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Arko - What went wrong?

I was excited to get my new order of Arko sticks in the mail today; and took it for a test spin.

I was amazed at how quickly it lathered up; and the lather looked great. Only one problem - the lather had no 'substance' (can't think of a better word to describe i). It seemed to be all fluff. The razor just kind of skipped across my skin as if I was just shaving on my wet skin. Also, the slightest amount of water seemed to make the lather disappear.

So, for the Arko experts out there, what did I do wrong. Too much water? Not enough water? Did I over-lather it?

So far I have shaved mainly with various creams with great success (proraso and TOBS). Although I have a sample of MWF from Garry that I have used twice, and it worked great as well.

Thanks in advance for the advice...
 
It sounds to me like your brush was probably far too wet before lathering.
Face lathering with a stick is definitely more of a "damp brush" approach for me personally. In fact, I literally squeeze some of the water out of my brush, thinking it will always be easier to add water than to take it out.
 
Yep, you guys were right. I just whipped up a batch with significantly less water and it was perfect. The sad part was washing it drown the drain, though since I had already shaved...

Thanks again!
 
Yep, you guys were right. I just whipped up a batch with significantly less water and it was perfect. The sad part was washing it drown the drain, though since I had already shaved...

Thanks again!

Arko is fast becoming my favorite. I have a lot of different soaps but I keep coming back to Arko.

I just took my working stick apart and stuffed it into a twist up shave stick container. Now it will be a lot easier to take with me when I travel

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arko is great, i let mine go to a PIF for a lucky new shaver but once i figured it out i understood why everyone raves about it. glad you found out that you just needed more product and less water, i had the EXACT same experience with it.
 
It sounds to me like your brush was probably far too wet before lathering.
Face lathering with a stick is definitely more of a "damp brush" approach for me personally. In fact, I literally squeeze some of the water out of my brush, thinking it will always be easier to add water than to take it out.

+1. Darn good advice it is always easier to add water than take it away.
 
Arko is very inexpensive. Don't be afraid to use more product. I find that when my stubble is longer, it helps apply the soap to my face for lathering.
 
Arko is fast becoming my favorite. I have a lot of different soaps but I keep coming back to Arko.

I just took my working stick apart and stuffed it into a twist up shave stick container. Now it will be a lot easier to take with me when I travel

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Is that one of the containers from WCS? I just bought three of them for this purpose. Did you have to mill the Arko at all? I wasn't sure how to get it into the container since there is that rod in the center.
 
Is that one of the containers from WCS? I just bought three of them for this purpose. Did you have to mill the Arko at all? I wasn't sure how to get it into the container since there is that rod in the center.
Just driii or punch a hole in the Arko stick and it fits perfectly on the center post in the $1.75 WCS container
 
No offense, but it's not the arkos fault......don't be affraid to load the brush past the point you think it's loaded, get to that point and add another 10-15 seconds of loading. Start off overloading, the gradually learn how to reduce the amount, it's quite easy to figure out on this particular soap.
 
Just think of that old Andrea True disco song when you apply your Arko.... "More More More!"

 
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No offense, but it's not the arkos fault......don't be affraid to load the brush past the point you think it's loaded, get to that point and add another 10-15 seconds of loading. Start off overloading, the gradually learn how to reduce the amount, it's quite easy to figure out on this particular soap.

I had to start loading almost all soaps (hard soaps at least) "past the point I think it's loaded" since I'm impatient and it at least "looks" loaded fairly quickly sometimes. But it's much less messier and much easier to just load more. I may waste a bit of soap, but that's what B&B BST is for, hoarding enough soaps so that part doesn't matter.
 
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