Very few products seems to polarise traditional wetshavers quite like the Arko shaving stick do; once you tried it you’ll either love it or loathe it.

What most people agree on though is that the tallow based stick works great – it’s easy to whip up a lovely lather weither you rub it on your face and face lather, or if you mash it into a bowl and use it for bowl lathering. Where opinions differs is on the scent – some say it smells fresh and citrusy, others think it smells like urinal cakes. And others again – like myself – leave it unwrapped for a while and get a pretty much unscented shaving stick…

Using the Arko as a stick is simplicity itself: I prep my face before I  rub the stick over my whiskers, and then I takes the damp / wet brush of the day and vigourously applies it to my face in a circular motion. The result is a nice creamy and rich lather that is worked into my beard – perfect for those days when I havn’t shaved in a while. There is always enough left on my brush for a second and third pass – and if it isn’t it’s easy to reapply and make more.

The Arko shaving stick provides a more than acceptable cushion and glide, at least on my skin. If you use it for face lathering it can be a little picky on the brush in my expereince; a brush with a decent amount of backbone is needed to work that lather into the whiskers properly. For bowl lathering every one of my brushes works wonders with the Arko, once they are loaded properly.

If you can stand the scent, the Arko shave stick will not disapoint – and it’s cheap at half the price.