Thread: Sterilizing Razors

Originally Posted by riooso

What is wrong with Barbicide? When you are dealing with razors you are not "sometimes" dealing with blood. You are dealing with it almost every time you shave even if you are down to a couple of individual cells.

Later,
Richard

For a single user cleaning his own razor Barbicide is excellent.

When a blade is shared... that is a different kettle of fish.

Time and multiple wipe downs with a serious disinfectant
as others have posted is in order. The Barbicide web
site has good info and you can send them email.

Interesting point is that Sterilization is a very strict protocol.
If I told you that the blade had been sterilized I have an obligation
to do just that. Sufficiently sanitized in not too hard
IMO... Multiple wipes with different solutions on diferent
days plus time.... Barbicide is a good product and has a good
history.

It does make sense for honemasters to be very cautious.

I post this each time this topic comes up and so I will post it here as well as this is the best informed info I have been able to get on the subject.


I have discussed this with 3 doctors and this is what I was told. Germs don't live on surfaces very long, but some have a longer life span than others. Most germs are killed with just soap and water or sanitizers of some kind. Aids is a weak virus and dies quickly, like within a day. So the only real threat is hepatitis which can live on surfaces where there has been blood contamination for a longer period of time, like a week or 10 days. They all told me that the best protection was to give things time to die. On old razors that no one has used in years and you are sure that no one has cut themselves with, no problems. 0n razors that have been restored and test shaved with, or sent out for sharpening there is more risk. Ask yourself, would you feel comfortable using a tattoo gun that had been used on someone you did not know and then wiped down with alcohol? I am not trying to alarm anyone as this is not a topic that should cause alarm. It is a topic where good information and common sense will make it a no brainer. The routine that I came up with, with the help of my doctors is that I soak my blades down with chlorhexidine( this is a solution used by physicians to sterilize their cold pack surgical instruments) for 20 min., then wipe them down with Clippersol to make sure they don't rust, and then I give them a rest for a couple of weeks before I add them to my rotation. A lot of you guys will probably consider this overkill & maybe it is but I sleep well at night & have enough razors that I can wait 2 weeks for a little piece of mind. Take this for what it's worth it's just the best information I could come up with. My suggestion to everyone is that you get information from your doctor on your next visit, so you can make an informed decision

From what I've heard, hepatitis is pretty much the only infectious possibility after a blade has been in the mail for at least several days.

I'd be really curious to hear what a pathologist would say after seeing what I do to a 2nd hand blade when it arrives. Say, cleaned with soap and water with my fingers, then wiped dry, then a minute dipped in boiling water, then wiped dry, then rubbed thoroughly with an alcohol-soaked cotton pad, then wiped dry, then stropped vigorously, etc.

Granted, no one remedy (e.g. quick alcohol swipe) will produce a sterilized blade if someone just finished shaving an outbreak monkey with it. But a bunch of those imperfect methods in combination have got to have cumulative effects. After all those treatments, the blade is far from the sterile, undisturbed lab surface that hepatitis has survived on for up to 10 days. Frankly, I'd be really surprised if a pathologist could watch me do all of the things mentioned above and then tell me the blade is dangerous because of possible contamination from blood-borne pathogens.