Rapira Super Stainless Vs Rapira Swedish Supersteel

Once these blades are unwrapped, can you tell the difference? Anyone done a blind shave test to see if they actually shave differently? I'm guessing the magic is hidden in the steel...

It turns out the blade on the left in the previous pictures is the Rapira Super Stainless Chrome.
Poikkeus said in his review that "Rapira Stainless Chrome is roughly equal to the Rapira Swedish Super Steel. "
Both blades are identical on the reverse side with this Cyrillic writing.



Rapira Super Stainless also has the same identical printing on the blade as the other two.







The Platinum Lux does have different writing and no logo. It is often said to be Rapira's top quality blade.
Poikkeus said in his review that this blade is "very similar to the GSB".

Today I used the Sweedish Supersteel for the first time. I got 2 from the blade exchange several months ago and never hour around to using them because I feel in love with another blade.

The Sweedish Supersteel is an incredible blade. Super sharp and smooth. I'll use it until it dulls and go ahead and use the other one so I get consecutive uses but if the blade shaves this nice at least 3 shaves I'm buying done in bulk.

If I remember it all correctly, the Swedish and the Ladas were about the same to me, whilst the Stainless was a minor step up. The Voskhod and the Platinum were about equal as well, but there was something, not sure what, that made me prefer the Platinum. I find the Swedes and Ladas to be about on par with most slider pack Personna.

For me the ladas/ swedish super steel / Voskhod were not great. They didn't feel sharp enough. The stainless were a good surprize with the lux being my favourite. Like cash_stronomer, I found the Lux very similar to GSB and they can be had at a bargain price.

When I made the original comparisons, I was using a specific combo of blade and razor. While I'll stand by my original tests, the price of blades is cheap enough to allow for some aggressive testing on your beard/razor/blade/setup combo.

But it's hard not to be impressed with the Lux's combination of sharpness and value.

This week I did a blind test of the two identical looking blades: Rapira Super Steel Chrome & Rapira Swedish Supersteel.

About Blind Blade Testing:
I’ve been inspired the posts of rodmonster,oscroft, lucabrassi (and so many others) to do something similar.
Doing a blind test makes it easier to directly compare the different blade performance.

The idea is to compare two different blades by loading them into two razors with the exact same head. You don’t know what blade goes into either razor, but you mark one handle so you can track which is razor A and which is razor B. You then shave one half of your face for a few days with razor A and the other side with razor B and compare the performance. Everything should be kept the same, except for using two different blades.


Method:
Every day this week I shaved each side of my face using one blade on either side to directly compare the results to see if there’s really any difference between these identical looking Rapira blades, which are both said to be pretty good blades. I only used one side (the side of the slim with the number) so I could see faster how long it lasts.

Since the two blades look identical, I wrote on them with sharpie immediately upon opening the wrapper so they didn’t get mixed up. I loaded them into two Gillette slims set to #5, mixed them around until I couldn’t tell them apart, and then put a rubber band on one handle to identify it as razor “A”, and the other slim is razor “B” .

Beard: thick, dark and difficult. I usually never do ATG to avoid irritation. Didn’t shave the day previous for the weekend.
Passes: WTG, XTG, XTG other way, + light touch ups. I tried some ATG for this test where possible.
Razor = Gillette Slim #5 setting
Brush = Walmart Wilkinson Sword Boar Hair
Lather = Arko soap stick and hot water
Aftershave = Witch Hazel


*** Shave 1 - Sunday Night ***
Razor A: (right side)
sharpness score: 9 smoothness score: 9
1 weeper - so sharp I didn’t feel anything (like a Personna Lab Blue)
Shave rating: nearly BBS, one of the best
Notes: A very close shave with a comfortable blade. I am certain this blade is much sharper and smoother than blade B. Can I seriously already tell them apart? Can it be that obvious on the first try? It seems to shave closer than the other blade with less passes needed than the other. Only tried ATG on my cheeks, below the bottom lip, neck, with excellent results.

Razor B: (left side)
sharpness score: 6 smoothness score: 6
1 weeper
Shave rating: DFS
Notes: Some tugging on the first stroke (upper lip) but seemed to get a little smoother during the shave. Seemed to need another pass more than the other blade. Quite good results and a better quality shave in the end than I thought it would be, for a DFS in the end. Was REALLY curious to know which blade was which!


*** Shave 2 - Monday Night ***
Razor A: (right side)
sharpness score: 8 smoothness score: 8
Shave rating: DFS+, again close to a BBS
Notes: I’m able to do some ATG with this blade and getting more confident about not regretting it the next day. Little (if any) irritation from ATG with this blade. Fantastic results which seem about as good as my favourite top blades, although (I’m pretty sure a Personna Lab Blue could beat it). Will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Razor B: (left side)
sharpness score: 7 smoothness score: 7
Shave rating: Quite good, close and comfortable
Notes: Irritation on my cheek on this side where I went ATG yesterday. Seems better today than my first impression yesterday, and less rough my first impression yesterday. But again, not as good as blade A. Rather draggy going ATG. This blade seems to need an extra pass more to get as close as the other. Gives a decent shave, but needs corking for a smoother shave on the first use?


*** Shave 3 - Tuesday Night ***
Razor A: (right side)
sharpness score: 8 smoothness score: 8
2 weeper - again so sharp I didn’t even notice… is setting #5 too aggressive?
Shave rating: DFS+
Notes: This impressive blade is A grade. Shaved as good as yesterday, glides through the whiskers and needs less passes compared to blade B. Quite sure this blade after two half face shaves is sharper than the other blade was on its first use. Easily goes ATG in areas like cheek or neck. Still shaves like a new blade with many shaves left in it. Looking forward to comparing this blade to the Rapira Platinum Lux.

Razor B: (left side)
sharpness score: 6 smoothness score: 6
1 weeper -
Shave rating: A decent shave
Notes: Good overall, but seems to need more passes in comparison. Noticeably duller each day especially when I’ve even tried going ATG; areas like the neck where the beard grows in all directions. Ingrown whiskers & irritation from my first use of this blade going ATG.

*** Shave 4 - Wednesday Night ***
Razor A: (right side)
sharpness score: 8 smoothness score: 8
Shave rating: DFS+
Notes: I’d definitely order a pack of 100 of these. Not tugging when going ATG but not as close as last time. Interesting I can tell the difference actually.


Razor B: (Left side)
sharpness score: 6 smoothness score: 5
Shave rating: OK -
Notes: Seems to remind me of a Dorco, and maybe even less sharp than a Derby? The quality of sharpness really dropped off on this blade quickly.
This blade seems good for a couple days doing a 4 pass shave… and too dull for ATG shaving. Decided to just the other side of this blade to use it up. I don’t feel like using this blade tomorrow when the other is so much better in comparison.



*** Shave 5 - Thursday Night ***
Razor A: (right side)
sharpness score: 8 smoothness score: 8
no weepers
Shave rating: DFS
Notes: Shaved both sides of my face with this winning blade today. Still shaves ATG and still feels acceptably sharp still only using the same side of the blade. It’s not shaving as close as it was the first few days, but still a great shave. I’m confident that I could shave 5 days of the week (or more) with this blade when using both sides. Also doing less passes this blade would easily last me a week.


Conclusion: Winner by K.O.
* Rapira Swedish Supersteel *
My champion blade in this smackdown surpassed my expectations from all the positive reviews I read before ordering these. I’m sure happy I’ve got 99 more of these winning blades in my stash. And as always YMMV…

It will be interesting to see how much better the Rapira Platinum Lux is, which has been even more positively reviewed than this. I’m sure there’s better blades out there than the Swedish Supersteel, but it’s excellent value at this price. Are blades that cost twice as much actually twice as good?