Closest shaves with shave sticks, hands down!

I always seem to get my closest shaves using a shave stick (Arko, Palmolive, Tabac etc) when I have applied the soap directly to my face. Here's my theory: I have quite coarse whiskers, I think that the combination of applying the soap directly and working the lather on my face with the brush preps my facial hair much better than just applying soap and brush alone. I guess the initial covering with the stick means more soap sticks to the whiskers and so raises them up better.

Has anybody else had similar results or noticed a difference when using sticks in this manner?

Congratulations on your discovery. Arko is my go to daily soap.

I also get very close shaves with Arko but it gunks up my razor a little bit. Small price to pay for a great shave I suppose.

Yes agreed! I am using shaving sticks all the time and they give me the closest shaves...at the moment I am rotating Tabac, La Toja, LEA,BEA,Palmolive and Arko.

I slice the sticks and use like pucks.

I agree. I don't think shave sticks get enough love, though. They are handy, economical and easy to use. I have Arko, Palmolive, Erasmic, Speick, and Tabac in my cabinet (not to mention about a dozen soaps). Have a great 4th.

The one stick I tried to use seemed dry and fell apart as I was applying to my face. Not a good experience but I guess I will have to try again.

I will have to try this when I get around to buying sticks of Arko. Thanks for the tip!

I think you're on to something. I used an Arko stick recently and was pleasantly surprised at how close the shave was. The soap tends to be thick when you shave it off, which meant that I had to clean off my razor a bit more than I normally do during the shave, but that's not a big deal.

bleyda2 said:

I also get very close shaves with Arko but it gunks up my razor a little bit. Small price to pay for a great shave I suppose.

Click to expand...

If it gunks your razor you are not using enough water. That was my complaint when I first tried shave sticks.

Bud Green said:

Same here. I tried applying to my face, but I have wimpy skin and get brush burn from too much brush action.

Click to expand...

This was my biggest problem when I first tried. Most brushes I tried were not soft enough. But once I figured out exactly what I needed -- super soft tips, lots of backbone -- I never looked back. No more brush burn.

ackvil said:

If it gunks your razor you are not using enough water. That was my complaint when I first tried shave sticks.

Click to expand...

Yep.

I used a Speick stick for the first time today. Very nice stick.

I think they just fool you into using enough product, crayonning your whole beard. The traditional application is to the chin area alone (any shape of hard soap).

p38thadl said:

I think they just fool you into using enough product, crayonning your whole beard. The traditional application is to the chin area alone (any shape of hard soap).

Click to expand...

How traditional, exactly? I can dig up a fairly old Colgate ad that recommends ear-to-ear application of their stick. In my experience with a NOS Colgate stick, that was too little for three passes with my usual size of brush. But it might have been fine with a more traditional (smaller) brush and a more traditional 1-2 pass shave.

As it is I get about 100 shaves from a stick of Arko. That works out to less than a gram per shave, with enough lather for 4-5 passes should I want them. Over a larger sample of sticks I tend to use 1/2 to 3/4 g per shave, much less than what I see over in the 3017 thread.

Shave sticks also encourage face-lathering, which tends to trick us into spending more time on prep, resulting in better shaves. I should get fooled like this more often.

EDIT: Here is the Colgate ad I had in mind, from a 1920 campaign. This example appeared in Outing magazine. Sorry about the size, but clicking on the image should take you to google books where you can zoom in on the details. Instructions for using the stick: "After wetting the face pass the stick over the cheeks from ear to ear and back again, then under the chin; once across the upper lip. This gives soap enough for any but the heaviest beard." That is a bit less than what I do, but perhaps my beard is "the heaviest".

The text at the bottom is also fun: "Lather with Colgate's — then shave with comfort. We make Shaving Stick, Powder, and Cream. Consequently we can give you this impartial advice. The most economical form of shaving soap is the Stick."

I can't remember exactly where I picked that fact up... Some article about those old straight razor mugs, with their tiny soap compartments. Maybe the old narrow brushes had something to do with it also; chin splays the brush.

I love shave sticks and have a bunch. I learned a lot about lathering with shave sticks and of course how to shave.

Great that it works for you. That has not been my experience however. I do like shaving sticks, and use them on occasion - i have a few, like Arko, Speick and La Toja. All great shaving sticks. I do find however i still prefer a soap in a its normal 'puck' state, for me to load the brush on. In fact even though i own an Arko shaving stick, i bought the puck/tub version a few weeks back.

I DO however face lather, and i find that gives me what you're saying... a great close shave. Its great as the face lathering action really works up an amazing lather directly on my face.

You probably just get a lot more soap into the mix that way...

I agree, but I definitely think it helps to load more soap directly onto the whiskers, making them firmer and more upright.

I really don't know the reason, but I get closer shaves (and smoother) with a shave stick.