Thread: infection or disease from a used razor?

As was previously said, all germs and viruses will die on dry, cold steel; given enough time. I still prefer to at least take a few small steps when restoring a razor, even if only for my own piece of mind.

I rub the razor with 99% alcohol, kills germs as well as cleaning off a good portion of any dirt and oil on the blade, preparing it for step 2. I dry the blade and submerse it in Barbicide to kill any other possible nasties. A rub down with 100% mineral oil to seal the steel, and I consider it clean.

Hepatitis is my biggest concern when it comes to disinfecting a razor. The best killer of this gnarly infection is (IMO) ... believe it or not ... time.

It will live for a few weeks on cold steel. It will survive in hot temperatures. It's really one of the tougher infectious diseases out there.

For my piece of mind, I usually dont even begin to handle a used razor until it's been sitting for a month. That''s long enough to kill all the other common blood borne pathogens as well.

I'd be tentative to use alcohol on the scales, for fear of some type of damage. Of course, this does depend on the scale material.

Maybe I'm paranoid. lol. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Persoanlly I don't bother. Not because I don't care, but because I think it is usually unnecessary.

a) cold dry surfaces: anything blood bourned is dead after 2 weeks.
b) if I've restored a razor, I've spent lots of hours sanding and polishing the entire blade, followed by a complete edge reset on several stones. Nothing would survive that. But if there is a germ that would, mere consumer desinfectant would probably not hurt it either.
c) If there is some crud between the scales, I just clean off what I can. If the blade is clean, I shave with it. As long as I don't cut myself so bad that the pivot pin reaches my flesh, it won't matter.

The only time I will desinfect a razor is if it was very recently used by someone else, and I only have to hone it and shave with it withing 2 weeks of the other person having shaved with it.

Many of us shave with razors that are 200 years or more old. That razor has seen more than a century in which the plague(s), smallpox and all sorts of other horrible diseases went through Europe like wildfire.
I'm sure that we would have heard if someone actually caught anything from a razor. Being cold dry steel, germs don't have much chance.
but I would never shave with a razor that has a rusty blade. That is just asking for problems.

If you are worried about this, I advise you to spend time thinking about brush care instead.
In contrast with razors, brushes can cause all sorts of fungus or mould infections if they are not properly cared for. The reason for this is that they come into contact with skin and warm water. If they are not rinsed and dried properly, they can be a fertile breeding ground for all sorts of nasty environmental stuff.
I don't have a link handy, but a couple of months go, someone posted pics of a B&B member that shaved in the basement, and did not treat his brush properly... not pretty.

EDIT: I almost forgot, but welcome to SRP.