Thread: Is it safe to shave with?

Quick question.

How do you make sure a vintage, rusted, old razor you purchased off eBay, but honed to perfection, is okay to use?
Are there steps that need to be done before your first shave?

Do you clean it with rubbing alcohol?


Thanks in advance,

-aram

Sanding, polishing and honing will have removed any traces of the the previous owner. with that said i still clean them with 90% rubbing alcohol before using them the first time

+1 I agree wholeheartedly w/ syslight. clean it up cosmetically and then the alcohol.

By the time I get done sanding and polishing, everything that could have been on the blade is dead or gone, and I usually don't bother.
Only if I use a blade that is not mine and did not get the full treatment will I use desinfectant.
Either rubbing alcohol, alco-gel or desinfectant, depending on what I find first.

Thanks for the info, Bruno!
I was wondering what I could do to disinfect a razor prior to use on somebody else... I mean... imagine a friend who asks you to try out a straight razor, or even a friend who wants to try one "barber-shop-style" (you being the barber...). If you plan on giving the Sweeney Todd treatment I guess the cleaning of the razor wouldn't be much trouble... Hepatitis is nothing compared to a slit throat!
I wonder what barbers used back then... anybody care to share some intel on that?
Thanks!

If in doubt spray it down with clippercide...
then clean it with hot soapy water or alcohol.
clippercide or it's new equivalent cool care plus will kill just about anything.
You just have to make sure you clean it off the blade after the required 10 minutes.


As for Barbers in the old days, Until recently bacteria was an unknown, so they didn't know or care about sterilization. more recently, say the last century, I'd assume alcohol was the preferred cleaning agent.

I found some cheap barbicide at a barbershop in town and will be using that now rather than hydrogen peroxide which i was using before

The really nasty bugs to worry about do not survive 24 hours outside of the human body under ambient atmospheric conditions so don't worry too much.

if you are really concerned about killing the bugs, a UV lamp works also. In a microbiology lab that I took while in college that was the method that I employed. of course that may be overkill in this situation.

Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff

As for Barbers in the old days, Until recently bacteria was an unknown, so they didn't know or care about sterilization. more recently, say the last century, I'd assume alcohol was the preferred cleaning agent.

And just think of the number of barbers who "bleeded" those coming to them for medical treatment.