Personna Lab Blue vs. Personna Lab Blue

[Chadao]

I bought a 5 pack of Personna Labs in the blue packaging from WCS. I loved them. These blades were perfect for me. Sharp enough for a close shave yet mild enough to prevent blood loss. Wow! These were great.

So I bought 100. They came, and I notice several differences. The new blades were individually wrapped. Not surprising, just different. And the new blades were stamped Personna and Made U.S.A., whereas those that had come in the 5 pack were only stamped Made U.S.A.

And there is a difference in the shave. The originals were smooth from the beginning. The new blades were rough, rougher on the first shave than any other blade I have tried. I still got a very close shave and I didn't bleed, but that initial smoothness was missing. With subsequent shaves the roughness disappeared. I have tried two of the new blades before writing this.

Does anyone know what happened? Are these really the same blade? I am think about buying another 5 pack to compare.

 

[dparish1952]

I thought I knew they were different, but now I don't know.

Personna has been through bankruptcy, and they are changing things.

The 5 pack does not appear on Personnablades.com or Personna.com; the 100 box, which used to appear under the Medical tab on Personnablades.com, also does not appear on either site. I thought the 5 pack packaging differed from the 100 box, but now on WCS they are the same.

A new product description now appears on their beauty & barber site: See here. It looks like they are positioning their US made Stainless Steel DE blades to work in three different product lines (medical, beauty & barber, and industrial).

So in your case perhaps the packaging was changed to be the same, but the blades were different, but someday the blades will be the same and maybe stamped the same (or maybe differently, like the med prep blades)?

But then which blade will be the survivor, the 5 pack (which you like) or the 100 box (which I like)??

Dennis

 

[ArNav]

Personna has been through bankruptcy.

I didn't know that...

 

[cfender]

I've experienced QC issues with the individually wrapped (blue) "Labs". My experience has been very inconsistent. I'm not sure how the bankruptcy factors into this but I've often thought that the market for DE blades in the US has got to be pretty limited and unless Personna is exporting these to countries where DE shaving is more prevalent, it will be hard to justify the continued production of the various Made in USA blades ("Meds", "Labs", "Blues", "Barbers", Personna Store brands, etc.).

 

[Chadao]

I've experienced QC issues with the individually wrapped (blue) "Labs". My experience has been very inconsistent. I'm not sure how the bankruptcy factors into this but I've often thought that the market for DE blades in the US has got to be pretty limited and unless Personna is exporting these to countries where DE shaving is more prevalent, it will be hard to justify the continued production of the various Made in USA blades ("Meds", "Labs", "Blues", "Barbers", Personna Store brands, etc.).

Thanks for the info everyone. I guess I better keep searching for my perfect blade. So, which blades are closest to the Lab Blues?

 

[mastershake]

personna meds. they are imo the same blade but as far as my experience have better quality control i have had a few bad labs but no bad meds. otherwise have you tried the gillette black, silver blue, or the rapira swede / lux, http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ld-you-say-would-be-the-personna-lab-med-twin

 

[Shave_Rat]

Gillette 7 o'clock Blues have given me the closest to personna for shave quality and smoothness.

 

[branford]

I bought a 5 pack of Personna Labs in the blue packaging from WCS. I loved them. These blades were perfect for me. Sharp enough for a close shave yet mild enough to prevent blood loss. Wow! These were great.

So I bought 100. They came, and I notice several differences. The new blades were individually wrapped. Not surprising, just different. And the new blades were stamped Personna and Made U.S.A., whereas those that had come in the 5 pack were only stamped Made U.S.A.

And there is a difference in the shave. The originals were smooth from the beginning. The new blades were rough, rougher on the first shave than any other blade I have tried. I still got a very close shave and I didn't bleed, but that initial smoothness was missing. With subsequent shaves the roughness disappeared. I have tried two of the new blades before writing this.

Does anyone know what happened? Are these really the same blade? I am think about buying another 5 pack to compare.

I had the opposite experience. The 5 pack that I purchases was terrible, but blades from the 100 box were excellent. For your reference, I also started an informative thread asking the same question.

 

[Chadao]

Thanks everyone. I started my 3rd new Lab and it is much less rough and more like what I expected. But I have samples of some of the suggested blades and will check out the suggested thread as well.

 

[mastershake]

imo the labs are great but sometimes probably from shipping or packing they do have a rough patch of blades. and when i had this happen i found a few in a row and once i got past those they were great again. what i dont like is the way the labs / meds are wrapped. i would personally MUCH prefer a better packaging then the way the 100 packs are i know its nice small and easy to ship that way but i see to much possibility for edge damage sometimes. i have also seen some where the sides were barely wrapped over the blade out of the pack. i dont have this experience from blades wrapped other ways including the personna reds but i like the labs better overall.

 

[Chadao]

imo the labs are great but sometimes probably from shipping or packing they do have a rough patch of blades. and when i had this happen i found a few in a row and once i got past those they were great again. what i dont like is the way the labs / meds are wrapped. i would personally MUCH prefer a better packaging then the way the 100 packs are i know its nice small and easy to ship that way but i see to much possibility for edge damage sometimes. i have also seen some where the sides were barely wrapped over the blade out of the pack. i dont have this experience from blades wrapped other ways including the personna reds but i like the labs better overall.

Valid point, excellent observation. This may be what I am experiencing now.