ARKO Double Header Review

I've given a couple of ARKO creams a chance to show me what they've got, and what they've got ain't a whole lot.



As you might have heard, I got a pass around from a member of The Shave Den, and in it were two tubes of ARKO cream. I decided to give them a try, liking the idea of inexpensive tubed creams.

I started with the Sensitive--because progressing from Sensitive to Extra Sensitive seemed...sensible.

The cream was smooth and slick coming out of the tube, something like toothpaste. The scent was very, very mild, as you would expect from a "sensitive" cream...there was just a hint of something vaguely "cologney", but mostly it was the scent of the cream itself; which, I must say, wasn't at all nice. To be honest it smelled almost, but not quite, exactly like the body putty my dad used to fix holes in his ancient Ford pickup. Not a smell you want on your face every morning.

I went to work on my face with L'Ultima Setola and before long I had a smooth, creamy lather. The consistency seemed fine, but then the trouble set in. A distinct "tingling"--usually a bad sign. I let the cream sit for a while as I performed my daily ablutions, letting the beard soften a bit, and set to with my Genco Fluid Steel.

It wasn't good. Now, this is hard for me to judge accurately, because the cream was doing weird things to my skin. I can't tell if it was just the terrible lack of cushion or what, but I felt EVERY INCH of that steel on EVERY INCH of my face it touched. It was extremely uncomfortable. By the end of my second pass, my face was red and angry. It was a thoroughly unpleasant shave...This cream is very slick, and I did get a very very smooth shave. But it was uncomfortable, even painful, and I did not relish the idea of trying it again.

I did, however, with pretty much the same results. I tried making the lather a bit thinner, thinking I had made it too concentrated before (which can sometimes cause irritation) but no dice--more irritation, and tons of tiny nicks. Not good. Not at all. I gave up.

So, I can't recommend the ARKO sensitive, much as I'd like to. If you stumble on some for free you might give it a try, though, because the irritation could very well be (and probably most certainly is) just a poor reaction on the part of my skin. The lather, however, is all slickness and very little cushion, I can say that. Some guys like that, I don't.

The EXTRA sensitive (Look for the purple tube!), however, is another story. For one thing, the addition of Lavender oil makes the scent quite nice. No putty at all! Also, something about the added ingredients--moisturizers or vitamins or whatever--makes a bit more cushion. It's still more slick than pillowy, but for it is much more usable than the plain old sensitive. I got a very nice shave from it--not spectacular, but certainly better than the ones before it. In fact, I think I'll keep it around...it's no replacement for La Toja, but it'll do.