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.

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!

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.

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.)

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.

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.

Out of Japan comes a DE blade not a Feather.

I received these as part of a sampler pack from poster dridiot (Jason).

The packaging, as can be seen, is minimal on marketing. The blades themselves come wrapped in plain paper and the blade has no marking at all.

From my research on this company, Kai (or this division) makes surgical blades. One of their areas is 'blade prep', for which they offer disposable razors. This leads me to believe the company either offers these blades for surgical prep with a DE, or they supply these blades to other companies and don't really put a marketing effort behind them for themselves.

Price: about 40 cents per blade. Does one get what one pays for?

Quality: in my opinion, yes. These are top-notch sharp, smooth blades.

Sharpness: Very sharp, up there with Feathers or Swedes.

Longevity: I haven't pushed these past four shaves; I don't want to risk irritation to find out how long they'd last. But at the end of the fourth shave they are still cutting, not pulling.

Smoothness of shave: can't beat it. I use them in a Slant 39C. No pulling, no weepers, just BBS in three to four passes with no irritation whatsoever.

Packaging: While not long on flash, they have no glue on the paper and I find that a plus. The box is cardboard with no disposal capability.


While these are in the pricing tier with Swedes and Feathers, they are not marketed for mass consumption. They will probably not be anyone's daily blade for this reason; they're clearly harder to come by. I urge those who swear by the above to try these in a comparison test with the top end 'sharpies' and see what you think.

In my opinion, you would not find them lacking vs. the most highly regarded DE blades available.


Discussion thread here

I'll post a review here too. I got a few boxes of these from dridiot as well (Thanks Jason).

These blades are great, but suffer by comparison with the similarly-priced and slightly sharper Feathers. I've gotten great results with these blades in every one of the razors I've put it in. That in itself is noteworthy. I used these blades in a 1940s (notched bar) Aristocrat to shave my head and face; I put 'em in an HD and a Slant, a Fat Boy, a Red Tip SS, a Flare tip SS, a 1948-1950 SS, a 1965 slim-handle Tech, and probably one or two others. I think the best results came from the Fat Boy (set on 3,4, and 5) and the notched Aristocrat. I was very pleased with the blade. It also lasted four shaves easy, and I got five shaves out of a few before deciding I didn't want to press my luck.

The packaging appeals to me because I prefer to recycle my blades in a blade safe rather than storing/disposing of them in an otherwise recyclable plastic case.

But at USD $0.35-$0.40 cents a blade -- and you can get Feathers cheaper than that price from Pauldog--it's a tough sell. These blades might last longer than Feathers, but I still think Feathers are a superior shave by a small margin. If these blades were $0.25 each, I think I'd be inclined to make them my everyday blade.

I asked our dridiot to send me a package along with my order of 7 oclocks. I figured one box wasn't too many if I didn't like them.

The blades are for me a very mixed bag. The first shave was rough. I experienced a good bit of pulling and irritation. Shaves 2 and 3 were nice and smooth. Shave 4 was obviously the end of the blade and I was right back to a rough, uncomfortable shave.

Compared to my favorite red Personnas these blades just don't cut it, if you will pardon the expression The reds give me at least 6 shaves, and they are comfortable from the first shave. Plus they are a fraction of the cost.

As always your mileage may vary. But if you were asking me which blades to go for if you could only choose one blade, this one sure wouldn't be on the list.

These KAI blades are absolutely superb! KAI also makes alot of nice kitchen knives and it shows. These blades are wicked sharp, yet not irritating at all. What more can I say? Every shaver owes it to themselves to try these blades. My dad got these for me on a recent trip to Singapore. He paid ~$3.50 US for 5-packs of 5. If I can find these at a reasonable cost, they will be my goto blades. The packaging isn't too good, but each blade is individually wrapped. Also, the blades are free of ANY wirting on them.

Considering that these blades are made in Japan I thought they would be just as good as Feathers but was I in for a surprise. I have tried 3 blades so far and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you it get for free like in my case.

I bought these in the Mustafa market in Singapore.
The price was right. 25 blades for 8 sing dollar.


Quality to me is a combination of sharpness and longevity.

As a reference, I rate Merkur blades as dull, derby medium sharp, my personal favorite Astra Keramik as sharp, and feather as ultrasharp.

I was expecting a sharp blade, something alike feather... however i found the 3 i tried to be duller than Derby. Also I had the feeling the blades deteriorated during the shave. I changed the blade in the middle of the second shave.

So quality overall is low..

Packaging I don't care, else it would have been even lower.

Because of the positive reviews ealier,I will retry these blades later on. If I adjust my ratings, I will let you know, but for now, this is it....

Not much to say....pretty average as far as my shaves go.....

However, the blades does NOT fit in a 1947 superspeed (only that year with the prongs), which means that either they have not a good QC or they don't make the blade according to standard.

These blades are pretty good. From what I have tried there are only two blades are better.
I am talking about Feather and Gillette 7 O'clock Sharp Edge

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.

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.

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!

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.