Bacterial Infection Due to Shaving...and how often do you sanitize your razors?

[bkfist]

I swirl my razor in 93% alcohol after each shave but after reading this I might have to invest in some barbacide.

WHAT in the world have YOU been reading on this post? The parts that make you feel better and feed your desire to swirl your razor in the 93% alcohol? (BTW the cheaper 70% is a better disinfectant than the 93%)

Re-read the post, forget your paranoia... If you rinsed your razor in hot water, followed by dunking your razor in bleach, followed by alcohol, followed by battery acid, followed by ethylene oxide sterilization, followed by heating it to red-hot for 1 hour, then stored your razor in a drawer, cabinet, bathroom or any place outside of a sterile environment, you might as well have stopped at the "Rinsed with hot water" step.

Your skin, sink, mouth, lips, sink handles, towel and most likely the water you are rinsing your face in, contain *FAR* more bacteria, spores, viri, fungi etc. than the surface of your razor or blade. Unless you are not going to rinse and dry your face, or use your hands to apply after shave, and are using sterile gloves (and putting on a fresh pair before touching your razor again) to turn your water off and on, and ABSOLUTELY not rinsing your razor in dirty, FILTHY sink between passes, forget the paranoia about sanitizing your razors, you are simply wasting your money and time.

The OP's friend's skin infection quite possibly DID come from shaving, but almost certainly did NOT come from bacteria or other pathogen on the razor.

edit: Sorry, that first sentence sounded a bit harsh, I didn't mean it to sound quite that way, but really, for sanitary purposes, it's not at all necessary, or beneficial, although some people say it helps them reduce soap scum - soft water works a LOT better-

 

[Geckotek]

Well. sorry to tell you, but despite your housekeepers efforts, your bathroom is virtually a fecal playground (amongst many other forms of bacteria and virus). Flushing the toilet after a prodigious bowel movement, the fecal matter on your hands that you cannot avoid, and the general moist/warm environment of your bathroom means that you have significant amounts (significant as in lots but not really harmful) of fecal coliform bacteria on your door handles, shower curtain, shower handles, sink handle, razor, tooth brush, listerine bottle, etc etc. Your bathroom is like a jacuzzi of feces at the microscopic level. Some even have even observed the aerosol effect whereby after you flush a mountain of poo, small water droplets fling out from the toilet across the entire room, onto you face, lips, ears, nasal passages, eyes, and any other object that happens to sit in your bathroom. Couple this with the considerable amount of feces that actually is on your hands (no a small paper tissue does not act as barrier between hand and moist/warm fecal matter). Now since you most likely a civilized man you wash your hands quickly which actually only eliminates some of the fecal bacteria on your hand which then proceeds to be transferred to your doors, sandwich, wife's hair, remote, cell phone, or whatever u touch. In fact while your bathroom is a fecal 4th of July, most of the rest of your household objects that you handle are lathered (in a microbe kind of way) in fecal bacteria. While there is some question about the aerosol effect, there is no question that when you brush - you are tasting poo, when you shave you are rubbing a few fecal microbes into your face, etc etc....in total, there is nothing to worry about as it is very unlikely you could sick or an infection or whatnot from your bathroom, but make no mistake after about 12 hours after the housekeeper disinfects, you are once again housing your very own fecal colony in your house. Now if you only pass waste once per month than you may have almost no traces except for that massive amount of microscopic fecal smear that soap and water will not lift - even the cute antibacterial ones are no match for the fecal lake on your palm. Of course anyone else in your home who touches anything, such as the housekeeper, is likely to be leaving behind her own microbial fecal colonies on your kitchen surfaces, tables, door handles, and whatever else she touches when you are not looking. But like I said, do not fret, and u likely wear AS, so even while you are ensconced in your own and others in the world fecal overcoat, even a good fecal swamp that is your home cannot overpower (scent wise) a good splash of Clubman.

hahaha, I knew someone would bring this up. I beg to differ. I'm not trying to say it's bacteria free (not even completely fecal free), but some of us are a bit cleaner than you think. I guarantee my bathroom is not a "fecal playground" as you've described. Not to mention that you seemed to ignore the part of my razor not being exposed to the air in my bathroom, my toothbrush is also covered. And I'm not stupid enough to flush with the lid up.

So yeah, look all you like for a "fecal swamp" in my home; you won't find it. I've lived around too many medical professionals and germophobes in my life. Some of it has rubbed off (and I don't mean fecal matter.) That includes a much longer hand-washing routine than the average guy (and yes...with anti-bacterial soap.) Oh, and I'm single so no wife or other family members around to foul things up either.

 

[Legion]

It is probably worth mentioning that there is a squillion times more bacteria on your stainless steel kitchen sink than there is on your porcelain toilet bowl. And dog spit is less germy than people spit. So when you kiss your wife goodbye tomorrow morning, it would probably be more hygienic if you kissed the pooch instead. And rinse your vegetables by flushing.

Stop worrying about it. It is all safe enough as long as you aren't sharing your razor with random strangers.

 

[Geckotek]

Yeah, I wouldn't make the same argument about my kitchen sink.

 

[JoeBass]

I always splash a few drops of alcohol based aftershave on my blade and let it sit while I lather up, but I'm admittedly quite out of my mind when it comes to this kind of thing.

 

[aceinyerface]

I wouldn't spend a great deal of energy on it. Your whole body is a microbial playground.

http://www.textbookofbacteriology.net/normalflora.html

Table 1. Bacteria commonly found on the surfaces of the human body.

[SIZE=-2]BACTERIUM[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]Skin[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]Con- junc- tiva[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]Nose[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]Pharynx[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]Mouth[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]Lower GI [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]Ant. ure- thra[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]Vagina[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Staphylococcus epidermidis (1)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Staphylococcus aureus* (2)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Streptococcus mitis [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Streptococcus salivarius [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++ [/SIZE]		[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Streptococcus mutans* (3)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Enterococcus faecalis* (4)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Streptococcus pneumoniae* (5)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Streptococcus pyogenes* (6)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Neisseria sp. (7)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Neisseria meningitidis* (8)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Enterobacteriaceae*(Escherichia coli) (9) [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Proteus sp.[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Pseudomonas aeruginosa* (10)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Haemophilus influenzae* (11)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Bacteroides sp.*[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Bifidobacterium bifidum (12)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Lactobacillus sp. (13)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Clostridium sp.* (14) [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Clostridium tetani (15)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Corynebacteria (16)[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Mycobacteria[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/- [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Actinomycetes[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+ [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Spirochetes[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]++[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Mycoplasmas [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2] [/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+/-[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]+[/SIZE]

---

[SIZE=-2]
++ = nearly 100 percent + = common (about 25 percent) +/- = rare (less than 5%) * = potential pathogen [/SIZE]

---

 

[Legion]

*Hijack alert!*

It is sort of off topic, but does anybody think that a lot of modern parents are out of their mind when it comes to sterilising everything their babies come into contact with? I have friends who sanitise everything, use those alcohol hand wipes a thousand times a day, and basically have their kids living in an antiseptic bubble.

IMO there is a direct link between all that, and all the food allergies kids have today. Peanut allergy? what is that?? When I was a kid I don't remember a single child at my schools having that. Now it seems quite common. Personally I am blaming weakened immune systems caused by not getting toughened up to germs when they are babies. Babies crawl around on the ground. They put weird things in their mouths. This is normal and it builds up their system to fight nasties when they are older.

*Hijack over.*

 

[jtb]

Faceterbating with dirty hands?

 

[Picaro]

Agreed, the whole germ phobia antibacterial marketing phooee, is a load of .....well...faecal matter ( back OT sort of).

But, I think you will find, if you go back to your laboratory the fact that a lack of fresh foods in the diet will be more closely linked to the increase of allergies and auto- immune disorders.

 

[Legion]

Agreed, the whole germ phobia antibacterial marketing phooee, is a load of .....well...faecal matter ( back OT sort of).

But, I think you will find, if you go back to your laboratory the fact that a lack of fresh foods in the diet will be more closely linked to the increase of allergies and auto- immune disorders.

Yeah, maybe. But I still think kids are going to be weaker in the long run if you don't let them roll in the mud sometimes.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Yeah, maybe. But I still think kids are going to be weaker in the long run if you don't let them roll in the mud sometimes.

kids will be weaker because of devolution- in the animal kingdom, the weak and stupid die. In the human species, they are protected.

 

[Picaro]

Motorcycles evolved in order to continue natural selection in humans

 

[monkeyhanger]

i boil the kettle and pour it straight onto my razor head shortly before shaving, i figure this will kill any freaky germs.

 

[Scott0079]

Don't cut yourself, problem solved....like the old story of the gentlemen leaving the restroom and a guy yelling out "Hey didn't your mother teach you to wash your hands"? Nope, she taught me not to **** on myself.

 

[Artimid]

You know Scott, I always hated that quote. I had a guy give that to me before, when I had to point out that he had two things to consider (I was employed doing drug testing) a) Fine, don't wash, but 240 other people have walked through that door today, and I can't ensure it is clean after every one of them, b) your genitals would need to be power washed with sand and chemicals to be anywhere near as clean as the neutral stuff coming out of it. I am not a clean freak, but I most certainly do scrub my hands.. several times, I do use clorox wipes on my desk, keyboard, phone, mouse, and so anything else I will touch throughout the day at my area, and yes I do use a paper towel on every door handle until I am safely able to walk without obstruction.. but I honestly have worked too long with people who were unclean and developed this as a way to keep myself slightly healthy. >_<

Anyways, I AM going to try that dry back thing I think on some of my gotten gains. So thanks for the Amazon link about the sterilization vs disinfectant. Also, the list of stuff on the human body will certainly haunt me when I am scrubbing in the shower. Thank you for that. Also, last but not least, sorry for your friend, but it is safe to shave. I would think if the reaction happened an hour later, and the way it happened, it almost sounds like an allergic reaction to something. I KNOW the doctors said one thing, but doctors also sent my sister home for being pregnant, drunk, on drugs, and on the fifth visit? Oh, her appendix just burst and she is going to die very shortly if we don't operate, hee hee, sorry we missed that all these times. They also removed a good junk of organs from my grandmother, listing a new one as "the problem" every few days until eventually they had nothing else they could safely remove and found the actual issue.

So I take hospitals with a grain of salt. ^_^ For all that was known, it was possibly an off brand, expired after shave, or old soap that had something on it as the most likely cause.

 

[Scott0079]

You know Scott, I always hated that quote. I had a guy give that to me before, when I had to point out that he had two things to consider (I was employed doing drug testing) a) Fine, don't wash, but 240 other people have walked through that door today, and I can't ensure it is clean after every one of them, b) your genitals would need to be power washed with sand and chemicals to be anywhere near as clean as the neutral stuff coming out of it. I am not a clean freak, but I most certainly do scrub my hands.. several times, I do use clorox wipes on my desk, keyboard, phone, mouse, and so anything else I will touch throughout the day at my area, and yes I do use a paper towel on every door handle until I am safely able to walk without obstruction.. but I honestly have worked too long with people who were unclean and developed this as a way to keep myself slightly healthy. >_<

Anyways, I AM going to try that dry back thing I think on some of my gotten gains. So thanks for the Amazon link about the sterilization vs disinfectant. Also, the list of stuff on the human body will certainly haunt me when I am scrubbing in the shower. Thank you for that. Also, last but not least, sorry for your friend, but it is safe to shave. I would think if the reaction happened an hour later, and the way it happened, it almost sounds like an allergic reaction to something. I KNOW the doctors said one thing, but doctors also sent my sister home for being pregnant, drunk, on drugs, and on the fifth visit? Oh, her appendix just burst and she is going to die very shortly if we don't operate, hee hee, sorry we missed that all these times. They also removed a good junk of organs from my grandmother, listing a new one as "the problem" every few days until eventually they had nothing else they could safely remove and found the actual issue.

So I take hospitals with a grain of salt. ^_^ For all that was known, it was possibly an off brand, expired after shave, or old soap that had something on it as the most likely cause.

Take my quotation with a grain of salt too. I firmly believe in washing your hands, in fact I'm almost OCD about it myself. My point was that the infection, if that's truly what it was, had to have somewhere to get in hence the don't cut yourself part.

 

[badgerRN]

As a Nursing Student, I feel compelled to respond to this.
Short Version for Germaphobes: Keep you razor clean, but it not necessary to sterilize you are extremely unlikely to get an infection. Now, if you freak out easily about germs, I would stop reading now.

It is very unlikely that you can get an infection from a razor for several reasons.
1. Most people have a functioning immune system.
2. The basic (pH) properties of the creams and soaps aren't the best things for bacteria. (In fact regular soap is just as effective as antibacterial)
3. Hot water is also not the best for bacteria.
4. Most people use an aftershave that contains alcohol.

Truth of the matter is while you are unlikely to get infection from a razor, even with a sterile razor, a sterile brush, you can still introduce bacteria into your wounds. Why? Your body is composed of a community of around 4-5 Trillion Cells on best estimate. Only about 1 Trillions of those are you. The other 3-4 Trillion are bacteria, most of them in your gut, mouth and skin. Without them we would have skin infections, bleed to death, or have severe nervous system impairments. These bacteria make Vitamin K which helps with clotting, and B12 which helps the nervous system function. Your skin is crawling with bacteria that do nothing more than take up the real estate on our skin and out compete pathogenic bacteria. Every now and then, people get these "good bacteria" into a wound and they can infect a wound, this is rare, but happens.

Sharing Razors and blades can lead to an infection, but most people don't do that.

The one thing that can throw a wrench in the works is, where do we shave? The bathroom? What is in the bathroom? The toilet. When you flush the toilet, millions of E Coli and other bacteria that are naturally in our waste get blasted into the air landing on our shaving brushes and razors. This can in rare case (when the list above just doesn't work for whatever reason) can cause an infection.

Now, as you are going to the bathroom and throwing the contents of your shaving den into a bucket of bleach, allow me to let you know what I do.

1. Keep the Toilet lid down when flushing (After the flush you can put it back up to make the wife/ significant other happy)
2. Wash my face well before shaving with hot soapy water
3. Rinse my razor well with hot water before and after the shave
4. Every time I change my blade, I take regular dish soap and scrub all of the parts of my DE, and leave it apart to dry.
5. I also make sure I dry my brushes on a towel and hang them bristle down to dry.

Hope I did not freak everyone out to much, but the big point is there is a chance to get infection from your razor, but you are more likely to get an infection from scratching yourself with a fingernail.

 

[inspiringK]

Topgumby, you keep the oddest pets!

 

[badgerRN]

You know Scott, I always hated that quote. I had a guy give that to me before, when I had to point out that he had two things to consider (I was employed doing drug testing) a) Fine, don't wash, but 240 other people have walked through that door today, and I can't ensure it is clean after every one of them, b) your genitals would need to be power washed with sand and chemicals to be anywhere near as clean as the neutral stuff coming out of it. I am not a clean freak, but I most certainly do scrub my hands.. several times, I do use clorox wipes on my desk, keyboard, phone, mouse, and so anything else I will touch throughout the day at my area, and yes I do use a paper towel on every door handle until I am safely able to walk without obstruction.. but I honestly have worked too long with people who were unclean and developed this as a way to keep myself slightly healthy. >_<

Anyways, I AM going to try that dry back thing I think on some of my gotten gains. So thanks for the Amazon link about the sterilization vs disinfectant. Also, the list of stuff on the human body will certainly haunt me when I am scrubbing in the shower. Thank you for that. Also, last but not least, sorry for your friend, but it is safe to shave. I would think if the reaction happened an hour later, and the way it happened, it almost sounds like an allergic reaction to something. I KNOW the doctors said one thing, but doctors also sent my sister home for being pregnant, drunk, on drugs, and on the fifth visit? Oh, her appendix just burst and she is going to die very shortly if we don't operate, hee hee, sorry we missed that all these times. They also removed a good junk of organs from my grandmother, listing a new one as "the problem" every few days until eventually they had nothing else they could safely remove and found the actual issue.

So I take hospitals with a grain of salt. ^_^ For all that was known, it was possibly an off brand, expired after shave, or old soap that had something on it as the most likely cause.

You should look into the hygiene hypothesis. I am all for cleanliness, but it makes sense. The hypothesis states that we are making ourselves sicker by keeping our kids and us ultra sanitary. Research has shown evidence that the parents who HEPA filter, bathe their child in hand sanitizer, and do not expose their children to germs have sicker childhoods than parents who let their kids play outdoors and eat dirt.

 

[Bimmerman]

Boiling water and some of the other measures some of you guys take would make me quit shaving! It makes me wonder if the ones who use such extraordinary measures to clean their razors also "dip and swirl." in a sink full of water. So, prior to filling the sink, was the sink also disinfected as well? If not, your super-clean razor will be rinsed in a sinkfull of diluted toothbrushing spit, "fecal patina," and who knows what else!