ARKO August

I have decided that for this first week of ARKO August I'll shave with me English matching seven-day set.

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Monday, the SR opened, was used this morning.
 
After my 12 months of Arko!!!! use some kind soul (more in jest than any serious intent) sent me a couple of sticks of Derby. My opinion - it is a poor mans Ark0!!! - doesn't lather as well smell as nice or cause certain members of this forum to get as excited. Avoid - stick to the good stuff - There is only one ARKO!!!!
 
After my 12 months of Arko!!!! use some kind soul (more in jest than any serious intent) sent me a couple of sticks of Derby. My opinion - it is a poor mans Ark0!!! - doesn't lather as well smell as nice or cause certain members of this forum to get as excited. Avoid - stick to the good stuff - There is only one ARKO!!!!

Glad that it -
  1. gave you some variety
  2. provided a benchmark for other soaps
  3. validated your love of ARKO!
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Mission Accomplished!
 
Day 8 ARKO August

This morning I finished working my way through my English matching seven-day set. Each of my three-pass shaves was with my wonderfuly ARKO stick.

I am very experienced in shaving with this set and all SR's in this set shave equally well. My shaves improved each day. I can only put this down to me improving my lathering technique with ARKO. Prior to the start of ARKO August, I thought that I knew how to lather with ARKO. I have proven myself wrong.

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All SR's in this set have now been stropped on a 0.1μm diamond pasted hanging balsa strop, had their spine-wear areas and bevels rewaxed with Renaissance, and put away for use next month.

For this coming week, I will be shaving with some of my odds and sods - and ARKO of course.

Oh, what a wonderful month this ARKO August is.
 
Day 10 ARKO August

Titan 1918 ACRO T.H-70 6/8 Dutch point, Japanese steel with Madagascan mahogany scales, stropped on a clean Heirloom fast bridal strop.

Face lathered with ARKO stick and Chinese guaranteed genuine best badger synthetic brush.

Three-pass shave (WTG. XTG + XTG).
Rinsed and finished with a splash of Wahl Bay rum mixed with witch hazel.
DFS+

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Life is good in ARKO August.
 
After my 12 months of Arko!!!! use some kind soul (more in jest than any serious intent) sent me a couple of sticks of Derby. My opinion - it is a poor mans Ark0!!! - doesn't lather as well smell as nice or cause certain members of this forum to get as excited. Avoid - stick to the good stuff - There is only one ARKO!!!!
Have you been cooking Arko for 12 months? otherwise, you stink, you’re mission still hasn’t been accomplished.

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I‘ve been keeping myself amused buy using the Arko every shave so far In August. At this time I cannot see any reason why I won’t make it for the full Arko August. The big thing in my favour is my poor sense of smell, from what I can smell though, I really don’t mind the smell and Arko lathers pretty good to. Good luck to everyone who is doing Arko August. Don’t be backward in presenting your findings.
 
Day 11 ARKO August

1930 T.R. Cadman & Sons Ltd "Bengall" 6/8 Dutch point, Sheffield steel with Bakelite scales, stropped on a clean Heirloom fast bridal strop.

Face lathered with ARKO stick and Chinese guaranteed genuine best badger synthetic brush.

Three-pass shave (WTG. XTG + XTG). Rinsed and finished with a splash of Wahl Bay rum mixed with witch hazel. DFS+

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Day 12 ARKO August

"Vesperum", the evening SR of my Latin M7DS, 6/8 Dutch point, half hollow+ grind, Japanese steel with Madagascan mahogany scales, stropped on a clean Heirloom fast bridal strop.

Face lathered with ARKO stick and Chinese guaranteed pure genuine best badger synthetic brush.

Three-pass shave (WTG. XTG + XTG).
Rinsed and finished with a splash of Wahl Bay rum mixed with witch hazel.
DFS+

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Day 13 ARKO August

This morning I felt adventurous so shaved blind. Blind meaning I shaved with not being about to see the edge of the blade on my skin. Truly a shave for men with nerves of steel.

My razor was a Ming Shi 2000S loaded with an Astra SP (2).

Face lathered with ARKO stick and Chinese guaranteed pure genuine best badger synthetic brush.

First pass WTG on setting 2. Second pass ATG on setting 4.5. This gave me a DFS with just a little residual skin irritation on the neck and a small weeper at the side of my mouth. DE shavers are tough men.

Rinsed and finished with a splash of Wahl Bay rum mixed with witch hazel.

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ARKO is one of the shaving soaps that works well with both SR and DE razors.

Tomorrow it's back to a traditional straight razor 😊.
 
Only another 18 days to go. :LOL: Some of us might struggle with that (I include myself), but @rbscebu has the advantage of all of us if he enjoys the scent. A happy life indeed to be content with a soap that you don't need a mortgage for. (y)
 
Day 14 ARKO August

AsThis morning I shaved with my first true SR, A Titan ACRM-2 T.H.60, Japanese steel, 6/8 half-hollow+, Dutch (round) point with Madagascan mahogany scales.

This SR was previously honed using the B&B Method, finishing on diamond pasted balsa strops. The edge is the same as all my other SR's and gave a typically comfortable, smooth and close shave with no skin irritation or skin damage.

Face lathered with ARKO stick and Chinese guaranteed pure genuine best badger synthetic brush.

Three-pass shave (WTG. XTG + XTG).
Rinsed and finished with a splash of Wahl Bay rum mixed with witch hazel.
The result was DFS+.

Rinsed and finished with a splash of Wahl Bay rum mixed with witch hazel.

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The SR is shown here resting on my 0.1μm diamond pasted balsa strop. The strop consists of 6mm thick balsa on 6mm thick ceramic tile on 20mm thick PVC structural foam.

As usual, post shave blade maintenance consisted of 60 laps on a hanging 0.1μm diamond pasted balsa strop with intermittent short X strokes and Renaissance wax applied to the bevel and spine-wear area.

I feel confident that I have now perfected my ARKO face lathering technique. Enjoy the rest of your ARKO August month of shaving bliss.
 
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Day 15 ARKO August

Another change of razor types this morning. I took my Oxor Chinese stainless steel shavette for a drive loaded with a Gillette Rubie half- blade (2). This was again done to keep my hand in. This shavette cost me the same as my Chinese badger hair brush, USD 2 on AliExpress. Come to think of it, my ARKO stick also cost me about the same on AliExpress.

Face lathered with ARKO stick and Chinese guaranteed pure genuine best badger synthetic brush.

Three-pass shave (WTG. XTG + XTG). Rinsed and finished with a splash of Wahl Bay rum mixed with witch hazel. The result was DFS+.

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Day 16 ARKO August

Have now entered the home straight and racing for the finish line.

This morning I started to shave my way through my Latin matching seven-day set, with ARKO of course. The set is shown below with my LUNAE SR open.

Face lathered with ARKO stick and Chinese guaranteed pure genuine best badger synthetic brush.

Three-pass shave (WTG. XTG + XTG).
Rinsed and finished with a splash of Wahl Bay rum mixed with witch hazel.
The result was DFS+.

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