I like both their DE and SE blades, but they are expensive. I mostly use SE blades now, and they are 40% more than Feathers. They're good, but I don't think they are 40% more expensive good.
I agree. The Kai is a great blade. I too have tried at least 20 de blades in the past 8-9 months, in search of The One. Kai did it for me. Sharpness, smoothness, durability is all there. Only blade that gives me 6 great shaves before I feel negative feedback. Also, when it's a BBS shave, the longevity of the post shave feel is unreal. The shadow doesn't show up for at least 12-14 hours and it still is barely noticable. I still keep a few different brands like Bolzano Superinox, Polsilver SI, Feather, GSB'S, Perma Sharp and Voshkod. All good blades, but when I want a killer shave hands down its Kai for me. $34 for 100 is not cheap, but they're worth it in my book....
Yep, KAI makes a nice blade. I always feel it's the stiffest blade out there. I would say 'thicker' but someone recently mic'd one and reported they're actually no thicker than others. You should certainly try Astra SP, Voshkod, and others as well. One of the greatest things about DEs is the number of excellent blades to choose from.
w/ re: to ...."Another observation is that the blade was "loud", we've all heard whiskers being cut but i couldn't help but take note of how much i heard...any info on this???" Yes, had a KAI blade singing to me too. Feather vs. KAI the Ali - Frazier showdown of the razor blade world ? Could be.
You want loud? Give a Treet black carbon a try. I love them in the older gillettes. Old type, new, etc. so cheap you can do one and done. They are carbon steel. I love them in the old razors.
Kai is a great blade - Sharp & smooth with excellent longevity. The blade is slightly wider than a standard Gillette blade(Astra SP) by 9/1000 of a inch or 4.5/ 1000 of per side in a DE razor. I like these in my mild razors because I get a little more blade feel and they have great longevity I have discovered. I get about 2 times the life out of a blade than most of my other DE blades(10 shaves). They are on sale with Amazon.com for $35 US for 100pcs or $20.oo for 50pcs at the moment(bargain IMO). Have some great shaves!
I tried this blade in my Lupo SS .95 just as an alternative to the Feather…you definitely get more bladefeel than usual, The shave itself was just not what i hoped for. It felt scratchy and it felt not as sharp. For what i ´ve read the blade will sharpen up with the next shaves but it just felt not right for me. So i dumped it. Maybe i will give it a try someday, but there are blades which work definitely better straightaway.