Thread: A final word on sterilization

I completely agree with JimmyHAD... I never used any of those compounds because they all are strong oxidizing agents (hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite) which tend to oxidize iron in steel...
As I mentioned in a post a while ago, sanding the blade is quite virus and bacteria unfriendly activity...
Along with dipping the blade in heated alcohol or boiling water, or both, and with honing process...

Before sterilizing a razor you have to ask yourself: is it necessary?

I do not thinks so as the real nasties HIV and hepatitis B & C do not survive very long outside the human body. So if you buy a razor from someone else ask yourself how likely it is there is any nasty bug left on the blade.

I have never sterilized a blade that I bought off ebay. It takes a week before it arrives and a couple of weeks before I hone it.

Hey man, no apologies needed, this is a friendly discussion and as I said, I appreciate the post very much; there was no offense taken in any way. With my post, I was trying to play devil's advocate to point out that nothing is "perfect". If I am correct, you may be referring to a recent discussion about this issue. I think a correct comment of one of users regarding ethanol being poor against viruses was taken out of context in following posts. Basically because as you, and others, correctly point out, the main concern is centered on Hepatitis and HIV (enveloped) viruses. Not only is Jimmy correct in pointing out the weakness of the HIV virus outside a "living cell" but in a recent visit to a virology lab that is centered on HIV infectivity, I was surprised to learn that they do not wear a lot of protective gear while working with the live virus. The safety measures were completely different when I visited another HIV lab10 years ago. This is definitely the result of more research on the subject.

What I do to clean my razors, is to wash the blade and scales with antibacterial soap. I have used 95% ethanol and iodophors on the blade as well. One bug that does not receive too much attention and "I" would be particularly concerned with is Clostridium tetani, the causative agent of Tetanus, which despite a vaccine and treatment, still fatal in over 10% of the cases. The environment of a rusty old blade seems perfect to harbor this one. Since I am not an expert, I could not say whether this is a real concern. Cleaning the blades seems good but, if the razor is infected with spore forming bacteria, cleaning just the blade is a moot point, even if you autoclave it. I would not go as far as other to say that some of these precautions are unnecessary but definitely seem overkill in most cases. Again, do what makes you feel safe, as long as you do not not harm yourself, others, and more importantly, your razors... ;-)

This is yet another reason to keep your Ebay purchases to a minimum ;-).

Al raz.

The only real protection against tetanus is vaccination. Closricium tetani thrives in oxygen-poor environments. Tetanus starts to grow in deep wounds. The facial skin is very well circulated ( i.e. well oxygenated ) and shaving related wounds superfical.

Baking at 180 °C for 4 hours or more should do the trick. Even destroys endotoxins (4 hours at 230 would be better), which are considered as the most annoying and hardest to remove contaminations.
(Endotoxins are nothing you should worry about though. They're all over the place. )

I still don't know what this would do to a blade's temper.

Alraz - definitely true on the devil's advocate portion of your argument, that even a strenuous regimen doesn't affect the real nasties (which is shown on the spectrum I posted actually). And I'd agree, I just got back from an internship at an infectious disease hospital abroad and tetanic spasms are deeply frightening to watch. That being said, kept up to date, your vaccine should adequately protect for the most part. And I think the latter comment about razor cuts being superficial cuts addresses the great remainder of any tetanus risk.

Zwaplat - Baking at that temp will likely also melt your scales no? Funny story, my thesis work centered around working with bacterial endotoxin (LPS) and live porcine tissue; I was so afraid of injecting myself since I worked with milligrams of the stuff in a very pointy needle, or even getting some of that treated tissue on me... Yikes!

I think the net net of this thread is that if you're genuinely paranoid about bacterial spores or endotoxin or something you need to be cartridge shaving with a new blade daily or buy a new Dovo (though even that, left out could pick up stuff).

Of course it would melt the scales mate. Unless they're metal. It might even melt goldwash, for all I know. The stuff is so thin...

I'm not very worried about endotoxins. I can imagine you're a bit nervous if you're using that much in a needle syringe, but anywhere else they're pretty harmless to humans. That's what you've got an immune system for.
Why were you afraid to get those cells on you ? They're not human, so I don't see much problems...and like I said, the LPS isn't that much of a problem as long as you don't inject them straight into your body.

How long can some of these baddies live on the blade anyway? I mean, say you get a razor that has been sitting for a year, untouched. Could anything dangerous still be alive on it?

Would sanding, polishing, honing and stropping the blade likely remove most of what's left?

I honestly keep forgetting to disinfect my blades. I get caught up sanding, polishing, honing etc, and end up forgetting to disinfect. When I do disinfect, though, I just spray some lysol on the blade and let it sit for ~10 minutes. It says it kills 99% of bacteria, etc, and I believe it kills hepatitis as well, but I don't know if it is 100% effective against every type. I really need to be better about this, and I plan to. Hopefully no damage done in the mean time.

A non wet shaving co-worker of mine told me that he cannot remember where he read it (of course) but more people die from infections caused by shaving then by rattlesnake bites or lightning strikes. (it was one or the other, not both together)

Not straight razor shaving or DE specifically but shaving in general by whatever means. I googled "shaving deaths" and came up with the fact that surgeons are beginning to avoid shaving patients' in pre-op.

Anyone know how to find stats for how many shaving related deaths there are in an average year and whether from infection or what ?

If you are concerned then use Barbicide, which is what my state recommends for Tattooists and salons. Or you could autoclave it.

Barbicide has served me well. A one hour soak is all that is needed.