Personna Lab Blue --- same as Barber Personna , or same as Medical Personna ?

[zygalski]

I have to say I rather like the barber ones in the white dispenser.
To me they perform like a slightly sharper version of the ultra-smooth Platinum Chromes, so I'd happily use them again.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

I received my 100 pack of Personna Med Preps from WCS yesterday. I had recently bought a 100 pack of what WCS sells as Personna Lab Blues three weeks ago.

I inspected one of each blade under a 25x optical comparator microscope today. I can see no difference between either blade edge even using polarized light which will show different contrast if the coatings should be different.

The Med Preps say For Hospital Use on them as they always did. The Lab Blues only say Personna Super. Both use the same blue wrapper, with Verona VA and Made in USA printed on them. The Med Prep box is plain, while the Lab Blue box is all fancy printed in three languages (English, French and Spanish) with a pic of a blade on it to boot. Also, Now 25% Sharper!

I shaved with both this morning. One type blade on each side. No difference. As it always was. So, this is the bottom line from me.

Stan

 

[Ashley Rosser]

Nope. My blades were individually wrapped in blue paper. So either they are labs or med preps. I don't recall the wording for med prepes, but i'm pretty sure that it wasn't on any of the blades i've used. So i'll go as far as saying that i'm 99% sure i've been using lab preps.

Then you did get True blues.....

I've gotten the arrow printed blade with my sampler, checked other vendors and they seemed to have the same white package listed as Labs in their pictures.
Three well know vendors on three continents, Personna's confuse everyone I suppose.

 

[Chadao]

Thanks James23. I just used a Med Prep and this time it felt smoother, but not so smooth I will buy 100. I suppose we all will argue this until the end of time, unless we hear from a factory insider, or we finally learn how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Thanks to Chadao who sent me some Barbers, Lab Blues and Medical Personna's I have been a doing a week long test. This week I did Lab Blues VS Blister pack Personna's I bought at Sally's.

One I used the same soap and brush and the same razor. On day one I used two super speeds of the same year(1976) and shaved one side with the blister pack and the other with the Lab Blues. To me they were both sharp but the Lab Blue was a lot smoother than the Blister pack Personna's. All shaves will be three pass WTG, XTG and ATG.

On the second day using the same brush and soap as the day before but did my entire face with the lab blues it was a great shave sharp and smooth.

On day three same as day two but I used the blister pack Personna and it was not as smooth or sharp but still a good shave.

Day four I used the blues again great shave smooth and still sharp.

Day five blister pack and it was not as smooth or sharp good to average.

Day six and the blues were still smooth and sharp.

Day seven the blister was really tugging and not fun I finished the ATG pass with the Lab Blue Personna and it was still smooth.

Day eight Lab Blue was still smooth and sharp I intend to use the lab blue another day to see how it does but I can say in my opinion there is a large difference in the blister pack Personna's and the Lab Blues.

Winner Lab Blues by a mile I have 4 blister packs personna's and now I want to just put them aside and order the Lab Blues but I will wait until I've don all three.


Next week blister vs Medical Personna's then Barbers to follow.

Jim

 

[apino]

I'm really confused right now... I ordered a few hundred Labs a couple of years back. They have the "25% Sharper!" text on the box and no arrows printed on the blades. They shave fine.

It seems from the pictures that the current (supposed) Labs do have the arrows which to me would imply they are actually Barbers (same as the blister pack)? The packaging still has the "25% Sharper!" text but looking more closely, there are subtle differences in the coloring of the box. Furthermore, the prices seem to have gone down dramatically since 2011 which has got me thinking maybe something has changed.

I'm interested in stocking up on the Labs some but are Labs actually available any more - or is it just Barbers and Meds?

 

[zygalski]

I've emailed Connaught Shaving asking if Paul can send me a sample of 5 of the individually blue wrapped Lab Blues for the same price as the white dispenser Barber blades...

 

[apino]

I've emailed Connaught Shaving asking if Paul can send me a sample of 5 of the individually blue wrapped Lab Blues for the same price as the white dispenser Barber blades...

Connaught Shaving, among others, sells the 100-packs as Labs but at least on the picture the blades have arrows printed on them. My 100-pack Labs from 2011 have no arrows. I thought arrows = Barbers, or maybe I am mistaken? Not only the packaging of the 100-packs (slightly different coloring) but also the blade inside has obviously changed.

 

[james23p]

I'm currently on day 4 with the Med Preps vs the blister pack with arrows. My current feeling is there is almost no difference in the shave from the Lab Blues but significantly better than the blister pack with I believe to be barbers. I will do a day by day once done.

Jim

 

[apino]

I got a $13.00 box of 100 "labs" off of Amazon a couple of months ago and they don't have the arrows on them. They have the "normal" printing on them. They are worlds ahead of the arrow printed Personnas I got at a $ store.

Hmm, I'm wondering if the 100 packs from Connaught or the same ones from eBay are the "good ol' regular" Labs, i.e. without the arrows? Because in the pictures the blades sure display the arrows on them.

 

[zygalski]

Thanks to Chadao who sent me some Barbers, Lab Blues and Medical Personna's I have been doing a week long test. This week I did Lab Blues VS Blister pack Personna's I bought at Sally's.

One I used the same soap and brush and the same razor. On day one I used two super speeds of the same year(1976) and shaved one side with the blister pack and the other with the Lab Blues. To me they were both sharp but the Lab Blue was a lot smoother than the Blister pack Personna's. All shaves will be three pass WTG, XTG and ATG.

On the second day using the same brush and soap as the day before but did my entire face with the lab blues it was a great shave sharp and smooth.

On day three same as day two but I used the blister pack Personna and it was not as smooth or sharp but still a good shave.

Day four I used the blues again great shave smooth and still sharp.

Day five blister pack and it was not as smooth or sharp good to average.

Day six and the blues were still smooth and sharp.

Day seven the blister was really tugging and not fun I finished the ATG pass with the Lab Blue Personna and it was still smooth.

Day eight Lab Blue was still smooth and sharp I intend to use the lab blue another day to see how it does but I can say in my opinion there is a large difference in the blister pack Personna's and the Lab Blues.

Winner Lab Blues by a mile I have 4 blister packs personna's and now I want to just put them aside and order the Lab Blues but I will wait until I've don all three.


Next week blister vs Medical Personna's then Barbers to follow.

Jim

According to Connaught Shaving you are mistaken:

"Hello,
Despite what might be said elsewhere we are assured by the Manufacturer Personna that the blades in the paper wrap and the blades in the dispensor are identical. We only sell the paper wrapped blades in the 100 packs so we are unable to supply smaller quantities than that I am afraid.

Best regards

Peter Mayhew
Connaughtshaving.com"

 

[apino]

These are the ones I got, ordered on 06-13-13. They definately shave better than the $store ones with arrows in the 5 pack plastic dispenser.

http://www.amazon.com/Personna-Double-Edge-Razor-Blades/dp/B0077LAJT2

OK. What's confusing is that the picture of the blade on the box is different than what is actually inside (i.e. there are no arrows on the actual blades). To add to the confusion, some vendors' pictures (looks like a stock photo provided by Personna) show the aforementioned box along with a couple of unwrapped blades laid out that do have the arrows (and I assume these "arrowed" ones to be Barbers?).

But in conclusion, it seems nothing has changed then - the 100 packs contain those same "non-arrowed" Labs like always before despite what it displays on the side of the box. And that's what I wanted to know.

 

[zygalski]

According to Connaught Shaving you are mistaken:

"Hello,
Despite what might be said elsewhere we are assured by the Manufacturer Personna that the blades in the paper wrap and the blades in the dispensor are identical. We only sell the paper wrapped blades in the 100 packs so we are unable to supply smaller quantities than that I am afraid.

Best regards

Peter Mayhew
Connaughtshaving.com"

My reply:

"Hi again.I think the problem is with Personna. They don't seem to know what they produce; different forum members are being told different things by different Personna employees, eg there seem to be about 3 or 4 current incarnations of just the Platinum Chrome. Their branding is a complete mess. If the manufacturer doesn't know what product they're selling then there's little chance vendors or the end purchaser will!
I personally think from what I've read that there is a difference between the unmarked Barber blades & the marked lab blues. It would be nice to work it out myself without shelling out for 100 though!
Regards "

 

[ackvil]

I've e-mailed Personna and Energizer (the holding company for Personna) asking for a clarification of what difference, if any, exists between the blades. The first e-mail was sent three months ago and the last one about two weeks ago and so far I have never received a response or even an acknowledgment.

 

[Chadao]

I've bought them all. So, apino, the blue box of 100s had what we've been calling Personna Blue Labs. If that's what you need to know, I've had three boxes now.

 

[Miesterio]

3 boxes of lab blues?

 

[Chadao]

Yes. Haven't gone through that many, PIFed a few.

3 boxes of lab blues?

 

[james23p]

According to Connaught Shaving you are mistaken:

"Hello,
Despite what might be said elsewhere we are assured by the Manufacturer Personna that the blades in the paper wrap and the blades in the dispensor are identical. We only sell the paper wrapped blades in the 100 packs so we are unable to supply smaller quantities than that I am afraid.

Best regards

Peter Mayhew
Connaughtshaving.com"

This maybe true but I can truly feel a difference, and it seems that different stores have gotten different info from Personna itself. I emailed Personna but have yet to recieve a reply.

Jim

 

[Chadao]

Try Razor blades and More...250 for $30...here

I had some lab blues in my sample pack and some others I picked up along the way. I like them in my fatboy and my slim. I don't like them in my merkur. I'm almost out of them, but just having 2 razors I like them in puts them on my buy list. Now I just have to find a place that has them in stock and takes paypal. Or maybe I'll bite the bullet and buy them on amazon.

 

[Miesterio]

You can't put those in your cart. The deal is expired or something. I'll probably just buy a 100 of amazon or something.

 

[zygalski]

This maybe true but I can truly feel a difference, and it seems that different stores have gotten different info from Personna itself. I emailed Personna but have yet to recieve a reply.

Jim

But it would be interesting if these were in fact the exact same blade, off the same production run & line, one just stamped differently to another & packaged differently & yet another given a further sterilisation process.
I'm not trying to slight you & others who clearly think the Labs are a different blade to the Barbers, but the placebo effect is a very well known, common & proven phenomena....

As I say, I was very impressed with the Barber white dispenser blades & now prefer them to the platinum chromes which I also like a lot.