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Medical Prep Personna

These bulk pack blue Personna, also made in the USA, are all over the bay and I have also seen them at the local barber supply. They are probably the same blade without the extra QC that makes them Med Personnas. I have never tried them so I can't compare to the Meds.


Just noticed that drugstore.com is now selling a 250 pack of these blue babies for $46.........
 
Yes, ASR manufactures several brands, Personnas and others. But, despite the fact that they're an American company, they don't actually manufacture the blades in the US. The most popular Personnas are made in Israel. I may be wrong, but I believe that the Medical Prep Personnas are the only DE blades actually manufactured in the US. It's the only brand I've seen so marked, and I personally own over 50 brands. (Über sampler, anyone? :laugh: Still looking for "the one!" :001_rolle).

I sent an email to geiss ,destin and dunn in georgia....they returned my email and told me their goodsense blades were manufactured in the u.s.a....I cannot prove it,but I am very sure that american razor in va. cranks these out on their own machines for goodsense...
 
I sent an email to geiss ,destin and dunn in georgia....they returned my email and told me their goodsense blades were
in the u.s.a....I cannot prove it,but I am very sure that american razor in va. cranks these out on their own machines for goodsense...

The GoodSense blades actually look like Dorcos (Korea). The dispenser is slightly chunkier and more squared-off than the Personna dispenser and the text on the dispenser is in slightly different font.
 
So are those the same as the med prep blades? And if so, isn't the bay route cheaper?
Let's refer to those blades as the Personna Lab Blades.

Well, they're not exactly the same blade. The Med Prep blades are the Lab blades after one additional cleanup process and QC check.

I get the Med blades from Robbins Instruments for $25.00 per 100 (25.0¢/blade) before shipping. On the referenced bay offering, the Lab blades go for $12.95 per 60 blades (21.6¢/blade) before shipping. Yeah, the Med blades are a little more expensive, but those are the ones I wanted to try.
 
I sent an email to geiss ,destin and dunn in georgia....they returned my email and told me their goodsense blades were manufactured in the u.s.a....I cannot prove it,but I am very sure that american razor in va. cranks these out on their own machines for goodsense...
That's one thing I love about this place: you can learn something new every day! Apologies, sir, and thanks for the info!

Just one thing that raises a sense of caution in me: those Goodsense blades and dispenser look like the typical dollar-store blades & dispenser I find at all the different dollar stores around me (under differing names and package graphics). And, while Geiss, Destin & Dunn, Inc. is an American company, the package explicitly states "distributed by," and not "manufactured by."

I suspect that one company supplies all the dollar-store chains, and I'm not certain where they're located. The Med Prep Personnas are the only blades I've ever seen that explicitly states "Made in U.S.A." right on the blade. I'd be pleased to find more.
 
That's one thing I love about this place: you can learn something new every day! Apologies, sir, and thanks for the info!

Just one thing that raises a sense of caution in me: those Goodsense blades and dispenser look like the typical dollar-store blades & dispenser I find at all the different dollar stores around me (under differing names and package graphics). And, while Geiss, Destin & Dunn, Inc. is an American company, the package explicitly states "distributed by," and not "manufactured by."

I suspect that one company supplies all the dollar-store chains, and I'm not certain where they're located. The Med Prep Personnas are the only blades I've ever seen that explicitly states "Made in U.S.A." right on the blade. I'd be pleased to find more.

yes..I certainly would like to see at least 3 different blades made in the u.s.....for sure "distributed by" does not mean "made in",it could mean anything,in fact,I am seeing more chinese garbage labeled "assembled in usa" from "imported materials"...sure...some guy orders 10,000 box fans from red china,they get here and the same guy hires a person of questionable legal status to insert 4 screws into the frame of the fan,then it can be labeled "assembled in usa"...
 
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As I previously posted, I wrote to both EMS and Personna concerning the Robbins blade and the EMS blade.

Today, I received an e-mail from a regional sales manager for the medical division of the Personna American Safety Razor Co. and also had a follow up telephone conversation with a a representative from the medical division.

In brief, the two blades in question (the Robbins and EMS blade) are identical except that the Robbins blade goes through an additional "cleaning up" process that is required for hospital use. The cleaning up process does not change the way the blade shaves.

I asked why the two blades and the answer is that the same blade is made by two different divisions. The Robbins blade is made by the Medical Division while the EMS blade is made by the "industrial" division, which sells it to labs. However, the process for making the two blades is the same and the blades for all practical purposes are identical.

Supposedly, someone from the industrial division will contact me within the next two days.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the prompt answer I received from Personna.

The representative was surprised that many of us like to shave with these blades and I said that Personna is missing out on some sales to the public since they sell their regular products from their website but not the medical blades. She said the medical blades are sold to distributors in lots of 1,000 or more.

In any event I had my second shave with the EMS blade and as I indicated yesterday could see no difference in the shave. As far as I am concerned they are both excellent blades.

I traded with my friend some of my Robbins blades for his EMS blades and we will both be shaving with both to see if we can see any difference.

Let's refer to those blades as the Personna Lab Blades.

Well, they're not exactly the same blade. The Med Prep blades are the Lab blades after one additional cleanup process and QC check.

I get the Med blades from Robbins Instruments for $25.00 per 100 (25.0¢/blade) before shipping. On the referenced bay offering, the Lab blades go for $12.95 per 60 blades (21.6¢/blade) before shipping. Yeah, the Med blades are a little more expensive, but those are the ones I wanted to try.

As I indicated previously, the Lab Blades and the Medical Prep Blades are the same blade except that the Medical Prep blades go through an extra cleaning process that is needed for hospital use. A friend and I have tried both blades and neither of us can see any difference in shaving in the performance of either of the blades.

It is interesting to see the Lab blades showing up in eBay and in other places. However, the medical rep from Personna specifically said that the medical prep blades are ONLY available from medical supply companies who deal with hospitals - and in the case of Robbins, with us. :thumbup:
 
I know I'm late to the discussion, but after reading through this thread, I've decided I have to try these blades. I've been using Feather blades since I started DE shaving and while they give me a close and smooth shave, they tend to dull after 2-3 uses for me. Blades that may offer me twice that number are worth the hunt, IMO.
 
Could someone please post some photos side by side of the true medical blades vs. the blue package ones, wrapper, blade and all? It's useful for posterity.
 
Could someone please post some photos side by side of the true medical blades vs. the blue package ones, wrapper, blade and all? It's useful for posterity.
These pictures are from posts earlier in this thread. (There are more pics, too, if you look back through the thread.) The paper wrapper is identical for both blades. The difference can be see in what's printed on the blades themselves.

The Medical blades:
proxy.php


The Laboratory Blades:
attachment.php
 
The "lab" blades have been around for a while and have been referred to as Blue Personnas. Joe at ShaveaBuck used to carry them as did a few other vendors and barber supply places, if I recall. They are about like a Crystal for me, maybe a bit sharper, but certainly no Feather or 7:00 Yellow or even Shark SC in my opinion. I'd call the Blue Personnas a middle of the road blade.

Pretty good blade but I doubt if I would try to hunt them down again, myself. YMMV of course.
 
The "lab" blades have been around for a while and have been referred to as Blue Personnas. Joe at ShaveaBuck used to carry them as did a few other vendors and barber supply places, if I recall. They are about like a Crystal for me, maybe a bit sharper, but certainly no Feather or 7:00 Yellow or even Shark SC in my opinion. I'd call the Blue Personnas a middle of the road blade.

Pretty good blade but I doubt if I would try to hunt them down again, myself. YMMV of course.

+1 :thumbup1:
 
Has anyone from Canada managed to order these from Robbins Instruments? If so, did you have to contact them directly, or did you manage to order from their website somehow? I've tried the latter, and came up against the same error described earlier in this thread. It tells you there's an error because there is no shipping method selected, but nowhere does it give you the opportunity to select one.

Thanks, gents.
 
Has anyone from Canada managed to order these from Robbins Instruments? If so, did you have to contact them directly, or did you manage to order from their website somehow? I've tried the latter, and came up against the same error described earlier in this thread. It tells you there's an error because there is no shipping method selected, but nowhere does it give you the opportunity to select one.

Thanks, gents.

From the item page:

Attention!

Due to shopping cart upgrades, we cannot process international orders online at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please e-mail your order request to [email protected]. We will be correcting this issue shortly. Thank you!
 
As I indicated previously, the Lab Blades and the Medical Prep Blades are the same blade except that the Medical Prep blades go through an extra cleaning process that is needed for hospital use. A friend and I have tried both blades and neither of us can see any difference in shaving in the performance of either of the blades.

It is interesting to see the Lab blades showing up in eBay and in other places. However, the medical rep from Personna specifically said that the medical prep blades are ONLY available from medical supply companies who deal with hospitals - and in the case of Robbins, with us. :thumbup:

The "lab" blades have been around for a while and have been referred to as Blue Personnas. Joe at ShaveaBuck used to carry them as did a few other vendors and barber supply places, if I recall. They are about like a Crystal for me, maybe a bit sharper, but certainly no Feather or 7:00 Yellow or even Shark SC in my opinion. I'd call the Blue Personnas a middle of the road blade.

Pretty good blade but I doubt if I would try to hunt them down again, myself. YMMV of course.

As my previous post indicated, Personna specifically told me the two blades for shaving purposes are identical. The ONLY difference is that the medical blades go through an additional cleaning process - which should not impact shaving - and are available only through medical supply distributors.

A friend (who purchased Lab blades) and I (who purchased medical blades) traded some blades. So far both of us have gone through five blades of each and we can't tell the difference in the blade. Both are excellent. I can only get three shaves from a Feather before they begin to irritate me. However, I can get 6 comfortable shaves with either of these blades. My friend who has a less wiry beard than I do, gets from 8 to 10 shaves with them.

Every face is different - and reacts differently to each blade. So far the ONLY two blades that I have had issues with are the Crystal and Gillette 7 O'clock blades. For me, the closest shaves without any irritation have come from the lab and medical Personna blades.
 
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