Kai Razor Blade Review

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The Kai DE Razor Blade is very popular with a lot of fanfare. I was very excited when the Kai Razor Blade was voted to be tested next.

Kai razor blades seem to have a similar hype as Feather razor blades, it seems the Kai is quite often compared to the Feather whether it be sharpness or smoothness. I’ve seen many claims online as being “sharper than a Feather” or similar. Smoothness is subjective so I can only give my opinion on that, but I was really looking forward to testing the sharpness.

Kai Stainless Steel Double Edge Razor Blades

5 individually wrapped barber-style single edge razor blades
Fits all safety razors
Extremely sharp blades! - Produced by Japan's premiere cutlery manufacturer

I found it interesting that the wrapper was not sealed and there was no branding whatsoever on the wrapper or the blade itself. Fresh out of the pack the sharpness measured 53. For information on what this means check out Razor Blade Sharpness Testing. You can click this link to see a Razor Blade Sharpness Comparison Chart with the other blades tested so far.

Relatively speaking, this is not very sharp! Now we are talking about DE razor blades here so of course they are all sharp, but compared to the other blades tested so far it is not. To put this in perspective, a Derby Extra also tested 53 out of the wrapper, and the Feather has maintained it’s legendary “sharpest” status at 32 (so far).

Do keep in mind the sharpness is only one measure, and I actually quite Enjoy using a Derby Extra. I was just very surprised about the readings due to the hype of being so sharp. If you look at the raw data, 7 of the 8 readings were in the 50’s so it is consistent.

The first shave went well. I was a little concerned after the first pass on my face as it did not do a very good job taking down my 2 days growth. To be honest I looked a bit like a goat with mange, it was by far the most facial hair left on my face after one pass.

Note that I shave my head as well as my face and have a pretty thick growth – except for the top of my head. This means that one of my shaves might equal two of someone that just shaves their face, or even more if they have a thinner beard.

The second and third pass had no issues taking down the rest of my facial hair, and I did attain a very smooth shave. I could tell by the end that the blade was quite a bit sharper. Overall I was happy with round one.

After the first shave, the sharpness increased to 42. This is a significant increase and was noticeable during the shave. It is my experience so far that many DE razor blades increase in sharpness with use. I could not find any information online regarding if and what the coating is, however I contacted the Kai Group and they confirmed that these DE razor blades are not coated.

The Kai razor blade was noticeably sharper for the second shave. I found myself really going for it at the end to get the smooth as possible finish, which is a sign that it is a well performing blade. I find when a blade is not working very well for me my motive near the end is more to just finish up as best as possible.

After the second shave the sharpness increased again to 39. Based on how the second shave felt this did not surprise me. I enjoyed the second shave more than the first shave.

This is where the Kai pulls away from a blade like a Derby Extra for me. While the Derby was nice for one shave, it was noticeably losing sharpness at the end of the second shave where the Kai was still getting sharper. I would use a Kai for a third shave but I would not use the Derby Extra even for a second shave.

Initial Sharpness = 53
Average Sharpness = 45
Edge Retention = 0.74
Smoothness = 4/5

Overall Subjective Rating = 4/5

Stainless Steel. Made in Japan.

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Is the Kai Razor Blade as sharp or sharper than a Feather? Out of the wrapper, no. After one full head and face shave, no. After the second full head and face shave, it is for all intents and purposes the same.

I would definitely like to push the Kai a little further and it will be in the line up when I do some endurance testing on blades to see how many shaves they will go. It will be interesting to see how the Kai and Feather compare long term.

Overall I enjoyed using the Kai DE Razor Blade and would recommend it. It took a little bit to “break in” which is less than ideal, but even the first part was fine so it is not a bad break in period. The Kai Razor Blades are on the higher price point of blades and do not seem to be as readily available as other blades. If I see what I would consider to be a good deal on a 100 pack I would buy them.

Check out more Razor Blade Reviews or look into how the Razor Blade Sharpness Testing works.

Have you tried Kai Razor Blades? Be sure to leave your overall rating, the community appreciates your vote!

Kai Stainless Steel Double Edge Razor Blades