Shave Sticks

[JamesBlades]

Anyone know if I can melt the VDH luxury or will I have to shave it down?

Yes, you can melt it. I've melted a puck of the VdH Luxury into an empty TOBS cream container for travel use.

Put it in the microwave for 5 seconds, then shake it around a little bit, then nuke it for another 5 seconds and let it cool. That should be all you need

 

[JamesBlades]

Anyone have any experience with the newer Williams shave stick?
View attachment 379517 View attachment 379518 View attachment 379519

No. Where did you find that?

 

[DaveNJ74]

Just from looking online. Seems its only available in England and South Africa. Tying to find where to buy it online. Not having any luck.

 

[normdugas]

Almost forgot to post these pics of the Erasmic I have. This in response to i8ntskeered from last Thursday. I am not that great with scents other than to me, it's not offensive. It smells clean. Once I start making room on my shave shelf, I'll take it, and some of the other unused/untried sticks, out for a drive to see how I like them.
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[mblakele]

Anyone know if I can melt the VDH luxury or will I have to shave it down?

Always safer to grate. Or I generally use the biscuit-cutter method described on the wiki: Creating_A_Shave_Stick.

 

[RDBhan]

Question: How do you store your Arko stick? Once it's unwrapped a bit (or completely), does it just sit in the drawer or on the counter? I know some people put it in a twist tube, but other than that?

 

[i8ntskeered]

I bought a bunch of plastic tubs from Big Lots for pucks and stick storage. They seal very well and store soaps like a champ.

 

[CalmAsHinduCows]

I've been wanting to try a shave stick for awhile now due to the ease and the minimalist feel of it, but I'm still severely smitten with my Cella and don't really want to try a different soap.

After reading some posts from this thread, I'm thinking of getting an empty, twist up shave stick and stuffing some Cella in there. Its a hard enough soap to work and I'm sure the results will be amazing.

 

[Jack Burton]

I've done a face lather by rubbing soap directly on my face for 3 days now and the results have been amazing. So much better than lathering in a bowl. I have a mug and bowl that aren't going to get much use now. I can't even see any other way of doing this. My beard is much softer using the stick method. I bought a $1.50 puck of VDH deluxe and a $1 deodorant from the dollar store. I pulled out the deodorant and used the container. I did two 10 second zaps in the microwave and poured it right in. Didn't us it today, but I'll try it out tomorrow. Rubbed my puck of VDH Luxury on my face today.

 

[Useless shaver]

Wonderful lather with LEA stick (lanolin + glycerin)....

 

[Elderbury]

Question: How do you store your Arko stick? Once it's unwrapped a bit (or completely), does it just sit in the drawer or on the counter? I know some people put it in a twist tube, but other than that?

I put mine in a twist tube, and it works just like my Ogallala Bay Rum Shave stick (in fact, it's the same exact twist tube). My first stick of Arko came in the mail yesterday, so this morning was my first day using it. I was a little curious about its smell, given that it is so contentious among some. I have to say, that i liked it more than I thought I would. To me, it smells like very strong Ivory soap, with just a little citronella added on top. I could do without the citronella, but overall not bad.

And it lathered very well. Very nice shave overall.

Cannot say that I like the scent as much as Speick or La Toja, but not bad at all. And considerably cheaper, if you buy it in a 12+3 pack on Amazon.

 

[StillShaving]

I've posted this before but some guys might not have seen it. This, I believe, is the oldest NOS Palmolive stick in captivity, around the turn of the century. At least I've never seen an earlier example.

The small tube is some strop dressing I bought at the same time.

Nice. Did the original contain both Palm & Olive oil, hence the name? I don't think the current version contains either.

 

[Eeyore]

I usually rotate between a DVH, Arko, and Palmolive Classic stick.

 

[Aschecte]

Wow it's been 10 days without a post here !!! what's going on did I miss something ? I don't use sticks all the time but when I do I love using Speick..... it just goes on easy, Lathers great and leaves your face feeling amazing. Paired with the matching AS and it was a awesome shave.

 

[Vlad]

I used DR Harris Almond...fantastic shave. This is where a high-end brush comes into its own.

All my future Harris soaps will be in stick form. I just can't load enough off these hard Harris pucks.

 

[RDBhan]

I used Arko today - rubbed it on to my face, then put a little KMF on my brush and made a superlather via face lathering. Very interesting effect. Slick lather, but it ran out of steam on passes 2 and 3. Got cut up a bit a that point. Was also day 5 of my Personna Blue, so that played a role as well.

 

[normdugas]

I used my La Toja stick yesterday. I skipped shaving this morning due to time constraints but will be shaving tonight instead. It will be with La Toja again. In fact, I'm giving my La Toja stick the 3017 treatment. Need to use up some opened product to make way for the new stuff. No space left on the shelf. INeed to make room for these: Palmolive, Erasmic, Arko, Tabac, and Irisch Moos sticks.

 

[i8ntskeered]

I was in a rush yesterday, so I couldn't shave in the morning. I did get a break in the afternoon to shower and shave. I have a pretty well stocked Dopp kit at work and I took full advantage of it.

ThePalmolive stick got the call, along with a Slim dialed to 7, and Layrite no. 9 bay rum A/S.


The Palmolive stick is just fantastic. Cheap, great scent, and so easy to get plenty of thick slick lather.

 

[Mick]

I've yet to come across a shave stick that did not perform well. I've not tried all of them but those that I have, seem to do the job admirably

 

[Luc]

I've yet to come across a shave stick that did not perform well. I've not tried all of them but those that I have, seem to do the job admirably

Erasmic was the only one that never worked for me.