Thread: I bought my first (3) DE razors today!

Originally Posted by jeffegg2

But then Bleach is known for killing the HIV virus.

One the thing with Scrubbing bubbles it helps to sterilize as well.. also the HIV virus can only live a few hours outside of the human body so I doubt that being too much of a problem unless you purchase a razor with fresh blood on it.

yes bleach is a bad idea. I had a Mercur Vision I soaked in a strong bleach solution and it totally ate through the plating and started chowing down on the base metal. I wound up having to trash it. It's always a good idea to start with some mild soap and water and a brush and you can always go to scrubbing bubbles after that.

Well luckily I didn't soak them for too long in the bleach, I did clean them up and although they aren't shiney like new, I know they are clean and I like them. It feels alot different then Straight Razor shaving and to be honest I enjoy using a straight more. But I do like these, so when I need a quick shave, these are what I will turn to. Somone mentioned that the first smaller Gillette is probably a travel razor, and thats exactly what I thought and told my mom when she asked me why it was so small. Its good to hear that these are good razors, I know Gillettes are good so I kinda knew I was safe purchasing them.

Originally Posted by jeffegg2

But then Bleach is known for killing the HIV virus.

But then so does Lysol and 90% alcohol...bleach will ruin the razor.

I am so glad that i stumbled upon this thread today because i just bought an old Gillette DE (a ball end tech i believe) on ebay a couple of days ago and was wondering about cleaning, blades, etc. I also bought the Wilkinson sword blades because they were easy to come by.

So does one minute at 80+ C in a moist environment.

If you are really, really concerned, leave the razor in a pressure cook for 15 minutes. This is called "autoclaving". It kills just about everything of human health interest.

By the way, HIV is easily deactivated and does not transmit efficiently. The virus to worry about is Hepatitis C.

Also, any place you clean thoroughly will be free of infection. If it ain't there, it can't hurt you. The pasteurization/sterilization is only for the parts you miss.

Finally, bleach corrodes even stainless steel rapidly. If you must use it, use "neutral bleach" made by using equal amounts of 6% bleach and 5% white vinegar in water. A teaspoon per quart of each is more than sufficient. First add one component and mix, and then the other and mix.

Vox Sang. 1992;62(1):12-20.
High-temperature short-time heat inactivation of HIV and other viruses in human blood plasma.
Charm SE, Landau S, Williams B, Horowitz B, Prince AM, Pascual D.
Charm Bioengineering, Inc., Malden, MA 02148.

An ultra-short-time heating system was used to process blood plasma spiked with various viruses (HIV, vesicular stomatitis virus, encephalomyocarditis virus). Virus reduction and recovery of plasma proteins were measured at various temperatures from 65 to 85 degrees C. Processing at 77 degrees C and 0.006 s resulted in a high level of virus kill, including greater than or equal to 4.4 log10 HIV, while maintaining protein structure and activity essentially intact.

You have yourself a Plastic handled Tech (50's), a travel Gillette (late 60's) and a ball handled New (30's). For more accurate dates on the first two there should be a code under the head.

For cleaning all you needed would have been scrubbing bubbles, or similar, a stiff toothbrush, and a 10 minute boil (except the one with the plastic handle.)

For blades I recommend you get yourself a sample pack which are available from a number of online vendors. They will have half a dozen different brands and you can see which ones you like.