Captain CS by Lord, first impressions

The first blades I piffed arrived so it is time to start with my first impressions. Please chime in!

First a lousy scan but if someone can post some better pics please do so!

My first shave with them I did a couple of days ago but since I shave every other day I wanted a couple of shaves done before I posted. I made a little log and didn't alter with hindsight.

I didn’t know what to expect after the warnings I got for the first shave with one of these. I am not too experienced with carbon-steel blades but I knew the final bevel wasn’t made very shallow so I wanted a relative aggressive razor that would allow me playing a bit with angles but not so aggressive that every mistake would have to be paid in blood or razor burn. I went for my vintage Gladweg as it was made in the carbon-steel era and I know it rather well.
Proraso pre(white jar) and Cella along with Florida Water and Arko C cream were the software on this maiden trip. The infamous Turkish No 6 brush was the latherer today.
I started shaving carefully and slowly as in my experience it is beneficial to reduce speed when using not overly sharp blades. The blade had a nice sound while shaving and a rather smooth feeling, which I frankly didn’t expect at all. Not ugging or pulling; it mowed everything down with ease that came on its path and it delivered a DFS in 2 passes, the second one mostly ATG. It was a nice and rather smooth result though I didn’t go for the ultimate this first shave; I first want to get to know it better.
After the shave a slight irritation (the AS burned a lot more than usual too) but nothing serious and no visible reaction on the skin. It is far too soon for a verdict but this went far better than expected and I am looking forward to the second shave with the Lord Captain!

During the shave there was every now and then a harsh "moment" that I don't know from my stainless blades.

Dániel Koltai (from Lord Hungary) was absolutely right when he said you need to take a day off after the first shave with a Captain! I just hope it improves as good as he told me!

The minor irritation (rather; tightness of the skin) was still there the next day but nothing visible or serious. I will be more carefull with ATG on the 2nd pass next shave.

Tali that was a great review on a blade that I have not seen before. These are made by Lord from what I understand in your post. I am a big fan of their Shark Super Chrom and the Lord Platinum blades.

mctmatt said:

Tali that was a great review on a blade that I have not seen before. These are made by Lord from what I understand in your post. I am a big fan of their Shark Super Chrom and the Lord Platinum blades.

Click to expand...

It is a strange blade in a way but indeed made by Lord; about zip to be found with google and obviously not meant for our market. Still I had the chance to get some and send some around the globe. Wait for my next shaves!

First of all, thank you very much for sending them! Much appreciated.

I received the blades yesterday and today I used them for the first time. They are great.

I did not know what to expect but Treet work really well for me and so do Sharks. Anyone who has tried either, got the other to work for them. As you said, they where alike.

The only variable I changed was the blade today and the smoothness was great. They are pretty identical to sharks and treets in my opinion (YMMV) and are extremely smooth. I liked the way they look, they have a slightly yellow tint instead of being chrome.

Now, I want to see how the next few days go and how long I can get out of it. Also, is there any possible way to buy these? I looked around a bit and could not find ANYTHING on them.

Glad yoy like'm Shant. I don't know of any place (yet) where you can buy them. It is strange that even googling doesn't show anything on them. Nor does Lord's own website.....

The main reason I took them was the mystery aspect as I didn't expect a great blade with my previous carbon-steel experience. I thought of giving them all away after this try-out but I am for sure changing my mind about that after actually using them.

The second shave was a nice one:

Same set-up as two days earlier, though there is a remainder of Williams mixed into the Cella this time.

The blade made its little noise again but it is more of a ‘whoosh’ than anything else; absolutely nothing like the sound of a SE or injector. Still easy removal of the whiskers just like on the first shave but the blade felt definitely smoother. It felt not bad the first shave so that didn’t say anything really yet but after two passes and some light touch-up the sting from the AS was almost not present. No irritation at all and again a decent close shave. Remember that I am not aiming for the closest possible shave with this blade for now; I am just getting acquainted yet!

All in all I am getting mighty curious where this blade will take me. Usually a stainless blade gives its best performance on the first shave and goes downhill after that; when a second or even third shave with one of those is still (almost) as good as the first then they start to fall in the ‘very good category’ but most of the times the second does not really come close to the first. How different it goes with the Carbon Steel Captain; for me this is the first time a second shave really beats the first!


But just as nice was the third!!

The blade feels smooth as silk on my face now. I kept on using the same set-up as before so that wouldn't interfere with the shave itself.
In no way I can notice any deterioration on the edge of the Captain and the shave was just great in 2 passes and minor touch-ups. I did find out that it has 'critical' angles; when you got it right it was a caress rather than a shave but just off a little bit there is an immediate harshness. In order to let the Captain work for me a little attention and focus makes all the difference. For my skin the blade is very forgiving; no nicks, cuts, redness or whatever, not even when I got my angles a little off.


The lifespan of my blades is dictated by 2 rather large spots in my neck with the grain all over the place; once a blades starts tugging there or giving any other discomfort they are out. Most of the blades that I like can give 3 shaves, very few 4, but some blades can only give me 2 (or 1 or 0) shaves. I approach those areas with care and have a kind of map in how I start and finish there. With the Captain on its 3rd shave I found that all the extra care is hardly needed; just take 'em N-S and then S-N and it is done. On a 3rd shave!!! Smoother than ever!!!

This has never happened to me before and the Captain does a hell of a job here. Usually 4 shaves from a blade are a mistake but with this result I sure will take the Captain for another spin!

Use #2

Still like yesterday, just as good as good as first day. 99% irritation free almost BBS (Only my neck which I can never get BBS). Over all, so far these blades are fantastic. We might need you to visit Hungry again soon! haha

Gentleman, how do these compare to other carbon steel blades? I have a pack of treet classics that are carbon steel that I've never opened reading your reviews of this blade makes me want to open up the pack and give them a try

bluesbishop said:

Gentleman, how do these compare to other carbon steel blades? I have a pack of treet classics that are carbon steel that I've never opened reading your reviews of this blade makes me want to open up the pack and give them a try

Click to expand...

The only other carbon steel blades I used were NOS (Quick and Lucky Mince) and they were no good at all. Just like you I have some Treets waiting and after using the Captain I am getting mighty curious about those as well.

bluesbishop said:

Gentleman, how do these compare to other carbon steel blades? I have a pack of treet classics that are carbon steel that I've never opened reading your reviews of this blade makes me want to open up the pack and give them a try

Click to expand...

They are honestly pretty even for me. They both work very well.

Shave #4. What can I tell you, it is just a DFS! Maybe there were a few more touch-ups this time but if so the difference with shave #2 & 3 is marginal. This is a very constant blade and I dont think I ever tried another (DE) blade on a 4th shave that resulted in this close a shave.

Not that the Captain is a blade that shaves very close without effort but I expect something less effective on a 4th shave; at least not the same quality as on shave #2. This is simply very good and since the blade is still so friendly on my neck area it will stay in the razor for another go!

There, I said it; I will voluntarily use the same blade for a fifth round!

Hi Talibeard, nice adventure on your new blades. Very interesting. Was this blade developed for a special market with special needs? I haven't got a clue but one can imagine that a European beard might be different from an Asian or African one? I haven no idea on that kind of differences, is a beard just a beard?
The other question I have is about the flexibility of the blade, or how rigour is it.
I'm curious about your fifth shave, and perhaps a sixth? Or might this be the blade that rules them all ?

vertelselaar said:

Was this blade developed for a special market with special needs? I haven't got a clue but one can imagine that a European beard might be different from an Asian or African one? I haven no idea on that kind of differences, is a beard just a beard?
The other question I have is about the flexibility of the blade, or how rigour is it.

Click to expand...

I don't know for what market it is intended but since there is also arabic writing on the package I assume it is meant for their 'home'-market; Egypt and their neighbours. And there are differences in (average) beard growth throughout various peoples but I am no expert here.

The blade itself is 0.11mm thick which is 0.01mm more than usual but I don't know whether that is because the steel is thicker or because of the extra lacquer and coatings. It is about as flexible as a stainless blade, but there are some differences in stiffness between those as well. I would need to use an aggressive razor to find out how stiff it really is; because of the wider blade gap a blade can vibrate more when it is not very stiff.

vertelselaar said:

I'm curious about your fifth shave, and perhaps a sixth? Or might this be the blade that rules them all ?

Click to expand...

I am curious as well. The blade acts a bit differently than I am used to; it is a bit more difficult on the easy parts of my face and very easy on the harder to shave parts. But with less than one blade under the belt there is nothing to conclude yet so I will see where the Captain takes me!

Just had my first Captain shave. Going into it, I thought it might be a mistake to use a new cream and a new blade at the same time, but I forged ahead! I used Comme Il Faut cream and a Milord. It was a very smooth and sharp shave. There was less AS burn than I usually get. Didn't get quite BBS on the sides of my Adams Apple. I never try to anymore, I always end up with irritation if I do. I did get a closer shave there than usual though.

I'm not sure I will be able to skip a day as recommended. I shave seven days a week.

I also noticed the yellow tint. Weird.

Thanks for your thoughts TheBigL and you seem to get the hang of it right away!

TheBigL said:

I'm not sure I will be able to skip a day as recommended. I shave seven days a week.

I also noticed the yellow tint. Weird.

Click to expand...

I don't know if you should skip a day; when you have less AS burn than usual your skin will be fine. I think it is just when you are not getting it right that first shave it might be wise to skip a day (which I normally do; shaving every other day).

The color is a lacquer; I think it is there to prevent the blade from corroding. But it sure looks, eh, different. I once had some dark blue painted french carbon steel blades.

Shave #5. This time the Captain gave the first signs that it will loose the battle against my beard eventually, but not just yet! The blade is becoming a tad less smooth (but still better than most blades I tried) and slightly less sharp; I needed a full 3-pass shave to come up with the same results as in the previous shaves. I was warned that once the teflon coating would wear off the edge could suddenly loose its smoothness but this shave was still way too good for that. Still no irritation in my neck-area so no reason not to try a 6th shave with the Captain.

I never even considered 6 shaves with a DE blade before; SE or injector, yes, they can easily give me that and more but anything over 3 shaves with a DE is exceptional and over 4 just plain stupid. If this is not just one blade but simply the norm for the Captain it is without a doubt the DE-blade with the longest lifespan I ever used!

very interesting talibeard...the czech republic makes the best carbons since the old american carbons,the problem is nobody imports them due to the huge minimum order amount....really sad,they have a great selection of blades,and they still manufacture the original czech "tiger blade"....

malocchio said:

very interesting talibeard...the czech republic makes the best carbons since the old american carbons,the problem is nobody imports them due to the huge minimum order amount....really sad,they have a great selection of blades,and they still manufacture the original czech "tiger blade"....

Click to expand...

I have been looking for those the last time I visited the Czech Republic but couldn't find them; are you sure they are still made?

When all goes according to plan we will be in the CR this summer so I'll keep my eyes open for them.

Those 3-hole blades where do they fit in? A regular DE, Wardonias or yet another type of razor?

Well this is great, the hidden razor-blade emporium of the Czech Republic is finally brought into the footlight! Great posts, gentlemen.