Blade Wars: Crystal vs. Personna Med Prep

Blade Wars: Crystal vs. Personna Med Prep

I have no expectation of clearing up all the Personna confusion I have in my mind. I can, however, determine which blades in the Personna family work best for me. To be honest, I like them all. So far I’ve found two Personna blades (Med Preps and Red IPs) that beat Lab Blues by a small margin. Since Crystals are made in Israel, ostensibly in the Personna factory, I would like to pit them against the other “Personna” blades to try and determine my personal favorite. I plan to pit the winner of this blade war against Israeli Reds.

For the Blade War, I will use two “Wet Shave Club” razors, which I consider about medium on the aggressiveness scale. I’ve marked one handle with a black laundry marker and will not know which blade is in which handle.

I’ll let the blade war continue until one blade poops out or I start to get irritated. Many thanks to @Highspeedlane, who sent me the Med Preps.

My pleasure CW!

Shave 1
Face lathered with Tabac soap.
Black razor=right side of face, silver razor=left side of face

Pass 1: The black razor gave me a sharp, prickly feeling. Silver was also prickly, but not as much. It was a little smoother.

Pass 2: Black had a wonderfully satisfying "mowing down the stubble" feeling. Silver was smooth and effective.

Pass 3: Black was as smooth as can be. I felt no resistance. Silver had quite a bit of pull.

Finished with some Florida Water and Nivea Sensitive balm.

After round one: advantage black

Crystal are one of the worst blades I've ever tried to use, topped only by the GRAFCO med prep. These 2 blades have the dubious honor of being the only ones that I couldn't just finish a shave with, but not even a single pass on my entire face. Personna med preps are one of the top tier blades ime. While I know many like the Crystal, it just doesn't work for me. If I were the one doing the blade war, it would be a David vs Goliath battle, only with Goliath stomping the snot out of David within seconds. You may get this one to go a few shaves, but I'll stick to my guns and say Personna med preps will take an early lead, making it clear who the winner will be by the second shave. Personna will beat Crystal down, tap dance on his face, then walk away after stealing his girlfriend.

CigarSmoka said:

Crystal are one of the worst blades I've ever tried to use, topped only by the GRAFCO med prep. These 2 blades have the dubious honor of being the only ones that I couldn't just finish a shave with, but not even a single pass on my entire face. Personna med preps are one of the top tier blades ime. While I know many like the Crystal, it just doesn't work for me. If I were the one doing the blade war, it would be a David vs Goliath battle, only with Goliath stomping the snot out of David within seconds. You may get this one to go a few shaves, but I'll stick to my guns and say Personna med preps will take an early lead, making it clear who the winner will be by the second shave. Personna will beat Crystal down, tap dance on his face, then walk away after stealing his girlfriend.

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Don't sugar coat it. How do you feel?

Are Crystals the same as store branded Israeli blades? Have we ever received a straight answer? I'm a big fan of the Reds and if the Crystals come out of the same factory I'm going with them.

Only the (5 o'clock) Shadow knows....

Personna makes some of my favorites! But a VERY confusing line up!

cw62803 said:

Don't sugar coat it. How do you feel?

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I'm trying to be kind.

cw62803 said:

Only the (5 o'clock) Shadow knows....

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I suspect there's an age cutoff for members who will get this joke.

I'm with cigarsmoka, Med preps should take this fight easy.


Thanks for posting another fun blade war

Looking for an early knockout!

Shave 2
face lathered with Proraso Green soap
silver=right side, black=left side

I did a two-pass shave today. On the first pass, I felt some drag from both razors, but a little more with the silver one. On the second pass, both were good - but black was a little better. Very smooth, almost no resistance.

Followed with some Clubman and Lubriderm moisturizer.

slight advantage: black

CigarSmoka said:

Crystal are one of the worst blades I've ever tried to use, topped only by the GRAFCO med prep. These 2 blades have the dubious honor of being the only ones that I couldn't just finish a shave with, but not even a single pass on my entire face. Personna med preps are one of the top tier blades ime. While I know many like the Crystal, it just doesn't work for me. If I were the one doing the blade war, it would be a David vs Goliath battle, only with Goliath stomping the snot out of David within seconds. You may get this one to go a few shaves, but I'll stick to my guns and say Personna med preps will take an early lead, making it clear who the winner will be by the second shave. Personna will beat Crystal down, tap dance on his face, then walk away after stealing his girlfriend.

Click to expand...

[emoji23]

Shave 3

Face lathered with Proraso Red soap
black=right side, silver=left side

Pass 1 - I had two days growth, and both razors did a good job getting through it. There was slightly more prickle and drag with the silver razor, but they were very similar.

Pass 2 - Blue had a bit of drag. Silver was slightly smoother.

I noticed a spot of blood coming through the lather on the left (silver) side of my chin. The air here is very dry, and that contributes to weepers.

Pass 3 - Blue was delightful. Almost no resistance at all throughout the entire pass. The silver blade was fantastic on my neck - no resistance at all - but there was noticeable drag on the rest of my face.

Followed with Captain's Choice North and finished up with Man Lotion to moisturize.

Good shave today.

Slight advantage: black

Loving this so far. Intrigued to see which Personna will come out on top.

cw62803 said:

Shave 3

Face lathered with Proraso Red soap
black=right side, silver=left side

Pass 1 - I had two days growth, and both razors did a good job getting through it. There was slightly more prickle and drag with the silver razor, but they were very similar.

Pass 2 - Blue had a bit of drag. Silver was slightly smoother.

I noticed a spot of blood coming through the lather on the left (silver) side of my chin. The air here is very dry, and that contributes to weepers.

Pass 3 - Blue was delightful. Almost no resistance at all throughout the entire pass. The silver blade was fantastic on my neck - no resistance at all - but there was noticeable drag on the rest of my face.

Followed with Captain's Choice North and finished up with Man Lotion to moisturize.

Good shave today.

Slight advantage: black

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Is there also a blue labeled razor in this shave war ? Is it a wildcard or something -- legitimacy of you wars are quickly fading [emoji13]!!

I think Crystal has a loaded glove....

kluber said:

Is there also a blue labeled razor in this shave war ? Is it a wildcard or something -- legitimacy of you wars are quickly fading [emoji13]!!

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Old habits are hard to break - I'm used to the colored handle being blue. This one is black - like your sense of humor.

cw62803 said:

Old habits are hard to break - I'm used to the colored handle being blue. This one is black - like your sense of humor.

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Ha!

Shave 4
Face lathered with Arko (I do not recall ever getting a bad shave when I've used Arko.)
Silver=right side of my face, black=left

Pass 1 - Both razors gave me a nice smooth first pass.

Pass 2 - Again, a terrific pass. Both were smooth and felt sharp.

Pass 3 (ATG): Two great third passes. Clean, very little resistance.

Followed with some Aqua Velva and Nivea Sensitive Cooling Balm.

Once again, I don't remember ever getting a bad shave with Arko. Great shave tonight.

Advantage: tie