Just got my Arko and Derby shaving sticks...

Question said:
By 10 seconds or less I mean that's how long I swirl the brush around on the soap. Applying it evenly to my face takes slightly more time, but not in the range of 60 seconds or anything.

If i swirl the brush on the soap for 60 seconds or so, I end up with WAY too much soap on the brush.
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Ok. So you mean you load for 10 seconds and then lather for more than a minute.

Loading is the term used to collect soap on your brush.

Lathering is the term used to add water and air into the soap using a brush.

You load and then you lather.

Sorry if this is a "grandma-sux-eggs" kinda convo but just getting it all straight.
 
filobiblic said:
Ok. So you mean you load for 10 seconds and then lather for more than a minute.

Loading is the term used to collect soap on your brush.

Lathering is the term used to add water and air into the soap using a brush.

You load and then you lather.

Sorry if this is a "grandma-sux-eggs" kinda convo but just getting it all straight.
Click to expand...
Is that straight as in cut-throat, or straight as in kamisori?
 
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filobiblic said:
Ok. So you mean you load for 10 seconds and then lather for more than a minute.

Loading is the term used to collect soap on your brush.

Lathering is the term used to add water and air into the soap using a brush.

You load and then you lather.

Sorry if this is a "grandma-sux-eggs" kinda convo but just getting it all straight.
Click to expand...

Ah yea, I load it for less than 10 seconds. I don't lather it for more than a minute though...i just apply it to my face for a while till i get a nice layer. Maybe another 10-20 seconds for that.
 
Don't have your brush too wet when you load initially. You want to load soap not create bubbles. 30 secs with Arko will probably be enough then don't add water too quickly and allow the lather to build. It is a good soap for creating lather so just let it do its thing and slowly add water as you need.
 
Well.... my loading takes closer to 2min, which to be fair is actually loading and build at the same time (on the soap) and then maybe 1min on my face. Even when I use Arko stick, I am rubbing the stick on my face for a good minute or more.
 
Okay, 2nd pass with Arko. This time i tried rubbing the stick into the brush itself to create a lather. Got a decent lather, but took longer than building a lather from a hard soap in a bowl. I don't find sticks more convenient unfortunately. I could actually smell the lemon smell while shaving this time, probably because i had a better lather. OK, but a bit too sharp. Got a decent shave out of it.

Decided to try an experiment...i put the Arko stick in a bowl, sans paper, and poured some freshly boiled water onto it and let it soak for a few hours until it became cool. Most of the stick appears to have melted, although there is a visible stick shaped lump in the center. Tried pressing it down, and I just ended up with tons of soap all over my hands. Most of the container is filled with a liquid mixture of Arko and water now...pretty creamy.

Any ideas on how to get it to solidfy into a hard soap, or something similar so that i can just load from the bowl easily? I thought about sticking it into the fridge for a while, but i'm not sure if thats a good idea for soap, or whether i will be able to build a lather with it afterwards.
 
I don't have an arko soap as I am one of the informed that despise them. However today I decided to use a stick to see if done of what was being said here was true.
Loading took me longer using the stick than a pot normally does. I don't know exactly how much soap I used as I'm in the shower and for obvious rains can't use a mirror. Took 20 seconds or so rather than the usual 6-10.
However I must have put a lot of soap on my face in that time as lathering took a long time. The soap needed a lot of water to get the right consistency but I ended up with easily enough for 4-5 passes instead of the 2-3 that I actually take.
I reckon if I had loaded my face with half as much soap as I did (and therefore for the same amount of time as a pot) I would be on to the same amount of lather.
 
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Question said:
Okay, 2nd pass with Arko. This time i tried rubbing the stick into the brush itself to create a lather. Got a decent lather, but took longer than building a lather from a hard soap in a bowl. I don't find sticks more convenient unfortunately. I could actually smell the lemon smell while shaving this time, probably because i had a better lather. OK, but a bit too sharp. Got a decent shave out of it.

Decided to try an experiment...i put the Arko stick in a bowl, sans paper, and poured some freshly boiled water onto it and let it soak for a few hours until it became cool. Most of the stick appears to have melted, although there is a visible stick shaped lump in the center. Tried pressing it down, and I just ended up with tons of soap all over my hands. Most of the container is filled with a liquid mixture of Arko and water now...pretty creamy.

Any ideas on how to get it to solidfy into a hard soap, or something similar so that i can just load from the bowl easily? I thought about sticking it into the fridge for a while, but i'm not sure if thats a good idea for soap, or whether i will be able to build a lather with it afterwards.
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You might have ruined it I'm afraid (no great loss though, really).

Generally arko sticks are soft enough to just "push" into a bowl or mug with just your thumbs, but if you were going to use hot water to soften it up you would have been better off setting up a kind of double boiler (arko in the bowl you want to keep it in sitting in hot water in a larger bowl filled with hot water) then pressing the stick into the bowl.

If you've left the soap just soak up the boiling water I'd be pretty surprised if it still behaves the way it's supposed to.
 
Leave it a few days. It should dry out. No idea if it will become usable again or not though.
I killed a MWF puck over hydrating it. It dried out but never produced a usable lather again though.
 
Adding water to soap ruins it? Didnt know that :(. I asked @King of Authentic Shave whether it was a good idea, he tried it and still got a decent lather apparently i think. Why does adding water to soap ruin it?

The lather i got was still usable, although it didnt provide as much cushioning as i would have liked. Still got a decent shave out of it and it's much easier to load and build a lather with now. The scent is also fainter and pretty nice now.

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Your soap should be ok. Just don't use a really wet brush when you load.

Try this as an experiment.

Shake out a wet brush so it is just damp then start to gently load the brush and build lather in the tub so that you have a thick cream in the brush. When you have that add a few drops of water to the centre of the brush and start to work the lather on your skin. Add a small amount more water and before you realise you will have excellent lather. You have basically a croap which require less water initially to load the brush.
 
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