Thoughts on Med Prep Personnas

[Blondie]

So I had tried a couple of these and they seemed to be a very forgiving sharp smooth blade. Decided to pull the trigger on a larger purchase, received them, and was VERY disappointed in the shave, not smooth at all. Figured maybe they just aren't for me, face changing and what not, so I put them on the BST. In following up with the buyer, it seemed he had the same experience I did. Lackluster, rough shaves. We took some comparison photos, and there seem to be some differences. The bottom blades in the following photos are the blades in question. The last photo is a random pull with picture taken with a loupe.



I'm thinking there are some QC issues with these blades. I went ahead and refunded the members money. Will see if the vendor can help out. Would like to have a good source for these blades.

 

[CWX]

The blades on top in the 1st photo, the ones you liked, are indeed Personna Med Prep blades. The ones in the lower photo are likely the Personna Lab (they are missing the "For Hospital Use") blades. They don't go through the same level of QC as the Med's do. That said, I have tried both the Med's and Labs and although I feel they are inferior to the Meds, got decent shaves from the Labs.

I'm not sure if the batch of Labs you got were just a bad bunch or if they are fakes, but either way, they should not have been sold as Med's as the Labs tend to sell for around half as much as the Med's do.

 

[tattooed]

Looks like a knock off to me. While I have zero experience with knock off razor blades I know a good deal about Chinese knock offs in general. The apparent fix of the word Super in the logo and different paper wrapper sounds alarm for me. Not to mention the incredibly poor job with the blade stamp.

I happen to work about a mile from the ASR in Verona Va, I have half a mind to see if I can get some answers to this and some other questions I've had for a while now concerning labs and meds.

 

[warhawk]

Off topic... Are the Personna Med Preps & Personna Labs the same blade??? I noticed that both are packaged in the blue & white colors. Curious 2 know your thoughts...

WARHAWK

 

[Mick]

The ones in the lower photo are likely the Personna Lab (they are missing the "For Hospital Use") blades.

They do say for hospital use. The image on the bottom is smudged but is marked just like the one on the top and that is what it says

Here is a pic of both "variations" of the hospital marked blades (meds) the OP talks about and of the standard super blue blade (called labs by many)

 

[CWX]

They do say for hospital use. The image on the bottom is smudged but is marked just like the one on the top and that is what it says

Here is a pic of both "variations" of the hospital marked blades (meds) the OP talks about and of the standard super blue blade (called labs by many)

Oh wow, that's really smudged. It didn't look like it said much of anything. I'm leaning towards knock-offs, then. As spotty as Personna's QC reputably is, I can't see them letting a chipped blade out, especially on their hospital use blades - it would be an insurance nightmare.

 

[BTJR99]

I have both the meds and the labs so I ran up and took a couple of pictures.
Top blade is the med and the bottom is the lab.


These are the same blades and wrappers flipped over. Again meds on top labs on bottom.

Strange how one side of the med has nice clear imprint and the other is all smudged like the op's blade.

 

[Blondie]

I have both the meds and the preps so I ran up and took a couple of pictures.
Top blade is the med and the bottom is the lab.

View attachment 242289
These are the same blades and wrappers flipped over. Again meds on top labs on bottom.
View attachment 242290
Strange how one side of the med has nice clear imprint and the other is all smudged like the op's blade.

I was just thinking the same thing. I'm still thinking this is more QC than fakes...

 

[Alphonse]

i do believe there are two separate printers for each side of the blade.. but that is just a guess after watching how blades are made on youtube. I think it's possible you got knockoffs, but i dunno. I only buy from vendors that get the blades factory direct. Makes me want to inspect the edge of each blade I use. Wish i had a microscope...

 

[tattooed]

The more pics I see the more I'm starting think its just QC. It's almost like zero pride in making sure the blades are presented as high quality. That's a shame, I've had plenty of family members work there in decades past and they all seemed to be proud to do so. I wonder if I went up there if anyone would give me the time of day to ask a few questions.

 

[mblakele]

They could be genuine blades that failed QC, but somehow made it into one sales channel or another. Sometimes bad runs of product get lost on the way to the land-fill, incinerator, or smelter... and then show up again.

 

[5savages]

The blades on top in the 1st photo, the ones you liked, are indeed Personna Med Prep blades. The ones in the lower photo are likely the Personna Lab (they are missing the "For Hospital Use") blades. They don't go through the same level of QC as the Med's do.

Now how do you come by this information, that the Labs don't go through the same level of QC? The best information I've seen, which was posted here by someone in contact with ASRC, did not indicate that at all. They indicated that ASCR says the only difference is the Meds go through another washing or cleaning step.

If you have solid information that the QC is different between the two, I'd love to hear about it.

 

[GreekGuy]

Off topic... Are the Personna Med Preps & Personna Labs the same blade??? I noticed that both are packaged in the blue & white colors. Curious 2 know your thoughts...

WARHAWK

This issue has been addressed over and over again...

 

[GreekGuy]

My guess is that they are fakes.

Poor Edge? Strike 1: Plausible manufacturing issues

Poor blade stamping? Strike 2: Unlikely to be so off, but plausible

Abnormal package stamping? Strike 3: Unlikely again, but plausible

I think all of these factors could theoretically be abnormal, but to have 3 variations on one package? Well...either Personna is having a huge amount of problems at their plant or a certain country has been doing what they do best

 

[franz]

Some of these variations are so screwy that you have to hope they're from counterfeit blades. Otherwise, that's downright embarrassing.

The wrapping (top left in the original post) looks especially suspect.

 

[Almightys]

My guess is that they are Katrina blades

 

[Neognosis]

The font is not even the same on the wrappers.

 

[Cicatero]

I'd think ASR would be very interested in hearing about both serious QC failures and the prospect counterfeit blades, especially "Hospital Use" counterfeits, on the open market. Who knows, they might be so grateful for you bringing it to their attention, they could throw some replacement blades your way.

It couldn't hurt.