Stubble Daddy’s Shave Journal of Awesomeness and Honesty ...

Sorry about the allergies. The handle is beautiful.

Gonna take a shave break today so I can fully enjoy my Arko that is arriving tomorrow! Haha.

But I will share these 2 handles I just made.

The top one is figured Maple. The other is Black Locust.

Beautiful work, as usual, Paul!

Razor: Timeless 95
Brush: Thater 28mm
Soap: Arko stick
Aftershave: Trotter Handcrafts
Blade: Astra SP

Arko.... let’s do this. Ok, so I’ve been into this strangely addictive hobby since 2013. For over 7 years I see Arko threads all over the shave forums. It’s debated to death. Most seem to hate the scent, but every one seems to agree it lathers like a champ. And it’s dirt cheap... Like $1 a stick if you buy it in bulk.

Well, curiosity and quarantine madness got the better of me and I ordered 2 sticks of Arko for $4.67 shipped (thanks Amazon Prime).

So, it arrived today and I broke into it. I asked my Wife to smell it and her take was “dirty old Grandma”... and she wrinkled her nose (reaction was identical to Tabac). Then I asked my little Daughter to smell it, and she said “Lavender!” (which it how she describes every soap and aftershave I let her smell). Haha.

Ok, so my take is: I really like the way it smells! It’s Citronella all the way. Call me weird, but I dig the scent a lot. Made me want to pack up and go camping! Mosquitoes will fear me.

I rubbed an insane amount on my face and started to lather away with the big Thater. Yep, it instantly lathered up like a champ. However, here’s the let down for me.... it wasn’t a good, quality, thick, gooey lather. Lots of cushion, but nothing else. It was not slick at all and pretty darn drying.

Well, there you have it. My cheap thrills Arko adventure. I don’t think I need to use it again... but maybe someday I will just for the neat scent.

So what’s a better cheap stick? La Toja or Palmolive. Both are a tiny bit more money, but the lather quality is miles ahead of Arko.

Be well friends.

Great read and yep, that's where I am with it. Drying for sure but usually have a stick around if the itch or dare comes up to use it.

Razor: Wolfman WR2 1.25
Soap: Arko (grated)
Brush: Trotter Handcrafts
Aftershave: Trotter Handcrafts
Blade: Astra SP

I felt it was too soon to give up on my curious new friend "Arko". So rather than rubbing the stick on my face, I grated the entire stick into a nice container. Then, I decided to use a synthetic rather than badger brush. Let's just be honest, synthetics can really whip up the lather well... dare I say "better" than badger?

The experiment was a success and I achieved much better results. Man, I worked that lather until my arm hurt, but in the end, I would call it "very good". Should have snapped a pic of the lather, but was distracted by work zoom meetings and a few other things. It's still not very slick and fairly drying. On a side note, to my nose I'm getting a gourmand-ish scent note in there with the citronella ... like Mexican food (tamales, corn tortillas, etc). Haha.

The Wolfman + Astra combo delivered in spades. Slowwwwly starting to bond with the Wolfman more. I think its a very blade-specific razor. Astra might just be the one.

Oh, and I was able to source a higher, quality/more pure Aloe for my aftershave. I used it for the first time this morning. I think I may be at the point of calling the "base" good to go... its unscented (mostly), with the exception of a very light hint of aloe and rose (from the rose water). Next phase is to dabble into the wonderful world of natural essential oils and try not to burn any faces off... or maybe I should just keep it unscented. Hmmm....

Well if aftershave comes after soap and before cologne, isn't a scent unnecessary?

Just my 2€ worth.

Well if aftershave comes after soap and before cologne, isn't a scent unnecessary?

Just my 2€ worth.

Paul, I have had that EXACT same thought lately. And I'm kinda of the mindset that, even if you think you nail an awesome scent, 50% of your users will still probably hate it... then another 10% will have a reaction to the fragrance/essential oils.

I really want the focus to be post-shave feel / conditioning.

I agree with you on synthetic brushes. I no longer have any issues lathering, whereas Mystic Water Soap gave me a little bit of a headache when I first started, back when I had a badger brush from Amazon. Now, no problem!

Today’s Handcraft is an interesting piece of Black Locust: