I won't beat around the bush, while ymmv the Personna Meds and the Iridium Super blades blow everything else away in my opinion. Put in a 7 O'clock black today after hearing a lot of good about it. Didn't like it at all. The yellow is better in my opinion. No blades offer the sharpness, smoothness and forgiveness of the Med and the Super. Feather may be slightly and I mean slightly sharper, overall especially after the first shave it pales in comparison. Unfortunately I understand the Iridium Super is no more. I have some Polsilver on the way to see how they compare to the Iridium. If they are identical I can see adding them. If not I will make my first 100 blade purchase of Meds. More expensive than many but well worth it to me. I have heard to just get the labs as they are pretty much the same for half the price. I will give them a try, but I doubt Personna decided to sell the same blade for half the price, there has to be a difference. In any case the Med and the Iridium are top of the mark to me.
Personna Med and Iridium super, can't touch this.
- Thread starter Raydermiike
- Start date
Grab some of the saloon packed personna super blue blades. They are the same blade that is marked for hospital use but around $12 per 100 count.
You can buy the white box personna super blues if you want your blade to say "For hospital use" on it but that is a lot to pay for silkscreening
You can buy the white box personna super blues if you want your blade to say "For hospital use" on it but that is a lot to pay for silkscreening
- Thread starter
- #3
Ok Turtle got some on the way. While I can't find any info that conclusively outlines the difference, it seems that the consensus is that the Meds go through a further sterilization process and that is the main difference. That would make sense.
Side by side shaves with SA razors set to 9, both blades gave me identical shaves, no Hospital blades for me when I can get 100 of the blue for $12.50 shipped.
i have both also and i see 0 difference between them some swear they are different i dont see it. i like the labs but imo the si's are so much better i dont find the labs as sharp as i normally like but they are still far better than many others.
I've got a couple hundred of each... just because I have them. If I were going out to GET them, it would be a 100 count of the saloon blades for me @ $12.
- Thread starter
- #7
If what I have found truly is the scoop then the only difference would be a sterilization process to make the Meds suitable for hospital use. That would make sense to me and would obviously incur added cost. The Med is the smoothest blade I have ever used, I would not suspect further sterilization would make a markedly better shaving blade. To me the Med was smooth and much more so than most any other blade, the difference is easy to tell.
If you really like the original SIs you can still get them from our friendly Spanish seller over in the vendor section. They're more reasonably priced now than I've seen them in the past few years. So if you really love them, pick up a hundred and two or three hundred while you can still get them.
i have also tried both the ir's now the old and new and imo they shave exactly the same. i cant see any difference. the only reason i can see the meds shaving better could be if the second sterilization procc heats them and cools them again this could harden the metal more...but i dont see the difference
I tried both again in two identical SA razors last night on my head and clean up on my neck after a SR shave. Could have sworn one was better when I first started but when I switched over to the other razor in the same spot, it felt the same.
End result: Same shave, smooth, no weepers, wonderful. To be certain for your own face and skin, you really have to do a double, double blind test. Anything less is just speculation.
Sidebar: I thought I had a Personna Med in the short handle SA last week when shaving my head and I got such a wonderful, smooth shave. I opened it up to verify and it was a Ripira that I had loaded the week before when I first received them. To be fair, it crashed at the very beginning of the third shave but two fantastic shaves off of a $.06 blade? I can live with that.
End result: Same shave, smooth, no weepers, wonderful. To be certain for your own face and skin, you really have to do a double, double blind test. Anything less is just speculation.
Sidebar: I thought I had a Personna Med in the short handle SA last week when shaving my head and I got such a wonderful, smooth shave. I opened it up to verify and it was a Ripira that I had loaded the week before when I first received them. To be fair, it crashed at the very beginning of the third shave but two fantastic shaves off of a $.06 blade? I can live with that.
im not liking the standard rapira blades much they are pretty good during the first shave until the end. where for me even the first shave causes them stress my hairs are so thick they just beat the snot out of them lol...so i got maybe 2 shaves but they crashed for me almost before the second shave started. am liking the voskhods and will be trying the lux's in 2 days those ive been dying to try for a while. im hoping for a voskhod smoothness but sharper. they would rock if thats the case. the voskhod were awesome on my skin very nice to it but were not as sharp as i was hoping. got a nice dfs shave but took a bit of work to get bbs with them and my hair.
- Thread starter
- #12
Since I first started this thread I have used the Personna Labs as well as the Meds, I did not do any double blind or vigorous testing merely used both for multiple shaves. I have found that if there is any difference at all it is tough to find. The Labs give an excellent, smooth shave as well. I find the blade and the price point too good to pass up, not that price is the driver, whatever makes you happy I say. If you haven't tried the Labs I say give 'em a shot. One caveat, even though I am still very much a newb just three months in, I am finding that the more I do this the more I can make most blades work just fine. It is more the feel and how much work does it take to get a good shave as opposed to can you get a good shave.
You might enjoy these threads:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...st-12-Iridium-Super-vs-Polsiver-Super-Iridium
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/291882-Blind-test-7-Med-Prep-vs-Iridium-Super
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/305863-Blind-test-9-Personna-Med-vs-Lab
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...st-11-Med-vs-Lab-round-2?highlight=blind+test
Smooth Shaving!
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...st-12-Iridium-Super-vs-Polsiver-Super-Iridium
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/291882-Blind-test-7-Med-Prep-vs-Iridium-Super
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/305863-Blind-test-9-Personna-Med-vs-Lab
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...st-11-Med-vs-Lab-round-2?highlight=blind+test
Smooth Shaving!
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- Thread starter
- #14
Thanks for the links. I have to come to the same conclusions in my experience with all those blades, They are all EXCELLENT and I know I could be happy with any of them. Whether or not anyone but the manufacturer can say conclusively they are the same blades in each case I don't know, all I know is there is little difference between each sibling and they are all great.
Glad you like them. I have been using these blades for close to three years now. See this. I spoke with an individual at Personna back then (before it was bought out) and she explained to me that the med blades went through a sterilization process that the labs did not go through and she thought that this process should not change the shave you get from them.
