Personna Comfort Coated/Lab Blues observation

[Dimitri]

I recently ordered a 100 pack of Personna Comfort Coated blades (aka Lab Blues) after getting down to the last two of my 100 pack made in 2013 when Personna was owned by Energizer. My understanding is that Accutek, the current owner/producer of these blades, produces them in the same Virginia factory that they were made in when Energizer owned the brand, but I did notice something. For the helluvit I decided to do a back to back comparo of the old Energizer owned blade vs the new Accutek owned ones. I found both blades to be equally smooth, but the newer Accutek owned/produced blade to be ever so slightly sharper. In fact, I find it to be pretty close to my primary goto, the Bic CP, which many consider to be just below Feather's in sharpness. Despite different ownership, the blades have always been made in the same factory, if I recall Personna's convoluted history correctly. I'm wondering if Accutek has changed the spec on these blades and made them slightly sharper, or maybe I got a batch that came off newly replaced hones in their machinery.

Has anyone else that's used the older and current production Comfort Coats/Lab Blues had a similar experience?

 

[NotBloomingAL]

Does the new blade have anything printed on them? Does the packaging say "USA Made." Did you purchase them through Amazon? Sorry for throwing out a bunch of questions. I'm truly curious.

 

[Dimitri]

Does the new blade have anything printed on them? Does the packaging say "USA Made." Did you purchase them through Amazon? Sorry for throwing out a bunch of questions. I'm truly curious.

Definitely didn't purchase through Amazon. Too concerned about getting counterfeits. I purchased them through Shave Nation. USA made by Accutek. This package. The older Energizer stamped box was in the older blue box like this one.

 

[reformedshavr]

Has anyone else that's used the older and current production Comfort Coats/Lab Blues had a similar experience?

I have not perceived a difference between the AccuTec and Personna blades (same with the respective versions of the MedPrep)-- these are my #1 blade

 

[dmshaver]

I have a couple of boxes of the newer Accutec produced Comfort Coated blades & find them quite sharp. I've not noticed any difference between them, but it's been a while since I've used any.

 

[helicopter]

The new one is very similar to Bic CP in edge geometry, sharpness, and durability. I measured the new one yesterday in my sharpness measurement thread and again today after the second shave. I found it to be very sharp, and comparable to BIC CP and Voskhod in terms of sharpness; but more similar to BIC under microscopic inspection. I don't have the old one. The one I measured is an Accutec Blade from Sally's Beauty Supply purchased this Spring.

Here are the information summaries with the most recent information:

Date	7/4/24	7/4/24	7/4/24	7/4/24	7/4/24	7/4/24	7/5/24
Blade	Personna	Comfort Coated	Sally's USA	Blue
Shaves	0	P3	P6	P9	P12	1	2
Location	Flip Center	Bottom Center	Bottom Center	Bottom Center	Bottom Center	Flip Center	Flip Center
Medium	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29
Dulling Substrate	New	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Face	Face
Measurements	30	30	30	30	30	30	30
Std. Dev.	8	7	5	8	6	8	9
Median F (g)	68	62.5	65.5	70	70	61.5	66
Mean F (g)	67	63	66	70	72	62	66
BESS Adj. Factor	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83
Median adj. F (g)	56	52	54	58	58	51	55
Mean adj. F (g)	56	52	55	58	59	52	55

Date	6/30/24	6/30/24	6/30/24	6/30/24	6/30/24	6/30/24	7/2/24	7/2/24	7/3/24
Blade	Bic CP
Shaves	0	P3	P6	P9	P12	1	2	3	4
Location	Flip Center	Bottom Center	Bottom Center	Bottom Center	Bottom Center	Flip Center	Flip Center	Flip Center	Flip Center
Medium	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29
Dulling Substrate	New	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Face	Face	Face	Face
Measurements	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30
Std. Dev.	9	9	9	8	12	11	10	10	10
Median F (g)	71	73.5	77	78	80	70	67	64	73
Mean F (g)	71	71	77	79	81	70	67	66	73
BESS Adj. Factor	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83
Median adj. F (g)	59	61	64	65	66	58	56	53	61
Mean adj. F (g)	59	59	64	65	67	58	56	55	61

Date	6/23/24	6/23/24	6/23/24	6/23/24	6/23/24
Blade
Shaves	0	P3	P6	P9	P12
Location	Top Center	Top Center	Top Center	Top Center	Top Center
Medium	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29	Stren 8 .29
Dulling Substrate	New	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push	Stpl Ppr Rubr Push
Measurements	50	30	30	30	30
Std. Dev.	6	6	7	12	12
Median F (g)	64	70.5	70	78.5	81.5
Mean F (g)	63	70	71	80	83
BESS Adj. Factor	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83	0.83
Median adj. F (g)	53	59	58	65	68
Mean adj. F (g)	52	58	59	66	69

 

[WVShaver]

I always thought the Lab Blues were decent blades but they never reached the top 20 list for me until I tried the older ones recently.

I happened to find a few blades of the old ink printed ones in the blue yellow box from 2013-2015 time frame and tried one the other day and it was one of the best shaves I’ve had. I sure wish I could find more of the old blue/yellow box ones!

I did a test to compare the ones I got from RBC which were 2021 to a more recent 2023 and 2024 ones and I think the 2021 and 2023 ones that are laser etched are slightly better then the newer plain ones from 2024 but they are very close. But so far I like the older inked 2013 ones the best so as always YMMV with blades.

Now I’m on the hunt to find a box or two of the older blue/yellow ones. I see a lot of places have the image of the older box but when I contacted them they ship the newer ones. No idea about BeauBar on Amazon which was linked above but I was considering ordering a box to find out.

 

[Dimitri]

The new one is very similar to Bic CP in edge geometry, sharpness, and durability. I measured the new one yesterday in my sharpness measurement thread and again today after the second shave. I found it to be very sharp, and comparable to BIC CP and Voskhod in terms of sharpness; but more similar to BIC under microscopic inspection. I don't have the old one. The one I measured is an Accutec Blade from Sally's Beauty Supply purchased this Spring.

That's really cool that you do that and that you were able to come to the same scientific conclusion as my face lol. I had to wonder to myself when I was shaving if I hadn't by mistake replaced the blade in my razor with another Bic. I'd be curious to see how an original Energizer era, ink stamped Personna CC would compare to its current Accutec made descendant. I have ONE blade left from my 2013 date stamped box. If you're interested in testing it, shoot me a PM with your address and I'll send it to you. It's sacrifice will be for noble scientifc research lol.

 

[RayL]

I want to try this with my Blackbird Ti. Should I be looking for Personna or AccuForge?

 

[WThomas0814]

I recently ordered a 100 pack of Personna Comfort Coated blades (aka Lab Blues) after getting down to the last two of my 100 pack made in 2013 when Personna was owned by Energizer. My understanding is that Accutek, the current owner/producer of these blades, produces them in the same Virginia factory that they were made in when Energizer owned the brand, but I did notice something. For the helluvit I decided to do a back to back comparo of the old Energizer owned blade vs the new Accutek owned ones. I found both blades to be equally smooth, but the newer Accutek owned/produced blade to be ever so slightly sharper. In fact, I find it to be pretty close to my primary goto, the Bic CP, which many consider to be just below Feather's in sharpness. Despite different ownership, the blades have always been made in the same factory, if I recall Personna's convoluted history correctly. I'm wondering if Accutek has changed the spec on these blades and made them slightly sharper, or maybe I got a batch that came off newly replaced hones in their machinery.

Has anyone else that's used the older and current production Comfort Coats/Lab Blues had a similar experience?

I agree with your thinking the AccuForges are sharper. To me, an AccuForge on shave 2 feels like a Lab Blue on shave 4, which is when Ii typically bin them.

 

[WThomas0814]

I want to try this with my Blackbird Ti. Should I be looking for Personna or AccuForge?

Personna. they can still be had from Amazon at a (subjectively) reasonable price.

 

[RayL]

Thank you! This looks like the one.

Personna. they can still be had from Amazon at a (subjectively) reasonable price.

 

[BigJ]

I am working through ‘old’ Personna labs; simply excellent blades for me! I have yet to try the newer ones.

 

[Space_Cadet]

Definitely didn't purchase through Amazon. Too concerned about getting counterfeits.

Really? Is there a chance of that?!

 

[walpan]

Really? Is there a chance of that?!

Absolutely!! I bought the Comfort Coated 100 count box from Amazon. Loaded the blade and it felt like something was scratching my skin. I double checked that it was loaded correctly and retried, same result. Ok, so maybe a bad blade. I repeated this process 4 time with different blades from different parts of the box and the results were the same. HORRIBLE. I pitched the box and have never purchased any blades Amazon again.

 

[AshleyC]

Blackland Razors is selling Lab Blues for $16.50. For Made in America, I think it's a deal. Mine should just about be arriving at my home as I type this...