Kai Stainless

One of the best blades I have ever used. The Kai's are consistently sharper and smoother than any other de blade. I can use it in a number of razors from open comb to closed comb, adjustables whether vintage or modern and I get the same results every time. I suffer from extremely sensitive skin, so max passes for me would be 2 and a quick buff, BBS every time. Kai is the only blade that can perform that for me. Then, as a bonus I get 2 maybe 3 good shaves out of any other de blade. With the Kai I have gotten 6 great shaves without any tugging or pulling from them. Consistently time after time. They are the only blades I use in any of my de's period. Yes I might pay more for them, but worth every penny in my estimation. I think my face is worth it.

Price: US$3.50 for five blades--US$0.70 per blade
Quality: 9 Short, consistent bevels and edges. Each bevel has a repeating pattern with a scalloped appearance. (The blades are not not marked, which does not affect the quality, but they are the first such blades I have encountered).
Sharpness: 9 As sharp as Feather New Hi-Stainless. It seemed at first the blade was not cutting at all. Quite the opposite in reality.
Longevity: 10 These blades lasted a full week for me.
Smoothness of Shave: 10 Perhaps the smoothest shave of any blade I've used.
Packaging: 7 Cardboard box of 5 single-wrapped blades without glue.

I have been alternating between these and Feathers. The Kai blades are more consistent and last 2x longer. The Feather can be dangerous when I'm not paying attention. These are plenty sharp - they are no dull dud. I think the smoothness and irritation are a little better than the Feather.

Outstanding blade. Everyone claims they are expensive, but I found 100 for $32. Wish I didn't recently buy 100 each of my top 5: Lab Blues, Feather, GSB, Voskhod and Polsilver. These would have knocked one of them out of the rotation. Seem like a more durable and sturdy blade comapred to others. They should change their packaging, it hardly looks like a premium blade from the outside. These will be my next 100 purchase for sure.

Like some others I experienced a rough first shave. I was wondering why these were so highly prized. I must admit though, the subsequent shaves were much smoother. I'm not sold, though because I can get quality shaves right out of the wrapper with Personna and not have to pay the price tag for Kai. Thanks to tryablade.com I did not have to purchase a bunch of these blades just to try them out.

Used it today instead of the usual Feather. Ouch. Lots of tugging with two decent nicks. Skin was especially sensitive to alum and aftershave after. Going back to Feather to heal a bit. I was thinking that if it was another Japanese razor it might be able to compete with Feather sharpness.....Nope. Hope your experiences are different.

I found Kai blades to be on-par with Personna Med Preps, but at nearly twice the price.I also found that the Personna Med Preps give nearly twice the number of shaves for me (8-10 vs. 4 -5) with the Kai blade.There is absolutely nothing "wrong" with these blades at all as far a performance is concerned, I just think the Personna Meds are every bit as good, and at about 1/3 the cost per shave.Since the blades are not quite a sharp as Feather blades, but essentially the same price, I can't see a reason to use these.I suppose someone, who finds feather blades too "harsh", and cannot get Personna Meds, or are in a country where these cost the same or less than getting the Personna Med blades delivered, might find these make excellent blades for them.(Comparisons based on performance in Feather AS-D1 razor.)

Superb blades, and the packaging is just fine, with a cardboard outer box and paper wrapped blades without any glue or other residues from manufacturing. Delivered a close, smooth, pleasant shave without pulling or irritation - a joy to shave with. A cut above Gillette 7'Oclocks, Personna Reds, and Crystals, although, at more than 5 times the per-blade price of a Crystal, this is not a daily shave blade on my budget. It's more appropriate for a clean reduction of a 3 or 4 day growth without irritation or problems. Very pleasant to use, and really gets the problem areas that most other blades either miss or have difficulty with. Actually, if price wasn't a consideration, this would be my go-to blade. And it still may be!

Derby is usually my favorite day-to-day blade. Feathers never seemed very smooth to me. I loaded up a KAI this morning and WOW!! This is the first blade I've been able to smoothly and easily shave ATG.

The packaging leaves something to be desired but a VERY minor quibble for a great blade.

I just shaved with these for the first time. These are the sharpest blades I've shaved with so far. I got a beautiful shave. I did get a tiny cut, but it stopped bleeding by the time I got out of the shower. With these blades you have to be really careful not to apply pressure. The one time I slipped up and applied a little bit of pressure, the blade reminded me of its sharpness.

I bought 100 of these from Dridiot for $30.99 (including shipping).

I would rate these as sharper than Astra Keramik and Superior Platinum, as well as sharper than Derby blades.

I can't really comment on the price for these since I got a 5-pack of them for free with the 48 Gillette SS I bought on the BST forums, but I used a couple of these for my first DE shaves when I got the razor. The quality seemed ok. It's a razor blade. It seemed to hold up fine as I used it. Also, the blade was definitely sharp for the first (and maybe the second) shave I did with it, but after that, it seemed the sharpness vanished quickly. I could get 3 ok shaves out of these but that was about it, so longevity was I guess ok. The thing that really didn't work for me on these was the smoothness of the shave. Basically, it wasn't smooth. I could get a decent shave the first one or two times, but that was it. I initially chalked that up to me being a DE newb, but I used an Astra blade for the first time this morning, and there was a noticable difference in everything.

From reading other reviews, it seems some people really like these, and (of course) YMMV, but these aren't for me. Just got a lot of not nicks, cuts, and razor burn from these and not great shaves.

I picked up a good number of blades from our own Dridiot; the 'black 5 o'clocks' rocked, while these feel like sharped rocks on my face.


Most members loved them. I hate them.
My face hates them. A fellow member hit it right on the head; these feel like dull Derby's.

They're expensive for what they provide my face (ingrowns and bumpers). I could have picked up my trustworthy Feathers for a tid bit more $$$.


These will be a WTT in the BST very soon.

Tried these this week and was VERY impressed! Used my Gold Tech as a standard when testing new blades and got an empressive BBS shave with three very careful passes. Just got my Feathers also so I can compare shaves with them.
Great blade!

Very smooth in my Flying Eagle travel razor with Godrej de Luxe cream. It was so smooth I expected to have found a great blade. Alas, it failed the final test. The line from the point of my chin to my adams apple is the toughest part of my beard. A great blade goes smooth there, a good blade more or less, and a reasonable gets me there without dragging, but a bit bumpy. It was not smooth there, otherwise I would have rated it as the Swede and the Bleue Extra. Now for me it is just below them.

These are very sharp and very smooth blades - seemed smoother to me than Feathers and they glide more easily and are very sharp. IMO, a great shave!

( The other KAI reviews here seem to be so diametrically polarized between very good and very bad that I can't help wondering if there are some KAI imposters out there. It's interesting that these blades have no printed markings on them at all making them quite easy for another company to fake. )

Kai blades are absolutely the best blade I've found. I've tried many blades, too.
Even my girlfriend commented on how smooth my face felt, compared to all of my previous shaves with other blades. So, its my favorite everyday blade now.

Very smooth shave from my experience. The price is what would keep me from having it be an every day blade for me. As for longevity I only use a blade twice no matter what, and it has no problems with that.

To do the review, I used a Gillette NEW (England) w/Bull Mastiff handle. Creams when from Proraso, Palmolive and E-Shave cucumber. I do a 3 pass - WTG - XTG - ATG, always.

I tried 5 blades, all in a row. I used a pack of Feather before so I can compare them. Kai are surprisingly sharp, I thought nothing could be on the edge like Feather. Kai are. They are very smooth and pretty sharp. I get on average 4 shaves per blades. Feather gives me 3.

The blade doesn't have anything written on it, no glue spots also. I think it's a great blade and I would buy some more when I finish my other packs!

I think those are underrated and not talked about enough!

Without a doubt these are among the sharpest and smoothest blades I've tried. I think the packaging is great - I hate it when I have to unwrap a blade two or three times AND remove glue. These have just one paper wrapper.

I'm kind of surprised that these seem to be such a love/hate topic around here.

Great blade, but I avoid it. Extremely sharp, up there with Feathers. But, I don't need the risk to get a good shave. Good choice for cheap, super sharp blade. Only real knock here is the packaging.