Thread: Odd Question

Good evening gentlemen,

Thanks for dropping in to take a look at my topic here - hopefully it has something to do with the intriguing subject

This is a question geared for members who are living/have lived in countries with rather unsanitary tap water. In the US we are extremely blessed to have potable tap water; however, as we all know, many countries have water that we might consider less than sanitary. More to the point, we are lucky here in the Western world to have tap water that we can use to rinse cuts without risking (significant) exposure to parasites and other pathogens.

Given the fact that I have been known to nick myself while using a straight, I am wondering if rinsing said nicks with water in developing/emerging countries would endanger my health. While this may seem like an utterly absurd line of questioning, I am considering returning to China and plan on continuing to use a straight razor: even thinking about returning to disposable razors makes me shudder. Any thoughts on the matter?

I figure worst case scenario I could use bottled water like when I brush my teeth there, but it would be so much more convenient (and cost effective) to use the tap.....but I also don't want to contract some crazy Chinese parasite.

In closing I'd like to say that I'm not a hypochondriac; this is a sincere question. You're not supposed to drink the tap water, so my reasoning leads me to believe you shouldn't expose it directly to your bloodstream. Acknowledging this could be erroneous, I am hoping someone with experience abroad would be able to shed some light on the situation.

Thank you for your patience.

-Dave

I have no experience with that sort of thing but ..... I would have some styptic pencil to stop the blood and maybe some of the sanitizer such as Purell handy to kill any germs. Also a bottle of purified water to use if the need arose as a result of a nick.

Germ-X on a cut. Holy mother of god that would hurt! But I'd be lying if I said I didn't come to a similar thought....

boil the water before using it and you will be fine

When I travel & even when away from home in the U.S. , I use a Steripen Purifier for all my water, other than a shower. For your shaving you can get yourself a stainless steel pan that holds enough water for you, insert the Steripen, the UV light & the reflection of it on the stainless steel will kill all your germs/organisms. You can then drink the water if you want.

or, you can go through the time & trouble of boiling it,,,,,,,,,,which if you think about it, would make a nice hot shave & water to soak the towel.


or, 8 to 16 drops of regular strength bleach per gallon of water, then let it sit for a while , or have a large container always on hand already purified.

For storing our hurricane water in large quantity we use bleach.

Yeah, I thought about boiling the water but the steripen is a new thought. I might clarify a bit about the bottled water bit. In China all apartments have the "office-style" water dispenser - the machines with hot and cold water dispenser topped with an upside down 5gal water jug. The 5 gallon jug costs less than $5 so I could easily obtain hot, clean water from that but I was wondering about the possibility of using directly the tap water (ie no boiling, purifying, etc).

That's certainly not to say I don't appreciate the suggestions! I will likely purchase a number of the steripens....

The Steripen is not cheap & you only need one.
The batteries are what you are going to need to feed it.

Just an example , you can buy the pen alone, about $85.00

http://www.nitro-pak.com/products/wa...system-pak-kit

My question would be, where does the bottled water come from? Really?

Bleach, Iodine, Condys Chrystals (Potassium Permanganate) added to the tap water should kill any nasties. Steri-pen is probably easier though.
You ever made fire with Condys crystals and suger? That's fun

Mick

I think that the bottled water I drank came from Inner Mongolia but in China who knows.

And where do you get your hands on KMnO4? That's a pretty nasty oxidizer so I'd imagine it would be controlled...

Originally Posted by AspiringPolymath

I think that the bottled water I drank came from Inner Mongolia but in China who knows.

And where do you get your hands on KMnO4? That's a pretty nasty oxidizer so I'd imagine it would be controlled...

I just go to the local chemist (drugstore) and if they don't have it on the shelf in the antiseptics area, they have it behind the counter. I ask for 'Condy's Crystals' if it's behind the counter. 50 gms is enough to disinfect 500 litres of water.


Mick