So i'm back with another monthly review! As before, each blade will be reviewed based on a 2 pass (plus touch up) shave using a Van Der Hagen long handled razor, some atrocious “Peace” soap that should never have been used for shaving and a generic Fento badger brush. I run through 2 of each blade and use each 4 times; for a total of 8 shaves per brand. I'll be grading based on sharpness, smoothness, longevity and consistency. Price will be a factor but only of it's very cheap or expensive since most DE blades are pretty cheap comparatively.
This review is round two with the Lord brand. For those who read my last review, you already know i truly hated the Lord Super Stainless. It was top 2 worst blades i’ve ever tried, so needless to say i wasn’t very enthusiastic about trying another Lord product. Despite that, i’ll give every blade a fair go and so too with the Lord Platinum.
The packaging is admittedly nice with Lord in red font with a black sword crossed through the “O” and “Platinum Class” in black font underneath. The blade itself is simple with “Lord Platinum Class” stamped on it. Looks though can be deceiving (i’m thinking of you Treet Carbon!) so lets get to the nitty gritty...
As usual we’ll start with sharpness: First blade was like deja-vu. Horrible. I literally opened the razor to make sure i didn’t accidentally load the old Lord Super Stainless in there. The shave was tuggy, wouldn’t cut my beard and was exactly the same as the Super Stainless. 4 miserable shaves later and i was considering skipping the second blade altogether. After the 8 awful shaves from the Super Stainless and another 4 from the Platinum, i was beginning to wonder why i was even doing this. But, my pig headedness prevailed (per usual) and i unwrapped the second blade and loaded it up. To my surprise, the second blade was actually decent! On a scale of 1-10 i’d put the sharpness at about 6. So nothing crazy but it did a decent job of slicing through the ol’ whiskers. Shaves 2 and 3 were the best but i did notice a little dulling on the 4th shave.
Smoothness on the first blade was identical to the Super Stainless: rough and tuggy during the shave but my face surprisingly didn’t feel irritated after. The second blade had a decent glide while shaving and i didn’t have any nicks or weepers. I had a little irritation post shave with the second blade but nothing out of the ordinary.
Longevity on the first blade was abysmal. 1st shave was as awful as the last. For the second, longevity was slightly above average. I did notice some dulling on the 4th shave but probably could’ve gone another shave or two had i wanted to.
Consistency has to rank as awful just due to the fact that the first blade was clearly a dud. I’ve only caught a couple duds in my DE shaving journey but i’m here to tell you that if 1 of 2 blades i tried was no good, chances are if you’re buying Lord Platinums in bulk you're going to run across some bad ones. My advice would be to assume some Lords will be junk if you buy 50-100 of them. If you encounter one, don’t hesitate to trash it. You’ll thank me later.
Price is excellent at 10.75 per 100 on amazon. When i reviewed the Lord Super Stainless, they were going for 11.35 per 100. Which is...odd to say the least. I realize there are price variances between vendors but when the lower tier blades actually costs MORE, it makes you wonder. Either way, the Platinum Class is among the cheapest blades out there so price is certainly a consideration.
So how does one rate such a blade? In all honesty i had a difficult time coming up with a rating for the Platinum. On one hand it’s consistency is total garbage and one of the two blades was like shaving with a sharpened piece of flint. On the other hand, the second blade was just a hair better (had to get one pun in!) than middle of the road. Which is to say, it was a decent blade. And although i don’t usually give much weight to price, $10.75 shipped for 100 blades is a good deal. All in all, i settled on giving the Lord Platinum Class a 5 out of 10. It’s probably better than it should get but for those of you who like the Shark Super Chrome (personally i didn’t care for them,) give the Lord’s a try. For a couple bucks more you might find it’s a better blade. Unless you hit a dud; in which case you’ll be cursing my recommendation.
Needless to say i’m happy all my Lord’s are now safely deposited in the blade bank. This period in my shaving life will forever be know as “The Dark Ages,” with the last blade ushering in an era of unprecedented shaving prosperity! Or so i hope...
Up next is a trip to the land of the rising sun where i trade the broadsword for a katana. The Kai Stainless Steel review will be posted shortly. Until then, happy shaving!
This review is round two with the Lord brand. For those who read my last review, you already know i truly hated the Lord Super Stainless. It was top 2 worst blades i’ve ever tried, so needless to say i wasn’t very enthusiastic about trying another Lord product. Despite that, i’ll give every blade a fair go and so too with the Lord Platinum.
The packaging is admittedly nice with Lord in red font with a black sword crossed through the “O” and “Platinum Class” in black font underneath. The blade itself is simple with “Lord Platinum Class” stamped on it. Looks though can be deceiving (i’m thinking of you Treet Carbon!) so lets get to the nitty gritty...
As usual we’ll start with sharpness: First blade was like deja-vu. Horrible. I literally opened the razor to make sure i didn’t accidentally load the old Lord Super Stainless in there. The shave was tuggy, wouldn’t cut my beard and was exactly the same as the Super Stainless. 4 miserable shaves later and i was considering skipping the second blade altogether. After the 8 awful shaves from the Super Stainless and another 4 from the Platinum, i was beginning to wonder why i was even doing this. But, my pig headedness prevailed (per usual) and i unwrapped the second blade and loaded it up. To my surprise, the second blade was actually decent! On a scale of 1-10 i’d put the sharpness at about 6. So nothing crazy but it did a decent job of slicing through the ol’ whiskers. Shaves 2 and 3 were the best but i did notice a little dulling on the 4th shave.
Smoothness on the first blade was identical to the Super Stainless: rough and tuggy during the shave but my face surprisingly didn’t feel irritated after. The second blade had a decent glide while shaving and i didn’t have any nicks or weepers. I had a little irritation post shave with the second blade but nothing out of the ordinary.
Longevity on the first blade was abysmal. 1st shave was as awful as the last. For the second, longevity was slightly above average. I did notice some dulling on the 4th shave but probably could’ve gone another shave or two had i wanted to.
Consistency has to rank as awful just due to the fact that the first blade was clearly a dud. I’ve only caught a couple duds in my DE shaving journey but i’m here to tell you that if 1 of 2 blades i tried was no good, chances are if you’re buying Lord Platinums in bulk you're going to run across some bad ones. My advice would be to assume some Lords will be junk if you buy 50-100 of them. If you encounter one, don’t hesitate to trash it. You’ll thank me later.
Price is excellent at 10.75 per 100 on amazon. When i reviewed the Lord Super Stainless, they were going for 11.35 per 100. Which is...odd to say the least. I realize there are price variances between vendors but when the lower tier blades actually costs MORE, it makes you wonder. Either way, the Platinum Class is among the cheapest blades out there so price is certainly a consideration.
So how does one rate such a blade? In all honesty i had a difficult time coming up with a rating for the Platinum. On one hand it’s consistency is total garbage and one of the two blades was like shaving with a sharpened piece of flint. On the other hand, the second blade was just a hair better (had to get one pun in!) than middle of the road. Which is to say, it was a decent blade. And although i don’t usually give much weight to price, $10.75 shipped for 100 blades is a good deal. All in all, i settled on giving the Lord Platinum Class a 5 out of 10. It’s probably better than it should get but for those of you who like the Shark Super Chrome (personally i didn’t care for them,) give the Lord’s a try. For a couple bucks more you might find it’s a better blade. Unless you hit a dud; in which case you’ll be cursing my recommendation.
Needless to say i’m happy all my Lord’s are now safely deposited in the blade bank. This period in my shaving life will forever be know as “The Dark Ages,” with the last blade ushering in an era of unprecedented shaving prosperity! Or so i hope...
Up next is a trip to the land of the rising sun where i trade the broadsword for a katana. The Kai Stainless Steel review will be posted shortly. Until then, happy shaving!