How do you completely disinfect a used razor?
I know you can rub alcohol on it and let it air dry or pat it dry, but is there anything else? Does peroxide work? Is peroxide even good for the razor?
Anything besides alcohol?
Mike
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How do you completely disinfect a used razor?
I know you can rub alcohol on it and let it air dry or pat it dry, but is there anything else? Does peroxide work? Is peroxide even good for the razor?
Anything besides alcohol?
Mike
1:10 diluted solution of bleach in water, but don't leave it for too long, I guess couple of minutes should be OK...
Nenad
I will try that. Thanks.
FWIW, I've just used soap, hot water rinse, and alcohol. Anything that can survive that AND the honing and stropping all my new used razors get is one tough little bug.
Scott
I think we make too much of this disinfection thing with razors. Considering just the time and exposure to the air since it was last used I don't think any bug would last that long.
As for me all my used razors get the simichrome treatment which is loaded with ammonia and then the cape cod polishing cloth and Honing and stropping and Soap and water. Nothing will survive that!
There's many threads on this subject and lots of different opinions... do a search on "Clippercide" and you will find most of them. Personally I agree w/thebigspendur... we tend to make too much out of it. True, the bugs we worry about are potentially deadly. But it's also true that almost none of them can live outside the human body for more than 20-minutes or so. And those that can are pretty susceptible to soap and water, alcohol, bleach, etc. The bigger issue is whether what you use is corrosive to the razor and how to avoid the ramifications of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear
Hepatitis has been found alive outside of the body at 4 days. Not horribly long, but it is something to consider.Quote:
Originally Posted by azjoe
1. Soap doesn't kill bugs. It is only a way to enhance the mechanic removal of microorganims with water and rubbing. Again, SOAP DOES NOT KILL.Quote:
Originally Posted by honedright
2. Ethanol (70%) will disinfect quite good, but be aware that a blade should be very clean before using it, as ethanol would lose it's effectiveness otherwise. Also note that ethanol might not work against bacterial spores, like those from Clostridium tetani. Spores can survive for years outside a body.
Ethanol does not work very well against viruses, putting your razor in direct sunlight (not behind a window, as glass absorbs UV) will take care of that.
3. Bleach 1/10 dilution works very well. You might try Dettol as well, although you have to make sure you always rinse your blade thoroughly before using it.
4. Hepatitis is not a bug, it's a virus. Viruses do not 'live', they cannot selfreplicate without a host. It's just some genetic information (DNA or RNA) inside a carrier body (capsule, sometimes with an envelope). If any of these gets damaged, the particle is inactivated (it "dies").
You should consider that microorganisms and viruses are all around us, in the air, in tap water, on your skin. IF you cut yourself, just disinfect the wound like you would any other wound. Clean your blade with water and soap and rinse thoroughly in hot water. Wipe it with a clean and dry cloth.
A bug or two in your body where they shouldn't be is something you have to worry about much. The body has ways to deal with that. It's only if the 'bugs' are there in large quantities that we even speak of an infection.
Yes, hepatitis is one of the nasties that is harder to kill.... some barber, hair, and nail salons are woefully careless in protecting their customers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kavall
Thus, every railing, door knob, counter top etc. that you touch is a potential source of infection if you want to look at it that way.Quote:
"Other research shows that hepatitis B can survive outside the body for seven days or more on chairs, headrests, workbenches, instruments, and tools," Dr. Sekula says. "Hepatitis B is one hundred times more contagious than the HIV virus."
There's no argument that razors are a higher risk than most sources since they likely have come in previous contact with human blood serums. So I'm cautious...
My rules, good or bad, are:I guess you can argue this procedure won't safeguard me 100% against every pathogen that exists. You're probably right. AFAIK, nothing will. But I figure it reduces the likelihood of having a problem to less than that of being struck by lightening... :roflmao
- Even if I know the person I'm getting the razor from, I take precautions since many people won't necessarily know they're infected.
- I discount transit time... I've received razors that the seller was in such a hurry to ship that they are still wet inside the bubble wrap when they arrive. Most germs/viruses need moisture to survive.
- I scrub razors I receive in soap and hot water with a toothbrush, then use pipe cleaners and dental floss to get into nooks and crannies. Then I blow dry them with a hair dryer. And lastly I spray them with a liberal amount of Clippercide and set them aside for a few days.
Very sensible approach Joe. I used to give my razors 15min bleach/alcohol baths but it took too much work to restore the finish afterwards, so I started doing pretty much what you do, but i do my cleaning with Lysol, a rinse, dry and then alcohol.
Lysol is good... it contains phenol which is a powerful disinfectant. I understand they changed the phenol compound about 35 years ago (which has reduced it's effectiveness to a minor degree while making it safer) and that some Lysol products no longer contain phenol at all... so read the ingredients.Quote:
Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT
I use alcohol too, but I primarily switched to Clippercide due to it's rust inhibitor properties... for me it kills two birds with one stone (germicide and rust inhibitor in a convenient aerosol spray). It's not very expensive... $5-6 for a can that seemingly lasts forever. You can find it (or an equivalent) locally in most beauty/barber supply stores and some pet stores... probably anywhere they sell clippers and hair cutting supplies. (Note: the can is heavy, so shipping will be a expensive if you by it on-line.)
That's good to know. I'll look into some beauty supply places locally.
When I got my straight Razor I used soap and water but when My Great Grandfather gave me his Gillette DE safety razor I let it Boil in water for 2Mins Dunno if i would do that to a Straight might mess up the Scales (may melt them if they touch the bottom of the Pot depending on the material)
I use an all-in-one hair clipper cleaner/disinfector, specifically http://www.bowmanbeauty.com/store/sh.../1-24000/12590It has an oily base, but wipes off very easily. The bottle is cheap and will last forever.
You all do realise just spraying clippercide on is just a waste of clippercide, unless you keep the razor wet for 10 minutes or longer, right?
The ingredients in Clippercides (Barbicide, Marvicide, etc) require time in contact to kill. The spray stuff has been reported ineffective because it dries too fast.
There's another thread here relating to Barbicide in Canada, how it's shown unreliable. If you read the argument then read the directions on the bottle, you quickly see why it is less than effective in their argument. They assume (I'm sure correctly in some cases) that the user's are not following directions.
Many virus' and bacterium can survive outside the body for several days. Some can go into dormancy for extended periods and revive when a contact a host. While a virus is easy to kill when it's damaged, it's not like we can easily damage or injur every virus cell on an item. An infection is typified by larger quantaties of a virus or bacteria, but it only takes a few (sometimes 1 single cell) to start an infection. If you know without fail that the razor in question has been stored a long time and kept from pathogens I wouldn't hesitate on a simple boiling water and soap, but if there's any question at all what's a 10 minute soak in a quart of fresh Barbicide going to hurt. It will atleast give you piece of mind.
Thanks for the info - I've been using the product as an anti-rust agent. I didnt know about the extended contact times to be an effective disinfectant.
Check the can, it should say. The can I picked up at the local beauty supply did. I was comparing the brands and ingrediants the other day.Quote:
Originally Posted by M Guthner
If you look long enough you can find a study which supports almost any position you want to take. If you start reading them all, eventually you will conclude no product or procedure is safe. I've even seen studies that indicate autoclaves don't kill everything.
However, when I get to that point in my thinking, I step back and wonder why the hell I'm not dead? I must be one lucky mutha!
It's not that I don't believe the studies... I just don't think many of them apply to the situation most of us are in. Read the details of the study and then ask yourself if the procedure used in the study is anywhere close to what you're doing with your razor. If it is, then I guess you should be afraid.
For the past 50+ years I've been going to barbers every 2-3 weeks to get a haircut... say 900 visits so far in round numbers. Maybe 25-30 different barbers and stylists in my lifetime, spread throughout the world. I don't recall a single one of them ever using a clean sanitized comb or brush except when I was the first guy in the chair in the morning. Everything went into the barbicide at night and came out in the morning.
I've never seen their clippers sprayed with anything other than a lubricant or Kool-Lube. My current barber does use Clippercide... but to lubricate, not to disinfect! She says it looks good when the inspector comes around, though.
I've never had a barber do anything other than rinse off the razor they used around my ears and neck. I asked my barber last year if she was using replaceable blades on her razor and scissors for disease prevention... she said no, it was cheaper to use the replacement stuff than to send them out to be sharpened! :shrug:
I don't mean to be overly cocky about this... but I'll bet there are about 100-million other men in the world with exactly the same experience.
I've asked several barbers over here about straights - they have to use disposable-blade straights by law.
I've never done it myself, but has anyone ever asked a barber if they could chuck their straight into that autoclave thingy that a lot of them have? Do you think they'd let you?
James.
Just guessing, due to liability probably not. The heat might damage your scales as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo
Scott
You're probably right. How hot do those things get?Quote:
Originally Posted by honedright
James.
You can always get a gallon of Kennelsol, that stuff will kill anything...Some of you may already use it for cleaning pet cages and kennels...Highly diluteable and kill sooo many things including many things one would think would be hard to kill...:shrug:
Read about it here:
http://www.animal-care.com/product_list.cfm
Most common is 121°C at 2bar, for 15 minutes. Could be higher temp at higher pressure, but for a shorter time. Or lower temp at lower pressure, for a longer time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo
Biggest problem with putting knives in an autoclave is, those things sterilize with "wet heat", as opposed to sterilizing with "dry heat" in a common oven (4 hours at 180°C). It's completely filled with steam when it's operating, which is very hard on high carbon steel (especially because it's at such a high temperature -> faster chemical reaction). Also keep in mind it takes at least an hour to run an autoclave cycle: heating and pressurizing, autoclaving, depressurization. Automated ones could even take longer.
I don't recommend an autoclave or an oven to sterilize razors. Both could be hard on your handle material, and the wet environment could be very hard on your blade.
I bought one of the glass jars (like in a barber shop or salon) that you can mix Barbercide or Marvicide into. I drop the razor in, and let it soak for 10 min. or more. This is in conjunction with any prior cleaning to remove the bulk or heavy stuff first, and before final polishing/honing.
I just picked up a big spray can of clippercide at the beauty supply store. $6, and God only knows how long this much will last me.
I'm more interested in the rust-inhibiting qualities, though.
Well practice due diligence is my watch phrase these days and these forums are like panning- you pick the right stream, and sift through a lot of crud but there be gems there.
I have two of my new to me blades basking in the sun as I thought that was a worthy tip for nuking spores and couldn't see the harm in it.