CVS razor blades, what up with that?

[Maximilian]

I have some derby's and Swedish G's on order and since I needed a shave I just bought some blades at CVS. Didn't have much of a choice.

They look like rebranded Personnas. At least the packaging does.

I fired up a new blade this morning in my slim and lathered up some nice KMF.

Now I've tried many blades and I've encountered many irritating or smooth blades but I have never encountered such a unsharp blade. I tried everything. Buffing, j-hooking, sliding,... you name it. Several passes. Opened up my slim on 9. I might as well have used my slim without a blade. These have got the be the worst blades I've ever used. Just to be sure I loaded a second blade and still the same unsharpness. I can still feel my beard after all the trouble. IMO really a waste unless I have a bad batch and some people had better luck.

One thing is for sure and that is by trying out a useless blade one really appreciates a better quality blade like the derby or Swedish G that I normally use.

 

[thirdeye]

Fun ha ha's I tried the CVS blades once...one shave and the pack went in the garbage.....Junk I tell ya, JUNK!!!!!

There should be a warning on the package, "NOT FOR SHAVING"...

 

[CitizenDan]

Their Injector blades aren't much better either

 

[Big_E]

I noticed that the cvs injector razors are rather thick and harder to load than Personnas and Schick blades. I got a decent shave but didn't like the way I had to force the blade into the razor like that. The cvs injector key is at a slight angle so you have to press down for the blade to go into the razor. Too much of a hassle for me.
Ernest

 

[htownmmm]

My one shave with a non branded blade resulted in an immense boil on my jawline-after that experience only branded blades touch my face. Even if i end up with a 'burn' blade,that shave can be rectified in a day-the boil took 2 weeks!


Marty

 

[Maximilian]

Junk I tell ya, JUNK!!!!!
There should be a warning on the package, "NOT FOR SHAVING"...

You're not kidding.. they should ban those item. Even a derby blade used for 5 shaves is still way sharper as a new CVS blade.

Oh well, guess I'll have to grow a small beard until my order arrives.

 

[AaronX]

Go to Walgreens and pick up some israeli (look on the back for the Made in Israel sticker) personnas branded as their house brand DE razors. They are a little expensive but are MUCH MUCH better than the CVS ones and they are locally available if needed in a pinch.

 

[arcman]

I picked up some ASR/Personnas from CVS way back when, I haven't given them a try but one thing that I noted when I compared them to a Wal-Mart-bought pack of ASR's: The ones from CVS say only "Stainless Steel Blades" while the Wal-Mart ASR's say specifically that they're "Platinum Chrome Blades."

These are exactly what my Wally blades look like:

The pack from CVS actually looks exactly like the one from Walgreens' site. Neither mentions anything about platinum, and neither looks anything like an Israeli Personna:

I think Gillette makes both a line of coated and uncoated blades, the Swedes in the blue packaging being platinum coated and the ones sold in a red packaging being un-coated (made in Russia, I think the packaging said?) They haven't been received well in the reviews here.

Maybe ASR is doing the same thing? Can anyone confirm?

 

[AaronX]

Arcman you have to look at the back of the walgreens pack for the made in isreal sticker... they say nothing about it elsewhere on the package. They are made by ASR in isreal. Further confirmation here.

 

[arcman]

Arcman you have to look at the back of the walgreens pack for the made in isreal sticker... they say nothing about it elsewhere on the package. They are made by ASR in isreal. Further confirmation here.

I know the sticker you're talking about, at the Walgreens closest to my home the DE blades they're carrying have no such sticker, no marking or mention of Israel whatsoever. I know Walgreens' stock can vary store to store (some carry VDH products, some do not), but any time I've checked a DE pack from there they look exactly like that picture and there's no silver Israel sticker to be found.

But that's beside my point anyway, what I'd like confirmation on is the variances on ASR's products.

 

[AaronX]

Ah I see. Well I did see a post from letterk concerning ASR and their varied product lines. As far as letterk has been able to figure out ASF has 4+ different product lines but ASR will not disclose how many exactly.

 

[arcman]

Ahh.

 

[smithno]

When I first started using a DE, I picked up a pack of ASR rebranded "Stainless Steel" blades at a local grocery store. They were pretty bad! A few days later, I ran across what looked like the same blades in Wal-Mart except that they were "Platinum Chrome" Blades. They were head and shoulders above the plain SS blades; they were/are usable. A couple of months ago, I picked up some re-branded ASR blades in a Family Dollar Store that had a "Made in Israel" sticker on the pack and are quite good for me. They are not the same as the IP blades that most folks like around here. The last time I looked at FD, some packs had the "Made In Israel" on them and some did not.

What I learned is don't buy ASR blades unless they are coated. The "Made in Israel" blades are a good locally available backup. And, Derby is still my go to blade!

 

[hoselayer]

Fun ha ha's I tried the CVS blades once...one shave and the pack went in the garbage.....Junk I tell ya, JUNK!!!!!

There should be a warning on the package, "NOT FOR SHAVING"...

+1 on Drugmart blades. If you have Drugmarts in your area.

 

[bubalu]

I remember even back in the early '80's that the ASR/Personna/store brand SS were the bad ones; you always wanted the Chromium.

 

[Shave Cat]

I haven't used American Personnas lately, but through the years I tried them in both cartridge razors and injectors. I know some folks here swear by them, but they always gave me a more irritating shave than Schicks or Gillettes (Yes, Gillette made injector blades at one time.)