Persona Medprep

[Don_Pisto]

I’ve been going through some sample blades, now that my technique is pretty good, and today’s blade was the Persona Medprep.

The first impression was it looked cheap and unremarkable. The ink labeling looked dull, the packaging kind of also dull and boring looking, but it’s just a blade so off I went and placed it in the razor to give it a whirl.

The first pass was average. Nothing remarkable and I was losing hope that this was going to just be another average blade to cast aside.

I went on and did a second and third pass and wow, I was stunned! It was like pre-puberty. Smoother than a baby’s bottom. Honestly I was blown away. This is the first time I experienced such a close shave. I did a pass with an Alum block and there was zero irritation.

Now several hours later, at home after a nice day at work, my wife is smothering my face with kisses. She loves how it feels, so this blade gets bonus points for that.

I haven’t heard much of this blade before. I know we’re all different and YMMV applies, which makes this hobby more fun, but this blade blew me away. I have 4 more samples of it, so I’ll use them and make sure it wasn’t a fluke, but now that I’m graduated more than a total newbie, I just wanted to feel like an intermediate user and post a thread and share the surprise experience I had with the plain looking Persona Medprep blade.

 

[SmoovD]

Right on. Med Preps are a great blade as are their Labs.

 

[Iloverootbeer]

Personna makes quality blades. My favorite are the Crystals, also made by Personna.

 

[Don_Pisto]

Personna makes quality blades. My favorite are the Crystals, also made by Personna.

I have a sample of Crystals coming next week and will be trying those next. So far all the Persona blades have worked well, so hopefully the Crystals will work good too.

 

[Badgerstate36]

If you like the Med Preps, just buy the Lab Blues. Theyre the same blade, the Med Preps simply going through additional cleaning step to qualify them for hospital use. Not to mention Lab Blues are signifigantly cheaper.

 

[BigJ]

Great blades!!

I suggest you try my ‘other’ Personna favorites, the Lab blue and Red!!

 

[hydro-magic]

Personna Labs and MedPreps are probably my favorite blades.

 

[Chevyguy]

I’ve been going through some sample blades, now that my technique is pretty good, and today’s blade was the Persona Medprep.

The first impression was it looked cheap and unremarkable. The ink labeling looked dull, the packaging kind of also dull and boring looking, but it’s just a blade so off I went and placed it in the razor to give it a whirl.

The first pass was average. Nothing remarkable and I was losing hope that this was going to just be another average blade to cast aside.

I went on and did a second and third pass and wow, I was stunned! It was like pre-puberty. Smoother than a baby’s bottom. Honestly I was blown away. This is the first time I experienced such a close shave. I did a pass with an Alum block and there was zero irritation.

Now several hours later, at home after a nice day at work, my wife is smothering my face with kisses. She loves how it feels, so this blade gets bonus points for that.

I haven’t heard much of this blade before. I know we’re all different and YMMV applies, which makes this hobby more fun, but this blade blew me away. I have 4 more samples of it, so I’ll use them and make sure it wasn’t a fluke, but now that I’m graduated more than a total newbie, I just wanted to feel like an intermediate user and post a thread and share the surprise experience I had with the plain looking Persona Medprep blade.

Medpreps are great blades. They shave like a Israeli made Personna for me.

Clayton

Sent from my LM-V350 using Tapatalk

 

[Chevyguy]

I have a sample of Crystals coming next week and will be trying those next. So far all the Persona blades have worked well, so hopefully the Crystals will work good too.

Some have said the Crystals are rebranded Personnas. Crystals are great blades.

Clayton

Sent from my LM-V350 using Tapatalk

 

[ackvil]

The Labs and Med Preps are my favorite blades. I first tried the Med Preps in 2010 and they became my favorite blade right off the bat. Since then I have tried numerous different blades and they are still my favorites.

 

[Ukrainian]

Are they different from personna lab and Israeli Personna?

 

[Chevyguy]

Are they different from personna lab and Israeli Personna?

I think they are the same blade.

Clayton

Sent from my LM-V350 using Tapatalk

 

[Don_Pisto]

Earlier in my sample testing, I tried the Persona Lab Blues and had a very positive experience enough to prompt me to buy a 100. Same thing happened with the Reds. I had very good results and bought a 100 of those as well.

Yesterday’s results with the Med Preps were a step above, for me, but it was just one blade. I’ll see how the week goes when I finish the blade from yesterday and then try a second.

When I’m done going through all my samples and have a few more favorites selected, I’m going to do a shave off between them where the test is done blind. I’m not going to know what blade I use. I’ll have my wife “control” the blades and load them and I’ll keep notes on the results and only at the end I’ll know which was which. (BTW my wife thinks me and everyone here on this sight is crazy, in a good natured way, but she gives me my space to do my guy thing)

 

[psfred]

Lab Blue and Med Prep are made in the USA. The Israeli Personnas are made by a different company in Israel. I think all the US made Personna blades are the same, Edgewell re-labels for a number of secondary suppliers, but I really think all the blades are identical except that the Med Prep blades are cleaned differently and may be fully sanitized while the others are not.

So far the Personna Blue I'm using is one of the best blades, if not the best overall, of the blades I have used. Very sharp, very smooth, and appears to be long lived, at least as good as a German Wilkinson Sword. Great blades for the price.

 

[ackvil]

Back in 2010, I emailed Personna about the differences between the Labs and Med Prep blades.

Here is the post:

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.

Since then, the company that makes these blades has been sold at least twice.

Some individuals say they can detect a difference between these two blades. When I tested these blades in 2010, my friend and I found they shaved the same. However, about a year ago I again emailed Edgewell, who owns Personna, about the differences in the blades. They never responded to my emails.

Before Edgewell bought the rights to produce these blades there were rumors that the Med Prep blades would no longer be produced. As a result, I ordered 500 Personna Medical Prep blades from Robbins to supplement the 200 I had in my stash. I had 200 Labs that I had purchased from EMS, a lab supply company. Since I usually get about 10 shaves per Personna blade I calculate I have enough blades to last me until I am 97 years old!

 

[Don_Pisto]

It makes a lot of sense for a blade intended for medical use to undergo some extra cleaning, but at the same time if such cleaning was done, it seems common sense the blade should either be wrapped in a sterile type of wrapping or wrapping that is sealed from the outside.

The sample blades I have, their wrapping is really cheap and has openings to the outside so now I wonder if the blades I have are real.

Here’s a photo. Are these cruddy wrapped blades, intended for medical use, the real deal?

 

[CJB3]

Are they different from personna lab and Israeli Personna?

To me the med preps are sharper and smoother than the reds. I haven’t tried the blues yet.

 

[Toothpick]

What gets me is that for medical use they have to be cleaned and sterilized in an additional step. But for lab (laboratory perhaps?) use they do not. ...? Huh? Wouldn’t you want the same cleaned, sterilized, blades in your lab as in a hospital? So why call them “med preps” and “lab blues”. To me that indicates that the lab blues are for laboratory use but are not as clean as the Meds. Just weird.

 

[pdieten]

Are they different from personna lab and Israeli Personna?

The med prep blades and the "lab" blades and the 100-packs of comfort coated blades for the barber market are all made in the US by what is now Accutec, formerly known as American Safety Razor's US operation, using the Personna name. The Crystals are made by what was originally Bond American-Israel Blades in Nazareth.

ASR bought Bond in 1996 because Bond had a big business selling blades private label in the US and ASR wanted to own that business. The blades then became known as Israeli Personnas, sold mostly to consumers under private label but they used the Personna name sometimes too. They stopped selling their old US-made blades at retail after that. But the Israeli operation has now been sold to Edgewell, still using the Personna name.

The US blades are primarily sold to industrial customers and barber/beauty customers. You can get 5-packs of those at Sally Beauty or 100s on Amazon or eBay. At under $13 per 100 they're a pretty good deal if you like these blades. But unless you order from Ted Pella or someplace like that, there's no other obvious way to get these other than eBay that I know of.

Having used quite a few of each, I don't think US Personnas and Israeli blades are the same at all. They're made in completely different countries on different equipment. All of the US blades in their various packaging should all be pretty much the same as each other. All the Israeli blades in their various packaging should be pretty much the same as each other. But I don't find the US and Israeli blades much alike. They're both good, but in different ways.

 

[Graydog]

I just finished off my first 100 med preps that I purchased a couple of years ago.
I have used many different blades including the lab blues , I don't know why but I always found the med prep to give me a smoother shave , I am thinking that it is all in my head.
The only other blade that I have found for me to give me such a smooth shave is the Vintage Gillette Spoiler. And they are more money .
So going to get my next 100 . At 3 times the price of the labs I figure if it's only in my head
Then it is still worth it to me.