Once moistened a bit though it provides a lubricant experience up there with the better creams. I can’t actually recall noticing much of a smell from it, which may or may not be an advantage. To my mind a really nice smell can be very uplifting and add to the experience, but a really awful smell (like the Kiehl’s) is something you can do fine without. Focus is on how well the cream lubricates, i.e. how easily the razor glides over skin and how my skin feels afterwards, i.e. is it silky smooth and pleasant, or as if someone has run a wire brush over my facial features.

This was actually easier than expected, and with the wonderful aroma of Turkish soap wafting into my nostrils I applied lots of lather!For round 6 I will be putting Truefitt & Hill shaving soap up against Weleda shaving cream. This will most likely be the second to last round!

To get that close shave, or wet shave as it is also known, straight razors - or cutthroat razors as they are more commonly known, which enable the blade to glide over the skin to remove unwanted hairs - have been the implement of choice since the early 1900s. Many traditional barbers still offer this service.

The shaving process

A hot shower to provide equal skin softening to both sides of face and ensure relaxed and stress free setting for tester. Welcome to round 5 of the Great Shaving Cream Investigation! As exclusively revealed in last weeks post ( here), this is quite likely the second to last of the exciting rounds. I realise many of my readers will have started to eagerly look forward to the next installment, but we will at some point have to publish the final results, select the cream for our future and move on. There is more to life than shaving cream. And I’m not thinking about shampoo, skin lotions, underarm anti-perspirants or anti-fungal foot creams. I tell a lie, I may actually do something on underarm anti-perspirants and deodorants. At the half-way point it’s over to the whipped-cream-like goodness of the Proraso. So perfectly it lays in it’s little pot that it’s almost a shame to dip a finger into it and disturb it. Looking at the pattern though you do get an impression of how substantial the cream is, as this is a pot that has been through the postal system and stored, with little regard for which way was up or down. With regards to the ingredients of the Arko I ran into a problem. The writing on the wrapping is in Turkish, and in a font that is too tiny to read. So I had to do a spot of searching. This may be the actual list of ingredients: A fresh blade is to be inserted into the safety razor to ensure optimum cutting ability (Japanese Feather brand is used).

So, another good warm shower to moisten my face up and prepare for another shaving showdown. Products placed at the ready, a fresh blade in the razor.

Points will be given based on how I feel the products work for me, how they look and feel, and may be biased by less scientific aspects such as “smells really good” or “my, this is really runny and poorly composed”. Up first: Arko – Turkish shaving soap The ingredients list doesn’t appear to include any bad ingredients. It’s nice to see a natural lubricant like coconut oil making an appearance. The sheer number of ingredients needed to make a shaving cream is surprising though.