Thread: can a vintage/used razor be a carrier of a harmfull disease like AIDs etc

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

Hey, Doc,

It's as they say, really: two doctors, three opinions. Or was that lawyers?

Anyhow, I would really like to encourage everyone to read the Sansnom's article in the Wiki. Thoroughly.

Sterilization - Straight Razor Place Wiki

"Suggested methods to sterilize a razor

Now then, to break it down to a simple regimen that will assuage all the paranoid ones out there I've come up with 2 simple regimens which you can use based on what you have laying around:

Ethyl Alcohol + Hydrogen Peroxide USP
1. Soak in Ethyl Alcohol (70%), 10 mins
2. Soak in Hydrogen Peroxide USP (3%), 10 mins
3. Rinse under extremely hot water.

Active Ammonium Chloride

1. Wipe with Clorox/CVS/(Whatever brand as long as it has the active Ammonium Chloride listed above and EPA registration numbers on the back) Disinfecting wipes, THOROUGHLY, and allow to air dry. If you have a spray, thoroughly spray down the razor, allow to sit for a few minutes (10?) and wipe clean.
2. Rinse under extremely hot water."

Just a correction - you cannot 'sterilize' a razor with ethyl alcohol, bleach etc etc etc. Sterilization is a process requiring the use of an autoclave and is a timed standard procedure. As it involves extreme heat it isn't suitable for razors in general as handles can be very badly affected. What is being talked about above is DISINFECTION, a different process to achieve much the same result i.e. the destruction of harmful bacteria.

Barbicide is a good bet as it is a specific solution for disinfection but sodium hypochlorite (common bleach) will kill just about any germ you care to mention though might no be to good on the handles!

My other half told me all about this - she used to work in the pathology labs at our local hospital and I used to take part in infection control regimes in a previous life as a supplier of commercial and industrial cleaning solutions and disinfectants - which we also supplied to hospitals.

also guys you want to be careful with Clorox as it will cause rust and pitting

HIV can't live without a host very long. Talk to a Virologist, but I'd ballpark a few minutes at most. I'm unaware of any BBP's that can live outside a host anywhere near long enough that a resold razor would be any threat. It's probably got the same bacteria any other piece of carbon steel is apt to have on its surface and that's all... I'd consider tetanus the highest risk, and as mentioned, Hep (C is it? the one you get from prison tats) on razors that were very recently used.

Stainless are even better as I seem to recall stainless being a very mild antibacterial (like silver, but weaker).

Want to be sure? I'm unaware of anything outside of some viruses discovered in magma that could live through fire. Don't go nuts with it and screw up the blade though. Remember the conductivity of steel.