Are the two boxes of blades below the exact same blades just in different packaging? Both say comfort coated, but one say it with yellow highlights around the wording and different packaging design. Also, are these Personna blades called “lab blue”? If so, are they different than the medical prep Personnas in regards to smoothness and sharpness? If anyone has used the blades below what are your thoughts on them? I purchased a 5 pack of Personna comfort coated blades from Duluth Trading Company and found them to be quite sharp and snooth. Pictures below. Thanks, Mullard
Personna Comfort Coated Blades
- Thread starter mullard
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My favorite blades. Smooth, comfortable shave and made in the USA!
from what I know, they are the same blade, just new packaging
I so think too. The top box is the older packaging.
That said, the whole Personna business is foggy. Edgewell (Schick / Wilkinson Sword) owns the brand for consumer products but sold off the "industrial division" in 2015, which was renamed AccuTec Blades. They are the maker of blades shown above with plants in the US and Mexico: https://atblades.com/products/?pa_application=beauty
But Edgewell also has a DE blade: Double Edge Razor Blades
And then who makes the Lab Blue / Med prep and who owns the Israel made products? Edgewell too? Manufacturing Operations | Personna
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Probably the same blade!! That’s the best one can do with Personna products IMO!!
Yes, they are the same blade but they are not the Medical Prep blades. The Medical Prep blades go through an extra cleaning process. Some folks feel they shave the same - while other folks say they are sharper or smoother.
Personna/Edgewell has said in the past repeatedly that the Med Prep only gets an extra sanitization as opposed to the regular Blues, i.e., Comfort Coated made in USA blades.
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The pictured boxes contain blades made by Accutec in the US and packaged for the barber/beauty market. This is what is made in the US for people to shave with, as long as you have access to a beauty supply store. Sally Beauty carries them in 5-pack dispensers. Accutec once had a distributor where you could buy them online but that company (Spilo) was bought out and their website closed. I don't know where the beauty supply stores that carry the boxes of 100 get them from now.
American Safety Razor was always in the US and then in 1996 they bought a blade maker in Israel to get their manufacturing operation and access to their private-label customers. After the merger the Israeli products were still generally packaged as private store label blades, though sometimes they'd use the Personna name on them. These are what are called Personna red blades. They're not the same as what OP pictured.
After Edgewell bought ASR out of bankruptcy they split the company and spun off the old US ASR operation as Accutec, but kept the Israeli operation. One company owns the Personna name and all the other trademarks, and licenses to the other, but I don't know which is which.
The lab blue and med prep blades are Accutec DE blades made in the US. The lab blues are packaged as boxes of 250 and 5000 and sold into the industrial / science market, and med preps get special processing and sold to the medical market. Unclear whether lab blues and the barber blades are exactly the same or not. Perhaps the barber blades get sterilized where the industrial blades don't, or something like that, but I'd be pretty surprised if there were any differences in grinding/honing/coating other than batch variation.
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My new go to blade since the anti-male Gillette ads.
Do they have the same UPC or different ones? If they're the same, then the blades are the same, regardless of the packaging artwork.
The Med Preps and the Lab Blues both give me the same shave, but the Meds go through an extra cleaning step.
But if a product has a new refinement/improvement, such as when Personna advertised their Comfort Coated blades as 25% sharper a few years back, that would not require one to the best of my knowledge.
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- #14
Great information posted here. I have shaved for years almost exclusively with made in England Wilkinsons. However, they are getting harder and harder to find and more and more pricey. I have quite a few still on hand; however, I am really liking these made in the U.S.A. Personna blades.
I have noticed that the lab blue comfort coated blades and the medical prep blades have come in different packaging over the years, but I assume their performance hasn’t been changed with the different packaging designs.
I have noticed that the lab blue comfort coated blades and the medical prep blades have come in different packaging over the years, but I assume their performance hasn’t been changed with the different packaging designs.
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- #15
Medical Prep Blades that were mentioned. See picture.
I've been using one of these, from Sally Beauty (Canada).
Vaguely named, but I've been calling them a "Personna barber blade".
The markings on the blades are plainer and different from the ones in the OP pix.
They don't even say "Personna". Just the four arrows on both sides, and "Made in USA" at the end of the slot on one side only.
They're okay blades, in the same league as Astra SP.
Vaguely named, but I've been calling them a "Personna barber blade".
The markings on the blades are plainer and different from the ones in the OP pix.
They don't even say "Personna". Just the four arrows on both sides, and "Made in USA" at the end of the slot on one side only.
They're okay blades, in the same league as Astra SP.
I've been using one of these, from Sally Beauty (Canada).
Vaguely named, but I've been calling them a "Personna barber blade".
The markings on the blades are plainer and different from the ones in the OP pix.
They don't even say "Personna". Just the four arrows on both sides, and "Made in USA" at the end of the slot on one side only.
They're okay blades, in the same league as Astra SP.
They are the same blade as in the OP's post, just marketed differently.
Those are the same blades as OP's, they just have arrows printed because they're in a dispenser instead of being wrapped. I have a pack of those too and find them as good as anything I regularly use but at $3 per 5 they're damn expensive to buy from Sally. The 100 boxes online are much more economical
Ah.
I just found this bit of info at Fendrihan, on the product page for the ones shown in the photo that I posted.
So, that settles it for me, as far as the name goes.
Yeah, it was an impulse buy for me because I had never tried them before.
Thanks everyone for the information in this thread. @pdieten you provided some good detailed information.
I would like to ask for clarification to fill in the gaps or confirm information about the different blades I see mentioned here and on the first few pages of an ebay search. Please help me correct any mistakes in the following:
1) The 100 blade packs (no plastic tucks) with new packaging as shown in post #1 are made in Virginia.
2) The 100 blade packs (no plastic tucks) with old packaging as shown in post #1 are also made in Virginia. Presumed to be the same blade as #1, though in pictures it seems the printing on blades may be different. These old ones have arrows as if the stock will also be suitable for loading into the old style TTO loaders. They also have made in USA printed a second time on the tab. But except for printing on the blades, #1 and #2 should shave the same.
3) Personna Red Israeli platinum in cardboard tuck - Presumably these are made in Israel by the spinoff company. Or at least not made in Virginia. Basically a different blade but because of the company tree history with ASR/Accutec it shares the Personna name.
4) Personna platinum-chrome stainless steel in a White plastic tuck with blue label, 10 blades per tuck - unclear where these are made but I did see a seller in Sweden that ships 200 for about $24 so maybe they are made in Sweden?
5) Medical Prep blades - Assumed to be the same blade sharpness wise with blade #1 but has been super cleaned and has different printing on the blade to distinguish it as suitable for medical use.
6) TTO loader in Red/Black packaging. Looks similar to what I saw years ago in Walmart. Are these Israeli?
7) Blades posted by @John Rose. I see one similar listing on ebay but the blade printing is so smudged it does not read USA. The back of the package stated: "Blades made in U.S.A. Assembled in Mexico." That was surprising as I would have expected the packaging to be automated and not worth transporting offsite. So these would be the USA made TTO blades in contrast to #6.
My reason for asking these question is that I may buy some Personna. Mainly for giveaway but a few for personal use. Where I am interested in getting blades that are :
I would like to ask for clarification to fill in the gaps or confirm information about the different blades I see mentioned here and on the first few pages of an ebay search. Please help me correct any mistakes in the following:
1) The 100 blade packs (no plastic tucks) with new packaging as shown in post #1 are made in Virginia.
2) The 100 blade packs (no plastic tucks) with old packaging as shown in post #1 are also made in Virginia. Presumed to be the same blade as #1, though in pictures it seems the printing on blades may be different. These old ones have arrows as if the stock will also be suitable for loading into the old style TTO loaders. They also have made in USA printed a second time on the tab. But except for printing on the blades, #1 and #2 should shave the same.
3) Personna Red Israeli platinum in cardboard tuck - Presumably these are made in Israel by the spinoff company. Or at least not made in Virginia. Basically a different blade but because of the company tree history with ASR/Accutec it shares the Personna name.
4) Personna platinum-chrome stainless steel in a White plastic tuck with blue label, 10 blades per tuck - unclear where these are made but I did see a seller in Sweden that ships 200 for about $24 so maybe they are made in Sweden?
5) Medical Prep blades - Assumed to be the same blade sharpness wise with blade #1 but has been super cleaned and has different printing on the blade to distinguish it as suitable for medical use.
6) TTO loader in Red/Black packaging. Looks similar to what I saw years ago in Walmart. Are these Israeli?
7) Blades posted by @John Rose. I see one similar listing on ebay but the blade printing is so smudged it does not read USA. The back of the package stated: "Blades made in U.S.A. Assembled in Mexico." That was surprising as I would have expected the packaging to be automated and not worth transporting offsite. So these would be the USA made TTO blades in contrast to #6.
My reason for asking these question is that I may buy some Personna. Mainly for giveaway but a few for personal use. Where I am interested in getting blades that are :
A) made in the Virginia plant
B) packaged in individual tucks as opposed to a big box of 100. Though don't really need/want a TTO loader package.
C) with enough printing so that each side is distinguishable. Meaning does not need the 1,2,3,4 numbers but if there are ones with say only symmetrical arrows, then those are not desirable.
B) packaged in individual tucks as opposed to a big box of 100. Though don't really need/want a TTO loader package.
C) with enough printing so that each side is distinguishable. Meaning does not need the 1,2,3,4 numbers but if there are ones with say only symmetrical arrows, then those are not desirable.
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