I love my store-bought Personnas

Sarge · Post by **Sarge** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:47 am

For years upon years my daily shaving routine consisted of a morning shower followed by a shave with a twin blade Sensor and Gillette Foamy. I was never dissatisfied with the quality of my shaves and never had any problems with irritation, ingrown hair and so forth. I have what I think is a fairly average beard that has become increaslingly stubborn with gray hair, but not terribly challenging. Then, late last fall, I moved to a DE, brush and shaving soap, discovered the forums and new vendors, and have had a ball. The enjoyment factor has gone up but I honestly have not experienced worlds better shaves (I go back to my old way once every so often to do a comparison) primarily, I feel, because I had always done a good job of hydrating my beard before shaving. But the one area that I had thought would make the most difference in this new approach would be with the blades themselves. My very first week last fall was with Personna blades (in a 40's style Super Speed), then I experimented with others including Derbys, Feathers, Treets, 7 O'Clock greens and yellows and a few others, all inspired by the comments of forum members and Squire's wonderful reviews. I have generally preferred the 7 O'Clock yellows and have been using them for the last three weeks with my usual SuperSpeed and Crema soap. But today I decided to pop in a Personna from Wal Mart and give it a go. The resulting shave was the best I can remember with a smoothness and cutting ability that really surprised and confused me at the same time. No drag at all, and, an hour after my shave, I ran my hands over my face and it felt as smooth as anything I've used to date. I had always thought these blades were considered to be lesser quality but darned it I can tell it. Where are these dispenser pack Personna's supposed to be made? You know, we talk a lot about YMMV and matching the right blades to the right razor, etc., but this is pretty clear cut for me. If I get the continued results with this blade that I got today then I think I might have found my preferred combination. Very pleased but still a little confused.

Cheers, Larry

maxie · Post by **maxie** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 1:55 pm

I too like to use the blades from Wal-mart. I believe they are made in the USA like it says on the blades. I too find that they give me a good shave and they don't cost as much as most other blades.

Sarge · Post by **Sarge** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:02 pm

thanks maxie,
I looked again and saw "Made in USA" on the blades. The ink had sort of created a blob and the lettering was non-distinct, but I could make it out. I wonder where the blade factory is located. Anyone know?

Cheers, Larry

sparkster123 · Post by **sparkster123** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:47 pm

man i had the totally opposite experience. theses were the blades that i used until i started using derbys 7 o'clock yellows and so forth.in fact i just used them as i was using them to get rid of them by shaving my head but the weeper were so many that i popped in a crystal and just a smooth clean shave.but then i live in oregon and maybe they arent the same exact blade.

randy

aircraft_electrician · Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:12 pm

I've tried many, many different blades, and I always seem to come back to these Personna blades.

Feathers are great, and Derbys are just fine, but, for me, the Personna blades are more reliable on a daily basis. The Feathers seem too harsh for the first shave, and by the fourth shave they're done, too much tugging and not enough cutting.

The Derbys start out smoother than the Feathers, but don't last for 3 shaves. I've tried Gillette blades from all over the world, and haven't really cared enough for any of them to make it worth the time and effort to find them. I've got about 70 Israeli blades that are ok, but they just don't seem to be any better than the blades I can get at Walmart for a couple of bucks.

These Personna blades are plenty sharp, yet smooth enough that I rarely feel any pulling or wind up seeing blood, and are just as good on the fifth shave as they are on the first.

I agree with you, Larry, that these blades are what works best for me, and it really helps that I can find them nearly anywhere in the States.

Tom

jww · Post by **jww** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:01 am

I have found, that Personna quality is less consistent then the Derby Extras -- which will reliably provide me with 3 or 4 shaves per blade. Personnas, on the other hand, may give me 5 or 6 shaves, or 1 bad shave. More and more I find the quality of the Personnas hit-and-miss, that's all.

I find the Isreali Personnas excellent however -- just about out of supply, and haven't figured out yet where to find them reliably in Canada.

Sarge · Post by **Sarge** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:20 am

One would not think consistency in quality would be that varied with razor blades coming from the same place all the time, but there seems to be enough evidence to indicate so.

jvan · Post by **jvan** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:08 pm

jww wrote:I have found, that Personna quality is less consistent then the Derby Extras -- which will reliably provide me with 3 or 4 shaves per blade. Personnas, on the other hand, may give me 5 or 6 shaves, or 1 bad shave. More and more I find the quality of the Personnas hit-and-miss, that's all.

I find the Isreali Personnas excellent however -- just about out of supply, and haven't figured out yet where to find them reliably in Canada.

Wendell, I was going to type just about the very same message until I read your post. My experience mirrors yours, I was a Personna devotee for quite a while and then started to run into quality problems. I don't know if it was just a case of a bad batch out of the factory or what but I have since been using the Derby Extras with nary a snag.

YMWV.

Julius_Rodman · Post by **Julius_Rodman** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:37 pm

maxie wrote:I too like to use the blades from Wal-mart. I believe they are made in the USA like it says on the blades. I too find that they give me a good shave and they don't cost as much as most other blades.

They are my option for a shave when I have more than 2-days growth, cutting through the mess with ease for a smooth shave.

------------------

Kent

bubalu · Post by **bubalu** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:40 pm

I found an excellent combination of the American Personnas and a Fatboy. I really like Feathers and Russian 7 O'clocks and a few others, but for the price and performance the American Personnas are turning into my steady blades. In the Fatboy, the AP's shave smooth, seem very sharp, and are forgiving. 17.6 cents a blade and no shipping is a very good deal. Oddly, the Israeli Personnas do not work well for me, I find them sharp, but very rough.

Also, made in the U.S.A. is a plus for me.

scaryshoes · Post by **scaryshoes** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:55 pm

I have been using the American Personna blades recently from my local grocery store (they are comfort coated ASR blades) and have found them to be a good fit. (They are certainly easier for me to obtain) I have already come across one bad blade out of the five I have tried, so I will be keeping an eye on the quality control. But when they have been on, they give a comfortable shave and they have lasted longer than several other blades I have used.