What's new

Shave Sticks Review Project

Agreed @shave/brush, when you press it into a dish it's no longer a stick.

If all the sticks were the size of IM, I'd use them more. I find most of them to have a surface area so small and not as enjoyable as the wider IM.

I use Tabac which is a pretty wide stick. What is IM, Irish Moor?
 
I'm currently 3017'ing a stick of Arko pressed into an OS mug. Next will be a stick of Palmolive pressed in a soap tub. I'll be doing the same with Lea, La Toja, Speick, and Valobra sticks. I kind of like this method better. some days, it felt like the stick was going to rip the whiskers out, other days I couldn't seem to load soap, then there were the days where I would end up with too much soap. And to make it worse, I didn't change application technique. since adopting this 'use the stick as a puck' method, Arko and Palmolive have both been consistently great every shave.

What is this 3017ing?
 
When I have bits and pieces of soaps and shave sticks I grind them and mix them up and make a shave stick out of it. I recently finished up a great shave stick that consisted of MWF, LaToja, AoS (tallow formula), Valobra, and Speick. Rather than toy with odds and ends I blend them and make up a stick.
 
Agreed @shave/brush, when you press it into a dish it's no longer a stick.

If all the sticks were the size of IM, I'd use them more. I find most of them to have a surface area so small and not as enjoyable as the wider IM.

I put my Arko in a twist-up deodorant container. I know everybody loves the container sold by West Coast Shaving that's similar in size and shape to an Arko stick, but I like reusing old stuff and I prefer the shape and width of the deodorant container.

I don't go to any special effort for it like grating or melting (melting wouldn't work with Arko anyway). I just shove it in sideways, then shove remaining bits in and smoosh them down. A harder soap would require grating of course.

Sometimes I use a Williams puck like a stick. I use the broad surface, not an edge.
 
When I have bits and pieces of soaps and shave sticks I grind them and mix them up and make a shave stick out of it. I recently finished up a great shave stick that consisted of MWF, LaToja, AoS (tallow formula), Valobra, and Speick. Rather than toy with odds and ends I blend them and make up a stick.

That's a good idea. I'll have to keep that in mind.
 
I love sticks for traveling as they are easy to pack, but I will get a more consistent shave with a stick that has been transformed into a puck. Loading a brush from a puck and then face lathering is just easier for me. YMMV.
 
I love sticks for traveling as they are easy to pack, but I will get a more consistent shave with a stick that has been transformed into a puck. Loading a brush from a puck and then face lathering is just easier for me. YMMV.

Shave sticks are not for everyone. Some of us love them and some don't.
 
I love the lather and shave that sticks provide, but I prefer the act and tidiness of loading my brush on the puck. I use both to keep things interesting!
 
Speaking of mixing things up, you can make super lather by loading your brush on a puck soap, then you apply your shave stick to your stubble and then build super lather on your face using the loaded brush. I do this now and then using Cade and the Euro palmolive shave stick. IMO it improves the performance of both.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
I have to post the mandatory stick your old stick on a new stick post... Mike has the first post about it in this very thread here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/310894-Shave-Sticks-Review-Project?p=5044366#post5044366

I also tried it and posted the results here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/310894-Shave-Sticks-Review-Project?p=5055747#post5055747

It worked really well and the fact that I used a different stick (different colour), shows where I was at while using the stick.
 
Speaking of mixing things up, you can make super lather by loading your brush on a puck soap, then you apply your shave stick to your stubble and then build super lather on your face using the loaded brush. I do this now and then using Cade and the Euro palmolive shave stick. IMO it improves the performance of both.

...and you can put a little cream on the brush after loading, too, for a megasuperlather.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
The stick is a slow melter like Derby. It's an okay product so far, it works well but the lather is not spectacular IMO.
 

Attachments

  • $SANY7038 (800x596).jpg
    $SANY7038 (800x596).jpg
    326.8 KB · Views: 225

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
I have to report that for my last 2 shaves, I used a straight razor. It has been mediocre at best. I am starting to wonder if I lost touch with the straight razor or if the soap is not protective enough (or I am falling into the comfort of DE/SE razors where my lather could be just okay and get a great shave...). I have lined up the top stick (Wilkinson Sword) for tomorrow morning. I may have a shave with Tabac in 2 days also just to be sure.
 
I have to report that for my last 2 shaves, I used a straight razor. It has been mediocre at best. I am starting to wonder if I lost touch with the straight razor or if the soap is not protective enouth

Or maybe you just lost the "edge!" Pun intended. All kidding aside, I see what you mean, and when it happens to me it is also hard to put the finger on the exact reason.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Or maybe you just lost the "edge!" Pun intended. All kidding aside, I see what you mean, and when it happens to me it is also hard to put the finger on the exact reason.

Ah! I would be surprised as I re-honed the razor before I used it so it should be fine.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Good news, the shave was much better this morning. I still had a bit of irritation on the neck but it's been very raw in the last few days. I will see how I go for my next few shaves.

On a side note, I used the Tweex with a straight razor before when I was reviewing the Turkish shave sticks (see post 1 for the link). I do not recall that type of issue. It makes me wonder if I use less product with a DE/SE compared with a straight... I will go back to the Tweex tomorrow but load double the product (hey, that advice usually works well, time to test it).
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
And back to Tweex with a straight razor. Double product was better but still not great (so it makes sense with my DE/SE experiences so far).
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
The Tweex journey is almost over, I will post my comments and review next week. If someone wants to pick the next soap (see post 1) then first reply gets it.
 
Top Bottom