Blade PIF: Personna "Lab Blue" blades

Today was day one with the Blue Lab and I received a smooth DFS in my EJ89.Certainly not like the other Personna's that were sold too me as "lab" blades.
Day #1 Excellent

 

Lab blues on left,"lab" middle and Crystals on the right
Those "Lab" blades were nothing but irritation and certainly don't look the same

 

The blades in the middle, they look more like what I've seen called the "barber" line of Personnas:

http://www.razorbladesandmore.com/content/10-barber-personna-double-edge-blades

Look at the photo with the blade. There is a slight difference though.

 

http://www.razorbladesandmore.com/c...e-super-staineless-blades-5-blades-lab-blades
This is where I got them,maybe a bad batch.

 

Second shave and received a smooth DFS maybe better than yesterday.
Day#2 Excellent

 

My second shave on this current blade, using a sample of Mystic Waters - Lily of the Valley shaving soap was fantastic. I barely felt the blade. It makes me fairly certain my last Lab was a dud.

 

Alright I took another go at the Lab Blue blades. I loaded it in my Gillette Black Handled SS. There is no doubt aout it, these blades are sharp. I think there is something about the make of them that wants to try to leave irritation...kind of like a Feather. I assume it is just the angle though. In anycase shave number one was a big success! Two passes for a DFS shave!

 

A little behind in updates
Day #3 was a good DFS with some touch ups
Day #4 wasn't as good and will be last for this blade
Over all a good 3 shave blade which is average for me.

 

I'm finding that the Personna Lab blade with Mystic Water Saving Soap is one killer combination!

 

Seems that there are a lot of different blues out there. Mine were eBay $12.99/100 . Blue box, blue wrapper. They do not state:Barber- Lab,or Medical. We may be all looking at apples and oranges!

 

I've had a dozen shaves already with the blades, 4 shaves on each.

They are probably my favorite, but have only used the Merkur blade and some Dorkos.

Very gentle shave but sharp. They have served me very well.

Thanks again for the chance to try them out. I would definitely recommend them for anyone to try.

 

Those are the same as the ones I PIF'd.

 

Hi all,
I recently ordered a package of 100 and am eagerly awaiting them.
What is the consensus regarding the "Blues" (Labs)?
Seems that they are generally well liked or have the opinions changed?
Thanks from this newbie for your comments.
H.

 

Hey Hal24, welcome to The Shave Den!!

I've given away some of these blades to at least 20 people and all the feedback I got was positive (though not everyone gave me feedback on these). They are still my top line blades, along with Voskhods. You will get a dud now and again, so if you find on the first use of a blade that it's not very comfortable, don't be afraid to try another one. I've only had one dud in about 20 Labs used.

 

I still love em!

 

I certainly do hope you like 'em. My advice is to never buy any blade in bulk until you've tried 3-5 blades of that kind. Big bummer if they don't work out.
As I said, I hope they work for you.
Welcome to the Den!

 

Hi Steve,
Glad to be here with you guys. I live in Canada and it seems it takes fore ever to get mail, especially packages, to my house. I think our Canada Post has reverted back to dog sleds.
I also ordered a sample pack from TSD a while ago which I intend to use before the P's.
Cheers,
Hal

 

While that is some very good advice, if you end up not liking these you should have no problem getting rid of them, either by trading or selling them. You might lose a few bucks, and you might have to wait until you're eligible to use the classifieds on whatever forum you choose to use, but they're well liked, so you'll be able to get rid of them if needed.

 

True.
Guess I'm just a bit on the frugal side. I hate to put money out on something I might not like.
I gotta try it first. But that's me.

 

The first blade from this PIF gave me a very close shave for 3 shaves, but the blade seemed to be just waiting for a chance to irritate and burn my skin. Close shave, but not all that comfortable for me. To me, these were kind of like 1 step further than my experience with Feathers- slightly closer than I got from the Feather but also a bit more irritation.

I just finished up a 3-day trial of blade #2 from this PIF with better results. These blades certainly seem to be anxious to irritate, but I was able to get a comfortable DFS 2 out of the days. My normal rotation for trying out blades is a 'standard' 3-pass shave on day 1, a 2-pass abbreviated shave on day 2 (skip the WTG pass), and a 3-4 pass shave on Day 3 (doubling up on the ATG pass if not close enough) with touchups. I got a bit of irritation on Day 2 this time, but with a bit of extra care I definitely got nice, close, DFS's. All in all, good blades and I really want to get some med prep personnas to compare against, or at the very least some more lab blues!