Personna Med Prep

[dacat]

I got a few of these as a sample and wonder if these are the real thing? Came in blue wrapper and markings on blade do not say Med Prep but rather Super, same on the wrapper. I am thinking these are not the real thing.

Not as sharp as Feather btw.

If someone can hook me up with finding real Med blades would be very kind. Not a box of 100 just a few.

 

[razorhead63]

To be a real Med Prep, it has to have printed on one side of the blade "Made in USA" AND (most importantly) "for hospital use"....
if it only says Super on it, it is most likely a Lab Blue....... also the Med Preps are USA made just as the Lab Blues are.....
I hope this helps......

John H. (big fan of the Personna Med Preps!!!)

 

[razorhead63]

The "razorbladesandmore" site has what you need for Med Prep samples, 10 blades for 4 bucks.......

John H.

 

[markmars]

The "razorbladesandmore" site has what you need for Med Prep samples, 10 blades for 4 bucks.......

John H.

Thanks I wanted to try the Med Prep and ordered some.

 

[KRpdx]

Med Preps to me are about as sharp and more forgiving than Feathers. I bought 100 on Amazon for $28.99, though I noticed the other day the price has jumped to $32. There are several online surgical supply retailers that sell them in that price range.

 

[ArNav]

Very good blades. I found them similar to KAI.

 

[nymtber]

Med Preps and Lab blues are the same for me. Darn good blades.

Lab Blue are available on Ebay or Amazon for $13 shipped...for 100

 

[Miesterio]

I don't think there is a difference shave wise from meds and labs.

 

[crfcom]

My beard is very coarse and heavy, and my skin is sensitive, so blades tend not to last as long for me as for most, and when a blade starts to lose sharpness and tug, my sensitive skin notices immediately. Feathers have always been a poor blade for me because they don't last long and when they start to lose sharpness they don't mess around, the wheels come off mid-shave. Med-Preps have always been a favorite, along with 7 o'clock Blacks and Polsilver SI's, because they are sharp and smooth, and I consistently get 5 shaves from all of them. When they start to lose sharpness, its gradual and I can generally finish a shave before tossing it.
I agree that Labs feel and last as well, but I've gotten a couple of bad blades with the Labs, and with Med Preps getting cheaper, I just buy the Med Preps.

 

[redtide]

I got a few of these as a sample and wonder if these are the real thing? Came in blue wrapper and markings on blade do not say Med Prep but rather Super, same on the wrapper. I am thinking these are not the real thing.

Hospital is top and lab is below.

View attachment 366418

 

[Chadao]

I am not positive they are the same...but I trust Oscroft's tests, and he couldn't tell the difference. All that matters to me is the first 3-4 shaves. I just finished with a med prep and have a lab blue loaded for my next shave.

 

[nymtber]

Again, I have used both and they both shave the same.

Lab Blue: $13/100 shipped on ebay.
Med prep: $32 + shipping (WCS)

Easy choice for me.

If you seem to feel Med Prep are better, more power to you! But I'll probably buy a few more 100 packs of Lab Blue

 

[RandyB]

My understanding is that the Labs and Med Preps are the exact same blade, EXCEPT that the Med Preps are sterilized for hospital use.

 

[cfender]

My understanding is that the Labs and Med Preps are the exact same blade, EXCEPT that the Med Preps are sterilized for hospital use.

Just some clarification. Years ago a B&B'r actually got an email response from American Safety Razor (ASR) to his question as to whether the "Meds" and "Labs" were actually the same blade. I don't have a link to the B&B thread but to paraphrase the response was that the blades are the same but the "Meds" go through an additional "cleansing" process. There was no claim that they were actually sterilized and it is unlikely that they are sterile as the company would likely market that benefit if it were so. The belief that they are sterilized seems to be a misinterpretation that the claimed cleansing process results in sterilization.

My unsolicited opinion is that the blades are the same and there is actually no additional process or cleansing applied to the "Meds". I think ASR years ago took advantage of health care buyers that would pay more for a product that was branded "For Hospital Use". I'd be interested to hear from anyone in the health care industry that has experience with the purchasing practices and whether my suspicion is plausible.

 

[zygalski]

My understanding is that the Labs and Med Preps are the exact same blade, EXCEPT that the Med Preps are sterilized for hospital use.

That's what Personna are telling sellers if they bother to ask!

 

[jwilock]

Just some clarification. Years ago a B&B'r actually got an email response from American Safety Razor (ASR) to his question as to whether the "Meds" and "Labs" were actually the same blade. I don't have a link to the B&B thread but to paraphrase the response was that the blades are the same but the "Meds" go through an additional "cleansing" process. There was no claim that they were actually sterilized and it is unlikely that they are sterile as the company would likely market that benefit if it were so. The belief that they are sterilized seems to be a misinterpretation that the claimed cleansing process results in sterilization.


My unsolicited opinion is that the blades are the same and there is actually no additional process or cleansing applied to the "Meds". I think ASR years ago took advantage of health care buyers that would pay more for a product that was branded "For Hospital Use". I'd be interested to hear from anyone in the health care industry that has experience with the purchasing practices and whether my suspicion is plausible.

I do know a bit about this and there are lots of things meant for medical use that must go through an approval process to make sure they are safe to use in a hospital setting. Sort of like a lot of things need to be approved for military use. In either case such products generally cost more than "off the shelf" products that might be identical.

People should read the text of the reply that cfender is referring to. I don't have a link handy. As he said, it does NOT say they are sterilized. It mentions an additional "cleaning up" process. Furthermore, I'd have to check the precise wording, but I'm not even sure it says they are the exact same blade except for the additional process. As I recall it said they were made by two separate divisions and that the process was the same and they were the same "for all practical purposes". Also it seemed clear to me that the person who replied was not an engineer and so might not have been sensitive to specific differences. My memory of that response led me to think they were likely the same blade, but not definitely so.

Who knows? The "cleaning up" process could conceivably be a process to strop the edges to remove any possible lose metal that might enter an open wound. That might lead the Meds to actually perform better than the Labs. I know that's a stretch. But my point is that it's important to know what the note actually said and not read more into it than what it actually said.

 

[ackvil]

Just some clarification. Years ago a B&B'r actually got an email response from American Safety Razor (ASR) to his question as to whether the "Meds" and "Labs" were actually the same blade. I don't have a link to the B&B thread but to paraphrase the response was that the blades are the same but the "Meds" go through an additional "cleansing" process. There was no claim that they were actually sterilized and it is unlikely that they are sterile as the company would likely market that benefit if it were so. The belief that they are sterilized seems to be a misinterpretation that the claimed cleansing process results in sterilization.

My unsolicited opinion is that the blades are the same and there is actually no additional process or cleansing applied to the "Meds". I think ASR years ago took advantage of health care buyers that would pay more for a product that was branded "For Hospital Use". I'd be interested to hear from anyone in the health care industry that has experience with the purchasing practices and whether my suspicion is plausible.

I wrote to ASR who owned Personna some time ago. I posted about it here. I also posted about my writing as follows:

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 ASR went bankrupt its assets were acquired by Energizer Holdings. I have written to them twice asking if the correspondence I had with ASR is still accurate. However, I have never received a response.

 

[cfender]

I wrote to ASR who owned Personna some time ago. I posted about it here. I also posted about my writing as follows:



Since ASR went bankrupt its assets were acquired by Energizer Holdings. I have written to them twice asking if the correspondence I had with ASR is still accurate. However, I have never received a response.

Thanks for resurecting the content from your early post on this topic. It is precisely what I remembered.

There were also several posts more recently where a B&B'r purchased the 100 pack box of "Med" blades (from Robbins I think) , received them packaged in the correct white box, and same familiar blue wrappers, but the blades had the text printed on them like the "Labs". They DID NOT have "For Hospital Use" printed on them.

The retailer checked with ASR and was assured that the blades WERE the "Meds" but that the factory had made a mistake in the labeling of the individual blades.

This explanation made me suspicious about what ASR was doing with these two variety of blades. In my mind it made the explanation that ackvil received regarding the seperate "Medical" and "Industrial" manufacturing process less plausible. I think it is more likely that the Industrial and Medical distinction is merely marketing.

Anyway, its purely an academic discussion for me. Neither of the blades have worked well for me.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

I recently bought some Med Preps and Labs from WCS and ran a microscopic analysis on them at 25x. The only difference seen is the Meds have no residual oil and the Labs show a little bit (of oil).

The Meds are not marked as being sterile, and being stainless steel would be autoclaved prior to use if sterilization were required at the hospital, as they do to all metal instruments. So a sterilization step at the factory would be unnecessary. I can see the extra washing to ensure removal of machine oil, though.

That washing step very likely eliminates any organisms from the blade as well, but the packaging is not sealed to ensure they stay that way, so they can't be marked as being sterile.

Stan

 

[Chadao]

Fun, and I have a PIF going on these right now. I am coming to think this is my favorite urban myth.