Thread: infection or disease from a used razor?

im new, 20 years old and my name is Moises. im fairly new with straight razors. i have been doing extensive research day and night on this art and now it comes down to actually doing it. i just recently purchased 2 used straight razors from an antique store. they are in fairly good condition. i showed my family and when i told them where i got it, they said to throw them out because i dont know if the person who used it had any diseases or infections. they said its almost like using a needle, especially if you cut yourself with it; this never crossed my mind! is it even true? if so what do i do now? thank you.

The possibilitys are extremely slim.

Do a search on disinfecting razors and you'll see all the discussion on this topic.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...cohol-dip.html

Be sure to read the stickies in the beginning of each forum lots of info there.

I have over 70 razors, most of which are used! I have been shaving with them for over 15 years! I have never sterilized any of my razors beyond soap and water! Germs like warm, moist surfaces and not cold, dry, metal surfaces!
If your concerned just wipe them down with alcohol!

There are bound to be many other suggestions!

I am from the SD area myself! If you need help just PM me!

Originally Posted by JMS

I have over 70 razors, most of which are used! I have been shaving with them for over 15 years! I have never sterilized any of my razors beyond soap and water! Germs like warm, moist surfaces and not cold, dry, metal surfaces!
If your concerned just wipe them down with alcohol!

There are bound to be many other suggestions!

I am from the SD area myself! If you need help just PM me!

I'm with Mark on this one. I've got about the same amount of razors, and shaved with well over half of them so far. Many of them it didn't occur to me to even wash 'em with soap and water. I don't recommend this for anyone, but all of these razors have been sitting at least 10 days before I shaved with them. IMO that's long enough to kill anything in a stored-dry environment.

Cleaning razors:
As a restorer, I have probably cut myself with razors more than most of you, I use a product that the wife got actually for use in the tanning salon industry, this stuff is rated to kill everything and is plastic/acrylic safe so I keep it mixed at double strength and use it as a spray before and after restoration... The first thing I do when I get an old crusty razor, is the 90% alcohol dip, this not only is a sterilizer, but it also loosens a lot of crud off the razor, I use old toothbrushes to clean the whole razor...
Then the Sterilizer spray down, then I leave it to dry...
After that I begin work....

Now much of this process probably is not needed, because the razors have been sitting idle for so long, but when I noticed how well the alcohol cleaned the crud I just started using it as part of the routine...

The sterilizer was added later after the wife really read the label, and said "I dont think this will hurt your razors if you were to use it"

Most of these "Sterilize vintage razor" threads talk about heat or chemical disinfecting, but what about mechanical sterilization? I'd think hitting a blade with a dremel using the steel brush wheel, then nylon brush with polishing compound, then buffing wheel with polishing compound, then again the nylon brush with Maas(which has a lot of ammonia in it) , then buffing wheel polishing compound.

I don't think any microbes could survive that kind of attack.

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.