Lord Platinum DE Blade: My Experience with Three Razors

I came into this experiment with a bias against the Lord Platinum Razor Blade.  There were one or two people in the wet shaving groups or forums that just groaned when the Lord name came up.  That just stuck in my head.  I’ve even tried the blade on a number of occasions and I could have sworn that I got some bad shaves with them.   Admittedly, I was using whatever razor was in reach and wasn’t keeping track of how old each blade was the razor. 

Based on only on hearsay, I had a bias against the blade at first.  

Now I generally to stick to using the blade with one razor until the blade has reached the end of its usefulness.   By doing this, as well as journaling my experience with the blades, I believe that I get a better feel for why I may not like it. For this experiment I used three razors of varying aggressiveness: The Dreadnought Spartan, the Merkur 37C, and the Muhle R41 Rosegold.

L to R: The Merkur 37C, Muhle R41 Rosegold, and Dreadnought Spartan Razors

Based in Egypt, Lord is a manufacturer of razors and razor blades.  Part of the Soliman Holding Group, Lord makes a number of double edge razor blades that are popular in wet shaving; such as Shark, Crown, BigBen, and the Lord brand.  The blades are packaged in a white, cardboard tuck.  Each blade Lord name printed on it and is double wrapped:  the blade was wrapped in a type of wax paper and then contained in a double edge blade sized envelope. 

Blade is double wrapped in a waxy paper and then in a Lord branded DE envelope 

As with most of my other razor blade experiments I started with a fairly mild shaving razor: the Dreadnought Spartan DE razor.  As always, I did a single pass head shave and then my normal two pass, with the grain then against the grain face shave.  The soap of choice was Soap Commander’s Love scent.   I didn’t experience any tugging.  But didn’t feels as if cleanly cut thru a day and a half of stubble like my favorite Crystal DE’s or Wilkinson Sword Classics would.  Giving the blade the benefit of the doubt I was thinking that I might not have prepped for long enough.  Whatever the reason, I would try again.  The next two shaves with this razor and blade combination performed better than this first one.  I didn’t experience any tugging or irritation. In total, I was able to get four shaves out of this blade when using the Dreadnought Spartan DE Razor.   However, there was some tugging and I experienced some irritation on this fourth shave, particularly around the nape of my neck and on my upper lip.  I probably should have banked this blade after the third shave .

Used a Soap Commander's Love Shave soap a lot during this experiment

Moving onto the Merkur 37C Slant Bar Razor. I again used the Soap Commander Love shave soap, but also used Local Gent Co’s Tobacco Lounge shaving cream for the second shave.   I thought my first shave was excellent – no cuts, irritation, and very close.   My second shave I actually felt a little irritation.  However, I don’t think I used enough of the Local Gent Shaving Cream and I’m attributing the irritation to that.  When starting the third shave I went back to Soap Commander Love.  The shave started out ok on head and the majority of my face.  Though by the time reached the last area of my face to shaved, my upper lip, I felt some tugging.  After the experience with the Dreadnought Spartan, the tugging during this third shave seems to be a good indicator that it is about the right time to bank the razor blade.

Shave No. 2 was with the Merkur 37C 

Last was my Muhle R41 Rosegold razor.  This time I decided to use Soap Commander for the full shave session.  For my first shave I experienced some irritation on my left parietal ridge.  This I attribute to rushing.  When I first use a new blade with this Muhle “rake” I tend to forget that I need to be mindful of the angle and pressure being used.  The second shave fared much better.  My head shave went well but I thought I perceived a little tugging when I reached my upper lip.  I didn’t have any irritation when I was done, so I decided to let this blade go on to a third use.  For the third and final shave, my head shave was fine and did not experience irritation.  With my face shave, I felt some tugging by the time I reached my chin. When it came time to shave my upper lip, there was some distinct tugging. I still finished this shave.  But I did experience some irritation on my upper lip. 

Went aggressive with the last shave: the Muhle R41 Rosegold

Overall the experience wasn’t as bad as I envisioned.  The blades are available from a wide number of sources, From Amazon to West Cost Shaving, and aren’t terribly expensive.  Personally, I found that I got the best number of shaves as well as the best quality shave with this blade from a moderately aggressive and milder razors. 

What do you think of the Lord Platinum double edge blade?