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Looking for info on ‘Personna’ Blades

I have these two versions. Have recently tried them in my Timeless Stainless .95. Got good shaves with both. From what I have read there are 2 companies selling “PERSONNA” branded blades and factories in a number of countries manufacturing them.
Can anyone post information about these blades, and any other ‘Personna” variations - including how they work for you, in which razors ?
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The Personna manufacturing and marketing system is quite confusing. Personna is currently a brand of Edgewell Personal Care. They own a lot of familiar brands including Schick. They also own the Wilkinson Sword trademark in some parts of the world, but Gillette owns the Wilkinson Sword trademark in other regions. How's that for added confusion.

Personna razors and blades were originally developed and manufactured by American Safety Razor Company which also produced GEM single edge razors. The company changed hands several times finally ending up as two separate companies. Edgewell Personal Care, although headquartered in the USA, produces its products in various international locations. The plant in Verona, VA was formerly the Personna Industrial Division which produced GEM and Personna blades for a variety of medical, laboratory and industrial uses. It was spun off at Accutec Blades since it was not strictly aimed at personal care products. Accutec is the only razor blade manufacturer currently operating in the USA. The Verona plant produces a number of blades used by the shaving community including GEM coated single edge blades (be sure to avoid the uncoated blades as they are designed for utility knives and scrapers), Personna comfort coated double edge blades affectionately known as Lab Blues and double edge blades designed for hospital use that are commonly known as Med Preps. There is some controversy over whether Med Preps are the same blade as the Lab Blue but with additional processing to make them sterile for use in surgical environments. Some say they are the same, some claim the Med Preps are better. The jury is still out on that one.

The blades you show on the left say "COMFORT COATED" on the package so they are the Lab Blues manufactured in the USA by Accutec Blades. They are good blades. The thick comfort coating makes the blades very smooth on the first shave, but the coating also makes the blades less sharp. i find that the blades get much sharper after the first shave or two as the coating wears off.

Up until the last year or so, Edgewell Personal Care operated a manufacturing plant in Nazareth, Israel as part of the Personna International division. This plant produced a variety of blades, including the flagship Personna Platinum Chrome blade that is affectionately known as Israeli Reds as it commonly came in a red package. However, that same blade was sold in the UK in the red, white and blue package you show in the right of your picture. Some people say the UK blades are slightly different than the ones in the red packaging, others say they are slightly different. Since the blades are no longer being made in Israel, I am not sure it matters much any more. If you like the Israeli made platinum chromes, grab them no matter which type of packaging they are in.

The Israeli plant also made some blades for private brands. I purchased Meijer branded blades some at my local Meijer pharmacy that said Platinum Chrome made in Israel and as far as I could tell, they were the same as the Israeli Reds. More recently, however, the generic blades say made in Germany.

The Israeli plant also made some other brands. One was the Crystal blades that were stamped with a patent number that referenced when Personna invented the very first polymer coated stainless steel blades.These blades are sometimes known as Israeli Personnas. I presume the Crystal blades were PTFE coated stainless rather than the platinum chrome blades. I found the blades to be slightly inferior to the Israeli Reds, but still excellent blades.

The Israeli plant made some other brands, but the platinum chromes and Israeli Personnas were the two most common.

Now that the Israeli plant has been shuttered, the pricing of the Israeli Reds or Israeli blue blades as increased. If you want the Israeli blades, grab some while you still can.

The platinum chrome blades are now being produced in Germany. I have no conclusive evidence, but I suspect at least some of the machinery from the Nazareth plant was relocated to the plant in Solingen, Germany where Edgewell has been producing Wilkinson Sword double edge blades. I have tried the German Personna platinum chrome and find them to be essentially identical to the Israeli blades.
 
The Personna manufacturing and marketing system is quite confusing. Personna is currently a brand of Edgewell Personal Care. They own a lot of familiar brands including Schick. They also own the Wilkinson Sword trademark in some parts of the world, but Gillette owns the Wilkinson Sword trademark in other regions. How's that for added confusion.

Personna razors and blades were originally developed and manufactured by American Safety Razor Company which also produced GEM single edge razors. The company changed hands several times finally ending up as two separate companies. Edgewell Personal Care, although headquartered in the USA, produces its products in various international locations. The plant in Verona, VA was formerly the Personna Industrial Division which produced GEM and Personna blades for a variety of medical, laboratory and industrial uses. It was spun off at Accutec Blades since it was not strictly aimed at personal care products. Accutec is the only razor blade manufacturer currently operating in the USA. The Verona plant produces a number of blades used by the shaving community including GEM coated single edge blades (be sure to avoid the uncoated blades as they are designed for utility knives and scrapers), Personna comfort coated double edge blades affectionately known as Lab Blues and double edge blades designed for hospital use that are commonly known as Med Preps. There is some controversy over whether Med Preps are the same blade as the Lab Blue but with additional processing to make them sterile for use in surgical environments. Some say they are the same, some claim the Med Preps are better. The jury is still out on that one.

The blades you show on the left say "COMFORT COATED" on the package so they are the Lab Blues manufactured in the USA by Accutec Blades. They are good blades. The thick comfort coating makes the blades very smooth on the first shave, but the coating also makes the blades less sharp. i find that the blades get much sharper after the first shave or two as the coating wears off.

Up until the last year or so, Edgewell Personal Care operated a manufacturing plant in Nazareth, Israel as part of the Personna International division. This plant produced a variety of blades, including the flagship Personna Platinum Chrome blade that is affectionately known as Israeli Reds as it commonly came in a red package. However, that same blade was sold in the UK in the red, white and blue package you show in the right of your picture. Some people say the UK blades are slightly different than the ones in the red packaging, others say they are slightly different. Since the blades are no longer being made in Israel, I am not sure it matters much any more. If you like the Israeli made platinum chromes, grab them no matter which type of packaging they are in.

The Israeli plant also made some blades for private brands. I purchased Meijer branded blades some at my local Meijer pharmacy that said Platinum Chrome made in Israel and as far as I could tell, they were the same as the Israeli Reds. More recently, however, the generic blades say made in Germany.

The Israeli plant also made some other brands. One was the Crystal blades that were stamped with a patent number that referenced when Personna invented the very first polymer coated stainless steel blades.These blades are sometimes known as Israeli Personnas. I presume the Crystal blades were PTFE coated stainless rather than the platinum chrome blades. I found the blades to be slightly inferior to the Israeli Reds, but still excellent blades.

The Israeli plant made some other brands, but the platinum chromes and Israeli Personnas were the two most common.

Now that the Israeli plant has been shuttered, the pricing of the Israeli Reds or Israeli blue blades as increased. If you want the Israeli blades, grab some while you still can.

The platinum chrome blades are now being produced in Germany. I have no conclusive evidence, but I suspect at least some of the machinery from the Nazareth plant was relocated to the plant in Solingen, Germany where Edgewell has been producing Wilkinson Sword double edge blades. I have tried the German Personna platinum chrome and find them to be essentially identical to the Israeli blades.

+2!! Terrific explanation!!

The US-made Lab Blues and the Israeli reds are favorites here! So I laid in a good stock.

Bottom line: Personna may be the most confusing brand in ‘traditional‘ wet shaving!! :mad2: :mad2:

BUT if and when you find some you like, then STOCK UP! :clap::clap:
 
I just obtained a 100 pack of the Med Prep blades from Robbins Instruments last week. They provide me with a very nice comfortable and super close shave. No glue on the blades either!!! My next order will the the 250 blade pack.
 
Very good summary from @RayClem.

One thing people get confused about is they try to go by color: "Israeli Red", "Lab Blue", etc. That doesn't work too well since the packaging can change.

Remember, if the blades are made in Verona, VA, they are made by Accutec. These include the "Lab" and the "Med Prep" blades, plus the GEM single edge blades.

Blades made outside the U.S. are made by Edgewell.
 

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
Will I end up with my name besmirched if I refer to the UK packaged Platinums as PIRs? Is there a more accurate and current acronym? If not, do we have the power to coin one? How about PPD for Personna Platinum Deutschland? It sounds more dignified than Personna Platinum in Germany ("PPIG"). This is important because I still have about 60 of them (but only 18 Crystals, which I prefer by a minuscule amount).

Cheers!
 
Appreciate all the responses, still hoping for some reviews on smoothness and sharpness along with packaging pictures to identify which blades come in which packages and how they shave.
 
Will I end up with my name besmirched if I refer to the UK packaged Platinums as PIRs? Is there a more accurate and current acronym? If not, do we have the power to coin one? How about PPD for Personna Platinum Deutschland? It sounds more dignified than Personna Platinum in Germany ("PPIG"). This is important because I still have about 60 of them (but only 18 Crystals, which I prefer by a minuscule amount).

Cheers!


To me, the blades should be described by their manufacturing characteristics, not by their packaging or place of origin. If you use the term Personna Platinum Chrome, it covers blades made in Israel or Germany in various packaging types and colors. The Crystal blades are Personna Super + Platinum. The lab blue blades are Personna Comfort Coated. The Med Preps are Personna Double Edge Prep blades.
 

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
To me, the blades should be described by their manufacturing characteristics, not by their packaging or place of origin. If you use the term Personna Platinum Chrome, it covers blades made in Israel or Germany in various packaging types and colors. The Crystal blades are Personna Super + Platinum. The lab blue blades are Personna Comfort Coated. The Med Preps are Personna Double Edge Prep blades.
I agree on the need for accuracy but continue to lament the lack of commonly accepted TLAs.
🤪
 
I agree on the need for accuracy but continue to lament the lack of commonly accepted TLAs.
🤪

Personally, I hate acronyms although some like ASP and GSB seem to work OK. Of course, Astra Superior Stainless becomes somewhat problematic.

I once worked with a guy who tried to document all the acronyms used throughout our company culture. He had hundreds of entries in the list. Some of the acronms had multiple meanings depending upon the context in which they were used. It was quite confusing, even among the people in our mid-size company.

When you are dealing with a forum that has members from every continent, various native languages and cultures, use of TLAs (three letter acronyms) is confusing. I try to avoid using them unless the meaning is clear. For example, I might reference Gillette Silver Blue in one sentence and then shorten that to GSB in the next. If I used the acronym "7SP" would anyone figure out that I was referencing the 7 O'Clock Super Platinum (black) blades? I doubt many people would.
 
I still contest that all the blades considered Personna labs in the blue wrappers are actually "labs."

Well, if you want to call them "labs" for your own identification, that is fine. However, since there is difference in performance between the USA made comfort coated lab blades and the Platinum Chrome blades made in Israel and Germany and shipped in some form of blue packaging, for the sake of others, use something to distinguish the two brands. They are both great blades and many people could use with blade interchangeably. However, I can easily distinguish the two blades and have a preference for the platinum chrome blades. The comfort coated lab blades do not give me a good shave until the thick coating starts to wear off.
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
The Personna manufacturing and marketing system is quite confusing. Personna is currently a brand of Edgewell Personal Care. They own a lot of familiar brands including Schick. They also own the Wilkinson Sword trademark in some parts of the world, but Gillette owns the Wilkinson Sword trademark in other regions. How's that for added confusion.

Personna razors and blades were originally developed and manufactured by American Safety Razor Company which also produced GEM single edge razors. The company changed hands several times finally ending up as two separate companies. Edgewell Personal Care, although headquartered in the USA, produces its products in various international locations. The plant in Verona, VA was formerly the Personna Industrial Division which produced GEM and Personna blades for a variety of medical, laboratory and industrial uses. It was spun off at Accutec Blades since it was not strictly aimed at personal care products. Accutec is the only razor blade manufacturer currently operating in the USA. The Verona plant produces a number of blades used by the shaving community including GEM coated single edge blades (be sure to avoid the uncoated blades as they are designed for utility knives and scrapers), Personna comfort coated double edge blades affectionately known as Lab Blues and double edge blades designed for hospital use that are commonly known as Med Preps. There is some controversy over whether Med Preps are the same blade as the Lab Blue but with additional processing to make them sterile for use in surgical environments. Some say they are the same, some claim the Med Preps are better. The jury is still out on that one.

The blades you show on the left say "COMFORT COATED" on the package so they are the Lab Blues manufactured in the USA by Accutec Blades. They are good blades. The thick comfort coating makes the blades very smooth on the first shave, but the coating also makes the blades less sharp. i find that the blades get much sharper after the first shave or two as the coating wears off.

Up until the last year or so, Edgewell Personal Care operated a manufacturing plant in Nazareth, Israel as part of the Personna International division. This plant produced a variety of blades, including the flagship Personna Platinum Chrome blade that is affectionately known as Israeli Reds as it commonly came in a red package. However, that same blade was sold in the UK in the red, white and blue package you show in the right of your picture. Some people say the UK blades are slightly different than the ones in the red packaging, others say they are slightly different. Since the blades are no longer being made in Israel, I am not sure it matters much any more. If you like the Israeli made platinum chromes, grab them no matter which type of packaging they are in.

The Israeli plant also made some blades for private brands. I purchased Meijer branded blades some at my local Meijer pharmacy that said Platinum Chrome made in Israel and as far as I could tell, they were the same as the Israeli Reds. More recently, however, the generic blades say made in Germany.

The Israeli plant also made some other brands. One was the Crystal blades that were stamped with a patent number that referenced when Personna invented the very first polymer coated stainless steel blades.These blades are sometimes known as Israeli Personnas. I presume the Crystal blades were PTFE coated stainless rather than the platinum chrome blades. I found the blades to be slightly inferior to the Israeli Reds, but still excellent blades.

The Israeli plant made some other brands, but the platinum chromes and Israeli Personnas were the two most common.

Now that the Israeli plant has been shuttered, the pricing of the Israeli Reds or Israeli blue blades as increased. If you want the Israeli blades, grab some while you still can.

The platinum chrome blades are now being produced in Germany. I have no conclusive evidence, but I suspect at least some of the machinery from the Nazareth plant was relocated to the plant in Solingen, Germany where Edgewell has been producing Wilkinson Sword double edge blades. I have tried the German Personna platinum chrome and find them to be essentially identical to the Israeli blades.
Amazing exposition! Thanks
 
The Israeli plant also made some other brands. One was the Crystal blades that were stamped with a patent number that referenced when Personna invented the very first polymer coated stainless steel blades.These blades are sometimes known as Israeli Personnas. I presume the Crystal blades were PTFE coated stainless rather than the platinum chrome blades. I found the blades to be slightly inferior to the Israeli Reds, but still excellent blades.
Do you have references as to any of this?

My understanding was that Gillette invented the stainless steel razor blade and that Wilkinson Sword popularized it using Gillette patents. Gillette continued to sell high carbon blades as long as they could, presumably because of higher profit. Stainless steel blades, as I understand it, are rough and virtually unusable without coating. How blades are marked seems to be a matter of marketing. For example, I think it is a common misconception that a blade marked simply "Stainless Steel" contains no coatings or hardeners.

Also, Crystals, besides having the patent number, are also marked "SUPER + PLATINUM". Platinum, and other metals, provide hardness. PTFE provides smoothness. The hardness provided by platinum is necessary at least in part because the heat needed to coat the blade with PTFE weakens the steel. So it is not an "either platinum or PTFE" type of thing.

The patent number on Crystal blades 3071856 appears to be referenced here where it is granted to "Irwin W. Fischbein, of Hyde Park, Massachusetts, assignor to The Gillette Company". I don't see Personna mentioned anywhere, or recall them ever being credited with inventing the polymer coated blade. Apparently they just used the patent, it appears it expired in 1980. US3071856A - Razor blade and method of making same - Google Patents - https://patents.google.com/patent/US3071856A/en

While maybe minor points, is it any wonder there is confusion when seemingly detailed and authoritative posts often aren't very accurate?

One article I found when trying to verify some of my points:
 
There is some controversy over whether Med Preps are the same blade as the Lab Blue but with additional processing to make them sterile for use in surgical environments. Some say they are the same, some claim the Med Preps are better. The jury is still out on that one.
I believe that if you do much searching, you will find where people have written to Personna asking about the difference between the "Labs" and the Med Preps. The official answer from the company is that the blades are the same with the Meds going through an extra wash, mainly to remove the oil from the blade, as I recall.

Of course many people don't like to accept the official answer for much of anything (and the company spokesman may not always be so knowledgeable, though in this case the answers different people have received at least seem consistent), another reason why differing information often gets passed around as fact. Some people will insist that Med Preps give better shaves, some will claim they're exactly the same as the Labs. I can't recall anyone offhand saying that the Labs give better shaves. I've never tried the Med Preps as I get great shaves from blades that cost quite a bit less, including the Labs. So whether the extra wash does something to a blade that makes it feel better (I don't know if it could wash superfluous coating along with oil off, or if just a very light coating of oil could negatively affect the shave), or if something costing significantly more subconsciously makes people think it's better (I know some people may be offended for me suggesting this, but I think perception is often subjective more than a lot of us would admit, especially if we want to splurge on a shave).

Then, I believe, even blades coming off the same line made to the same specs, could differ in quality as just slight changes and wear-and-tear in the equipment could change the feel of blades in different lots. It's interesting, and I guess says a lot about the precision of the manufacturers, that people seem to find such consistency among the brands. Unless some of that goes back to perception again (they expect a good shave from Brand A, so they get a good shave from Brand A).
 
Do you have references as to any of this?

My understanding was that Gillette invented the stainless steel razor blade and that Wilkinson Sword popularized it using Gillette patents. Gillette continued to sell high carbon blades as long as they could, presumably because of higher profit. Stainless steel blades, as I understand it, are rough and virtually unusable without coating. How blades are marked seems to be a matter of marketing. For example, I think it is a common misconception that a blade marked simply "Stainless Steel" contains no coatings or hardeners.

Also, Crystals, besides having the patent number, are also marked "SUPER + PLATINUM". Platinum, and other metals, provide hardness. PTFE provides smoothness. The hardness provided by platinum is necessary at least in part because the heat needed to coat the blade with PTFE weakens the steel. So it is not an "either platinum or PTFE" type of thing.

The patent number on Crystal blades 3071856 appears to be referenced here where it is granted to "Irwin W. Fischbein, of Hyde Park, Massachusetts, assignor to The Gillette Company". I don't see Personna mentioned anywhere, or recall them ever being credited with inventing the polymer coated blade. Apparently they just used the patent, it appears it expired in 1980. US3071856A - Razor blade and method of making same - Google Patents - https://patents.google.com/patent/US3071856A/en

While maybe minor points, is it any wonder there is confusion when seemingly detailed and authoritative posts often aren't very accurate?

One article I found when trying to verify some of my points:


There was a lot of razor blade development during the early 1960s. Some say that Wilkinson Sword was the first to develop the coated stainless steel razor blade in 1962, but they did not get it patented immediately. American Safety Razor came out with their own stainless steel version, sold under the Personna name. Schick also came out with their own version around the same time.

Gillette was the first to research coated razor blades. In 1960 they introduced the Gillette Super Blue blade which was silicone coated. In the process of development of that blade they had patented coating technology similar to that Wilkinson Sword had used in manufacture of their stainless steel blades. Thus, Wilkinson Sword had to pay royalties to Gillette for the coating technology.

It was only in August 1963 as customers switched to stainless steel blades offered by Wilkinson Sword, Personna and Schick did Gillette introduce their own coated stainless steel razor blades in response to a significant drop in Gillette market share.

While Gillette may have been the first to patent the coating technology used on razor blades, it is difficult to determine who was actually the first to apply coatings to stainless steel blades. It is pretty certain that Gillette was not the first to do so.
 
Well, if you want to call them "labs" for your own identification, that is fine. However, since there is difference in performance between the USA made comfort coated lab blades and the Platinum Chrome blades made in Israel and Germany and shipped in some form of blue packaging, for the sake of others, use something to distinguish the two brands. They are both great blades and many people could use with blade interchangeably. However, I can easily distinguish the two blades and have a preference for the platinum chrome blades. The comfort coated lab blades do not give me a good shave until the thick coating starts to wear off.


Sorry, I wasn't clear in my writing. I do not believe all US made blue wrapped Personna sold as "labs" are the same. I had gotten a small quantity some time ago and they were great blades. I bought a 100 pack sold as "labs" in the same blue wrapper but they were not as good. Not saying they are bad, just not as good. The box said it was distributed from some beauty supply company.
 
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