Review (5/5): Great Blade. Much Cheaper Elsewhere.
Rapira Platinum Lux:
Great Value, and a Superior and Consistent Performer. But much cheaper to buy in bulk elsewhere.
I have been and am continuing to perform a series of tests testing one blade against another,i n a variety of razors. I want to report that the Rapira Platinum Lux is consistently excellent, out performing or at the least equaling every blade I've tested it against, regardless of razor. I've tested it against, Posilver Super Iridium, Voskhod, Rapira Super Stainless, (blue and pink wrapper) Rapira Swedish Supersteel, Croma Diamant, Baili, and Super Max,
I have a coarse, fairly heavy, and fast growing beard, and I tend to prefer more aggressive razors. I have found the Rapira Platinum Lux to work excellently in every type of razor I've put it in. It is sharp, very smooth and comfortable, and produces excellent shaves for four shaves at least. The fourth shave sometimes, but not always exhibits a slight drop in performance.
Here are the razors I've tested this blade in: Parker 26c Open Comb, Merkur Futur, Merkur Mergress (modified Progress), FaTip Grande, Gillete Slim, Gillette TTO Red Tip, Schone Italian, Gillette Open Comb New Style, Schick Krona TTO, Pearl TTO (an aggressive razor) Hofritz Travel Razor, Merkur 37C slant bar, Ikon Shavecraft 102 slant bar, and Lutz slant bar.
Aggressive, or mild, one piece TTO, two piece or three piece, expensive or cheap, open comb, closed comb, or slant bar, this blade is smooth, comfortable, sharp, consistent and long lasting in every razor. I cannot say this of any other blade I have tested so far. Other blades perform worse, or only perform excellently paired with specific razors and not so in other.
Of course, there are many blades I haven't tested but these are usually reported as mediocre by others (eg. Derby, Lord, Shark) or much more expensive such as, Feather, Kai, and some of the Gillette and Wilkinson Sword blades. The Rapira is both excellent and very reasonable in price. It also outperforms other Rapira blades in my testing, at least.
For the sake of consistency I always follow the same shave prep and lather routine when testing: I wash my face twice with a Van der Hagen glycerin soap. I then apply Maggard Pre-Shave Oil (orange scent). I lather up using a 26mm Synthetic Stirling Soap shave brush. After the shave I wash my face with cold water and apply an alum block. I let this dry a little then rinse off, dry my face and apply some Thayers alcohol-free witch hazel.
Here is the extraordinary thing: Bought in bulk (100 plus at a time) the Rapira Platinum Lux is also the cheapest blade. I pay less than six cents per blade currently.
I live in Connecticut, USA, and don't work for the company that makes the Rapira line, nor do I currently sell them, so I have no bias!