I find I get the same performance from both. If you keep an eye out you can get either one for a great price. The pucks are great as well, but they cost a bit more per gram for the same exact soap. If you wet the stick and rub it in a bowl instead of your face you can really control the consistency of the lather by bowl lathering. If you think Arko/Derby is slick with a face lather, wait until you bowl lather it. Used the Arko Puck today. Great slickness and cushion by allowing more water into the mix via bowl lathering. The drying post shave seems to diminish as well. What's really weird, I use the sticks before bed to wash my face. I face lather with them like you normally would. I don't know why, but it helps me sleep, leaves my face feeling great, and helps bring out the whiskers from the day's growth to avoid bumps and irritation. I just face lather, rinse, repeat until the lather in the brush is used up.
Theyre six in one, half dozen in the other for me. I keep both in my rotation and find that Arko has a bit stronger scent, so the decision could come down to whether or not you like the scent of Arko. Both are great soaps though and are a great value. Honestly, between Arko, Derby and Cella; I think Im kind of over artisan shave soaps. Why pay $15 for 3 or 4 oz of fancy smelling soap when you can get something like Arko/Derby/Cella for less than half as much?
Tweex is in the same vein as Derby and Arko, the scent is better with the Tweex. Tweex is/was made in Turkey, I believe.
Tweex was made in Turkey like other shave sticks, Camelot, Blueness, GZD. Tweex sticks no longer produced.
After shaving with Arko stick for the entire month of August. I was looking forward to trying my Derby stick for the first time. To see how it compared. Here are some of my observations: The scent of Derby stick is a little more fragrant. While they both have that Turkish scent. Arko has some lemony notes and Derby has more green notes to it. Arko seems to be a little softer than Derby. But both left a light layer of soap about equally. Same as well, when applied to to bristles of my brush (Semougue OC boar) and were easy to face lather up. I think the Derby may lather a tad bit quicker. But after using Arko for a month. I get a more dense lather with Arko. With that less dense lather. I didn't have to rinse my razor as much as I do with Arko. Both soaps produce very good slickness. But I think Arko left my face a little slicker, when I re shave over without any soap on my skin. But with that the Derby stick washed off of my face easier. Right after the Derby shave this morning. My face felt a bit dryer then my Arko shaves. You can get a good close shave with either soap. Going to do a few more shaves in a row with Derby before I vote in this pole.
I agree. You can get quality shaves with either of these Turkish soaps and I have a supply of each now. But think I like Arko just a little more than Derby overall.
I'm big on Arko pressed into my bowl, when it's at room temp it is easy to press down into mug or bowl. Other than Cella I find Arko the perfect shave soap, I buy it by the 12 pack. Prefer Arko over Derby
There are things that I like about both of these soaps. But if I was offered a 12ct box of sticks, and I could only choose one. My choice would be Arko
I have never tried Derby, so I am not.in a position to comment about the two. I will have to keep my eyes open for Derby.
I love the performance of arko however it smells like a urinal puck to me and i can't get past it. I find myself buying it, using it once, remembering the smell and pawning it off on someone else interested in getting into wet shaving.
I press my Arko sticks into a bowl and the scent dissipates after sitting on the shelf with a few shaves. With Arko I just think of it as a soapy citrus lemony scent and not think of the puck in the urinal or I don't want to imagine the scent of the urinal without the puck. Of coarse no one can think of running through a field of wild flowers with Arko but the performance is great.