Better Shave Without Rubbing The Soap on face?

[yabai]

I have been using an Arko stick for the last couple of months. I have been rubbing the stick directly on my face and face lathering. I picked up a puck of Deluxe VDH Soap and thought I'd try it. I wet my brush and swirled it on the puck to pick up soap and then lathered on my face. I seemed to have much less face irritation today. That lead me to think that rubbing that Arko stick directly on my face was causing some irritation. I'll have to do a few more experiments, but that seems to be the case.

Anybody have irritation when directly rubbing the Arko stick on your face?

 

[KodiakAttack]

Its possible that the irritation is coming from the brush, not the soap. What brush do you use? You may not be face lathering with VDH as much as Arko requires, is my point.

Then again, it could be something in Arko irritating you, no matter how its applied. I would try smushing Arko in a bowl and lathering it up in a bowl, then applying it to the face and see if there is any irritation.
Excessive face lathering can cause face irritation.

 

[yabai]

Yes that could certainly be possible. I have the Omega 643167 synthetic brush:

https://www.italianbarber.com/omega-643167-100-synthetic-badger-imitation-shaving-brush

I was actually very impressed with the VDH puck that I bought from Walmart. I think it cost around $1.60. I was not expecting it to work so well. Anyhow, I'll have to try smashing a bit of the Arko. I liked the simple application of the Arko...but if I can get better shaves by smashing it in a container and lathering in a bowl, I'll certainly do it!

 

[KodiakAttack]

VDH has a lot of lovers here on B&B, for its high performance and low price. Personally i havent tried it, perhaps ill go grab a puck this weekend.
You dont have to sacrifice the whole Arko stick to try the bowl lathering, just cut off a chunk and smush it. The stuff is amazingly versatile.

 

[yabai]

Yes the VDH is actually much better than expected! I saw it at Walmart, and after about the 10th time of seeing it in the shaving isle, I finally thought, what the heck!?

I have already gone through about half or more of the Arko stick. Today was the first time that I have used anything other than an Arko stick since I started wet shaving. So far, I have pretty much followed the advice of most on the forum and not switched things up much. So today was my first venture away form Arko.

I also have a stick of La Toja that I am excited to try. I am also really enjoying Lucido aftershave. My mother in law brought me some last week from Japan.

I see you are in So Cal - any great places to pick up shaving gear in the L.A. area? I am also in So Cal.

 

[sychodelix]

Arko does even better smashed in a bowl IMHO, so you can try that before you decide if it is irritating your face. I don't use Arko any other way any more.

 

[KodiakAttack]

Yes the VDH is actually much better than expected! I saw it at Walmart, and after about the 10th time of seeing it in the shaving isle, I finally thought, what the heck!?

I have already gone through about half or more of the Arko stick. Today was the first time that I have used anything other than an Arko stick since I started wet shaving. So far, I have pretty much followed the advice of most on the forum and not switched things up much. So today was my first venture away form Arko.

I also have a stick of La Toja that I am excited to try. I am also really enjoying Lucido aftershave. My mother in law brought me some last week from Japan.

I see you are in So Cal - any great places to pick up shaving gear in the L.A. area? I am also in So Cal.

Well, since you asked, I own a barbershop in Thousand Oaks, about 25 minutes north of Los Angeles. Everything listed on my website I carry in the shop, plus more. If you have any further questions you can contact me via PM. Bullgoose is also in the greater LA area I believe.

 

[yabai]

Thanks for the information. I am often up your way for work sometimes. Maybe I can stop in someday.

 

[Doubledgeislife]

Arko does even better smashed in a bowl IMHO, so you can try that before you decide if it is irritating your face. I don't use Arko any other way any more.

I totally agree! I went right to the bowl when I tried it out and the way it lathers is INSANE! Lots of people have suggested doing it and so I did, the result was mind blowing. Plus, I didn't want to rub it on my face and make a soggy, slippery mess of the wrapper. It was Win win win.

 

[DEGuy]

I, too, prefer bowl lathering ARKO. I place a stick of it in a bowl (lay the stick of the cylinder rests on its side), place the bowl under a desk lamp for about 20 minutes, remove the bowl/stick from the heat source, place wax paper over the stick, and use a ceramic coaster (the same kind of coaster one uses to place a glass on a table surface, and used a closed fist to mash the stick from a cylinder into a brick-like puck. It works great and one stick lasts for many shaves. You may have a bit of waste bowl lathering; but for me it's more comfortable and I always get a creamy and moisture-rich lather.

 

[Go West Young Man]

You probably just got more soap onto your face with the puck rather than the stick, giving you better lather and therefore a better shave.

 

[yabai]

Could be...I really work the soap into my face when applying with the stick...it seems like I use more soap when doing it this way! Time will certainly tell!

 

[Kevan]

Never been a fan of shave sticks myself. Rubbing the concentrated soap into my face always causes irritation.

 

[HarveySpecter]

I agree. There are a lot of guys that seem to like using shave sticks, but I personally just like to use the brush on the soap and then into a bowl to create lather. That being said, I love using Arko - just stored in a container, rather than in stick form.

 

[JDTTO]

Rubbing the soap on the face works best for me.

In fact, I squeezed the only puck I had into a stick and it worked instantly better.

 

[Lucidor]

I haven't tried ARKO yet (which is quite a heretical thing to say around its acolytes) but I had similar irritation when face-lathering Palmolive.

I got an unusual irritation all the time just below my upper lip, which I noticed had to do with unlathered soap that didn't cushion as well as the rest of the soap. It's much easier to get lather if you work it on the sides of your face and neck, so once I stopped rubbing all that soap there, it got better.

Also - I had some brush burn all over my neck, but it went away as soon as I started wetting the stick and brush more, not having to swirl experimentally for 4-5 minutes before I had a nice lather.

 

[musicman1951]

Are you soaking the tip of the stick for a minute or so in hot water before rubbing on your face?

 

[PugslyCat]

As others have said, try bowl lathering the Arko and see if that resolves the problem.

The next step would be to melt the VDH using short bursts in the microwave and pour the molten soap into an empty shaving stick holder or some other long round mold that would give you a shave stick shape. It doesn't have to be perfect for this test, so maybe just pick up the puck and rub it on your face like it was a shave stick. Empty shave stick holders are available online from several sources, but Mama Bear Soaps comes to mind right away.

If the problem follows the Arko soap, it may have an igredient your skin can't tolerate. I haven't tried Arko myself, but from what others have written that sounds like a big loss.

If the VDH applied in a shave stick manner produces the same problem that you are currently having with Arko applied as a shave stick, it's probably something with your technique of applying soap that way.

 

[gus1942]

I have been using an Arko stick for the last couple of months. I have been rubbing the stick directly on my face and face lathering. I picked up a puck of Deluxe VDH Soap and thought I'd try it. I wet my brush and swirled it on the puck to pick up soap and then lathered on my face. I seemed to have much less face irritation today. That lead me to think that rubbing that Arko stick directly on my face was causing some irritation. I'll have to do a few more experiments, but that seems to be the case.

Anybody have irritation when directly rubbing the Arko stick on your face?

No, I always apply stick directly to face to face lather.

 

[yabai]

Are you soaking the tip of the stick for a minute or so in hot water before rubbing on your face?

I am at least soaking it for 30 seconds or so - definitely not a minute. I will hav to play with this variable.