood, they've changed the ivory formula since then, or members comparing the two don't actually know what ivory smells like...
- Thread starter
- #40
Are you saying we should or shouldn't start a new thread about "My Fist Shave With Arko? Or did I take the thread in a new direction? Either way, feel free to open a new thread about first impressions, etc. I would participate and subscribe to that!
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