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A guide to cleaning and disinfecting razors (with steps)

Now that I have some time on my hands, I think it's a good idea to make a presentation of my own cleaning and disinfecting process. At some point, we will all finally try a vintage or a modern used razor. To feel safe enough to use it and say confidently it's ready, you have to follow a process. When I got my first vintage razor, I was looking for a guide on how to get it ready for use. I found many topics and used all these info to create my own process. I think it's a good guide and will help many fellow shavers. It has worked for me all these years.



First of all, we need the following items:



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Plastic mug



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Dish detergent



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Hard toothbrush



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Soft toothbrush



proxy.php


Pipe cleaner



proxy.php


Syringe



proxy.php


Barbicide



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Disinfecting jar



proxy.php


proxy.php


Polishing liquid



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Microfiber cloth






The process is as follows:



  • We put the razor in a mug for about ten minutes. Inside the mug, we've already made a mix of hot water and dish detergent. It will soften the dirt and will be easier to remove it. It'd be better if you had already loosen the razor.
  • After that, we clean the parts of our razor using a toothbrush. If it's vintage, nickel-plated or very dirty, a hard toothbrush is recommended. If it's modern and its finish is mirror shiny polish, be gentle and use a soft toothbrush with caution. The last thing we want is to damage the finish of our razor. Take your time, clean it good. If there are hard to reach parts, if we are cleaning an adjustable razor for example, a good item to clean the gap between the base plate and the moving mechanism is the pipe cleaner.
  • When the cleaning result is visible, we dry our razor using a cloth or even a hair dryer, that works too.
  • If the razor is vintage, now it's time for the polishing. I recommend the Silvo. It's not an expensive product and you can find it easily (I guess). Use a microfiber cloth to polish the razor. You'll see the tarnish coming off. Repeat until your razor starts to shine. Then clean it gently with a clean cloth, wait some time and put it inside the mug with the hot water again and do some gentle washing.
  • We continue by filling the disinfecting jar with 946ml of water and 59ml of Barbicide. This is the recommended analogy. A syringe will help you with the Barbicide quantity. About the water, fill it until the lines that start from the bottom of the bottle end. There is usually a sign on where to stop adding more water, each jar is different though.
  • We place the parts of our razor inside the inner basket of the bottle and leave it there for 10 minutes. It's the recommended amount of time by the manufacturer of Barbicide. If you leave it less time, it will probably not do the job. If you leave it more time or you forget about it, it will damage the finish of your razor. Yes, I've seen that happening. Also, if your razor is made out of aluminum, Barbicide is a big no. It can damage the finish even if you put it for 10 minutes, it will start to flake off. There is plenty of room for more than one razor in there by the way.
  • Finally the razor is ready for use, but prior to this clean it for one last time with plenty of warm water. We don't want that Barbicide on our face in case we accidentally cut ourselves.

Excellent post!! Especially in these ’social distancing‘ days!! :a29: :a29:
 
I can't understand what your problem is with the Barbicide. Really.

Necessary or not, it does not harm you to use it. I don't care if it's a necessary part of my disinfecting process. It's MY process and I'm very satisfied with this. It works very well for me. I'm meticulous by nature.

Use rubbing alcohol instead of this. Who told you not to? Shhhh

It's just a guide for newbies mostly that WORKS GREATLY. I didn't read any comment saying that my process is wrong. Because, it is not. If you follow these steps, you can bet the razor is ready for use. Again, if a part of this process is not necessary, it's up to you. Is polishing necessary? It's up to you as well.

How about making your OWN guide with you OWN cleaning and disinfecting steps? I'd really like to see this.

I've spent 3500-4000 Euros on shaving stuff the last years. I'm not a stingy person, I've never been one. I won't be one when it comes to a useful sanitation product that's not even expensive. It costs $15 for God's sake. I've spent more money on ridiculous stuff I shouldn't have bought in the first place.

This is not a debate between Barbicide and rubbing alcohol, get over it.

Is it necessary to have many back ups? NO. But most of us have plenty of them.

Is it necessary to use pre-shaves? NO. But many use them and love them.

Is it necessary to shave daily? For most men NO, no one forces them to shave every single day.

Is it necessary to have more than one razor, one brush and a shaving cream? It is NOT.

You physicians reacted like I'm suggesting something that will harm my fellow members, but I only wanted to share a good and detailed guide. Again, make your own.

I'm an economist, I have a Master's degree, and I don't agree with my colleagues every single time. The same goes for most professions. If you visit three physicians, you'll come out with three different prescriptions...

Is there just one way to disinfect your razor? NO. Choose you own.

Is it even necessary to dinsifect it? What's necessary?

You can even use the razor without cleaning it, who will stop you? Nobody.

I'm sickened.
 
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I can't understand what your problem is with the Barbicide. Really.

Necessary or not, it does not harm you to use it. I don't care if it's a necessary part of my disinfecting process. It's MY process and I'm very satisfied with this. It works very well for me. I'm meticulous by nature....
I apologize if I caused any distress. It was not my intention to do so.

I agree entirely with the quoted part of your post, above.

I don't have any problem with people using barbicide if they want to.

Your guide was not wrong. I never thought it was wrong, and I never said it was wrong. I think it was probably very helpful for many people.
 
I can't understand what your problem is with the Barbicide. Really.

Necessary or not, it does not harm you to use it. I don't care if it's a necessary part of my disinfecting process. It's MY process and I'm very satisfied with this. It works very well for me. I'm meticulous by nature.

Use rubbing alcohol instead of this. Who told you not to? Shhhh

It's just a guide for newbies mostly that WORKS GREATLY. I didn't read any comment saying that my process is wrong. Because, it is not. If you follow these steps, you can bet the razor is ready for use. Again, if a part of this process is not necessary, it's up to you. Is polishing necessary? It's up to you as well.

How about making your OWN guide with you OWN cleaning and disinfecting steps? I'd really like to see this.

I've spent 3500-4000 Euros on shaving stuff the last years. I'm not a stingy person, I've never been one. I won't be one when it comes to a useful sanitation product that's not even expensive. It costs $15 for God's sake. I've spent more money on ridiculous stuff I shouldn't have bought in the first place.

This is not a debate between Barbicide and rubbing alcohol, get over it.

Is it necessary to have many back ups? NO. But most of us have plenty of them.

Is it necessary to use pre-shaves? NO. But many use them and love them.

Is it necessary to shave daily? For most men NO, no one forces them to shave every single day.

Is it necessary to have more than one razor, one brush and a shaving cream? It is NOT.

You physicians reacted like I'm suggesting something that will harm my fellow members, but I only wanted to share a good and detailed guide. Again, make your own.

I'm an economist, I have a Master's degree, and I don't agree with my colleagues every single time. The same goes for most professions. If you visit three physicians, you'll come out with three different prescriptions...

Is there just one way to disinfect your razor? NO. Choose you own.

Is it even necessary to dinsifect it? What's necessary?

You can even use the razor without cleaning it, who will stop you? Nobody.

I'm sickened.
Having been a member of this forum for years, I'm pretty aware that when someone submits a procedure to the forum, they will be subjected to review and criticism by other members. This is normal and not unreasonable. If you are not prepared to accept this review, you should perhaps think twice before posting.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
I apologize if I caused any distress. It was not my intention to do so.

I agree entirely with the quoted part of your post, above.

I don't have any problem with people using barbicide if they want to.

Your guide was not wrong. I never thought it was wrong, and I never said it was wrong. I think it was probably very helpful for many people.

The only thing you said was about the Barbicide, as if the thread was about this. It was not.

That started a whole discussion in which falsely I participated. Most members missed the point of this thread.

Thank you for derailing the thread with just 4 words.
 
The only thing you said was about the Barbicide, as if the thread was about this. It was not.

That started a whole discussion in which falsely I participated. Most members missed the point of this thread.

Thank you for derailing the thread with just 4 words.
Again, I apologize. That was not my intent.
 
Having been a member of this forum for years, I'm pretty aware that when someone submits a procedure to the forum, they will be subjected to review and criticism by other members. This is normal and not unreasonable. If you are not prepared to accept this review, you should perhaps think twice before posting.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I'm 3 days older than you on this specific forum and have more than double of your posts. I know what you say pretty well, twice as good as you do to be more precise. Lol

Give me a break... You haven't even participated so far in this thread, you just pressed the like button multiple times and wrote a derailing and questionable post. Is this your valuable participation?

Criticism should be constructive, not disruptive.
 
Also, as this is a derailed thread, from the very first posts, in which there is no reason anymore to participate, I ask the mods for the deletion of this whole thread to be done with it.

Thank you kindly.
 
I'm 3 days older than you on this specific forum and have more than double of your posts. I know what you say pretty well, twice as good as you do to be more precise. Lol

Give me a break... You haven't even participated so far in this thread, you just pressed the like button multiple times and wrote a derailing and questionable post. Is this your valuable participation?

Criticism should be constructive, not disruptive.
I stand by my comment.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
Now that I have some time on my hands, I think it's a good idea to make a presentation of my own cleaning and disinfecting process. At some point, we will all finally try a vintage or a modern used razor. To feel safe enough to use it and say confidently it's ready, you have to follow a process. When I got my first vintage razor, I was looking for a guide on how to get it ready for use. I found many topics and used all these info to create my own process. I think it's a good guide and will help many fellow shavers. It has worked for me all these years.



First of all, we need the following items:



proxy.php


Plastic mug



proxy.php


Dish detergent



proxy.php


Hard toothbrush



proxy.php


Soft toothbrush



proxy.php


Pipe cleaner



proxy.php


Syringe



proxy.php


Barbicide



proxy.php


Disinfecting jar



proxy.php


proxy.php


Polishing liquid



proxy.php


Microfiber cloth






The process is as follows:



  • We put the razor in a mug for about ten minutes. Inside the mug, we've already made a mix of hot water and dish detergent. It will soften the dirt and will be easier to remove it. It'd be better if you had already loosen the razor.
  • After that, we clean the parts of our razor using a toothbrush. If it's vintage, nickel-plated or very dirty, a hard toothbrush is recommended. If it's modern and its finish is mirror shiny polish, be gentle and use a soft toothbrush with caution. The last thing we want is to damage the finish of our razor. Take your time, clean it good. If there are hard to reach parts, if we are cleaning an adjustable razor for example, a good item to clean the gap between the base plate and the moving mechanism is the pipe cleaner.
  • When the cleaning result is visible, we dry our razor using a cloth or even a hair dryer, that works too.
  • If the razor is vintage, now it's time for the polishing. I recommend the Silvo. It's not an expensive product and you can find it easily (I guess). Use a microfiber cloth to polish the razor. You'll see the tarnish coming off. Repeat until your razor starts to shine. Then clean it gently with a clean cloth, wait some time and put it inside the mug with the hot water again and do some gentle washing.
  • We continue by filling the disinfecting jar with 946ml of water and 59ml of Barbicide. This is the recommended analogy. A syringe will help you with the Barbicide quantity. About the water, fill it until the lines that start from the bottom of the bottle end. There is usually a sign on where to stop adding more water, each jar is different though.
  • We place the parts of our razor inside the inner basket of the bottle and leave it there for 10 minutes. It's the recommended amount of time by the manufacturer of Barbicide. If you leave it less time, it will probably not do the job. If you leave it more time or you forget about it, it will damage the finish of your razor. Yes, I've seen that happening. Also, if your razor is made out of aluminum, Barbicide is a big no. It can damage the finish even if you put it for 10 minutes, it will start to flake off. There is plenty of room for more than one razor in there by the way.
  • Finally the razor is ready for use, but prior to this clean it for one last time with plenty of warm water. We don't want that Barbicide on our face in case we accidentally cut ourselves.

+1
I wish there were most posts like this especially with covid 19.

By the way, I always wear mask and gloves outside home (I have to work outside home). Some doctors say it is not necessary to wear, although they do.

Nicholas bravo for your post.
 
That's why sometimes I ask more than one doctor for an opinion...

You know what, not all doctors suggest the same. If I ask two or more doctors, I'll get different solutions to my problem. It's my decision with which I'll proceed. You know where I'm getting at.

There are doctors who say use the Barbicide instead of the rubbing alcohol to disinfect such items. You can't deny this.

All professions have different schools of thought.

Of course if you ask more than one "doctor" for an opinion you'll get as many different opinions as the number of doctors you ask. But there is a distinct difference here that you seem to have overlooked. The guy is an infectious disease specialist. That doesn't make him just another "doctor" as you put it. Of course, if you feel more comfortable, by all means you should trust your proctologist's opinion on infectious diseases over the opinion of an infectious disease specialist. More power to ya.
 
No need to apologize.

The time it took me to write this guide was in vain.

No big deal.

Your first post was actually quite good. What seems to have detracted from your original intent is your total lack of ability to accept alternative points of view that differ from your own. If this thread got derailed, you only have yourself to look to.
 
Your first post was actually quite good. What seems to have detracted from your original intent is your total lack of ability to accept alternative points of view that differ from your own. If this thread got derailed, you only have yourself to look to.
First of all, I had to open the ignored posts to read yours. You are used to writing such provocative posts and I don't like you. You've done that many times in my threads.

But I'll bite.

It might sounded like this, but this isn't true. You don't know me and it's easy for you to draw a conclusion. I respect all members and their opinions. What I don't like is to monopolize a conversation and derail a thread, throwing a good effort in the trash can. And because I falsely played that game, I asked the mods to delete this thread.

Whatever. Not going to waste one more minute of my time. Life is outside of these forums.
 
Of course if you ask more than one "doctor" for an opinion you'll get as many different opinions as the number of doctors you ask. But there is a distinct difference here that you seem to have overlooked. The guy is an infectious disease specialist. That doesn't make him just another "doctor" as you put it. Of course, if you feel more comfortable, by all means you should trust your proctologist's opinion on infectious diseases over the opinion of an infectious disease specialist. More power to ya.
Since you fail to understand basic things and you like to make trol-posts, I could pass you the number of a good proctologist. You mentioned it so maybe you are searching for one.
I didn't overlook anything. Good for him. I don't care. I prefer the Barbicide, I feel safer, I've already said that many times. He could make his own guide without all this bragging. He chose otherwise. But then admitted that it doesn't harm you to use Barbicide. It's just not necessary, like so many things in the hobby, and he wanted to save us money, as if we haven't already spent a ton of them. Amazing things.

Does Barbicide work? YES. He and others didn't say that. They only wanted to belittle it.
 
Since you fail to understand basic things and you like to make trol-posts, I could pass you the number of a good proctologist. You mentioned it so maybe you are searching for one.
I didn't overlook anything. Good for him. I don't care. I prefer the Barbicide, I feel safer, I've already said that many times. He could make his own guide without all this bragging. He chose otherwise. But then admitted that it doesn't harm you to use Barbicide. It's just not necessary, like so many things in the hobby, and he wanted to save us money, as if we haven't already spent a ton of them. Amazing things.

Does Barbicide work? YES. He and others didn't say that. They only wanted to belittle it.

I'm sorry you feel that way.
 
Since you fail to understand basic things and you like to make trol-posts, I could pass you the number of a good proctologist. You mentioned it so maybe you are searching for one.
I didn't overlook anything. Good for him. I don't care. I prefer the Barbicide, I feel safer, I've already said that many times. He could make his own guide without all this bragging. He chose otherwise. But then admitted that it doesn't harm you to use Barbicide. It's just not necessary, like so many things in the hobby, and he wanted to save us money, as if we haven't already spent a ton of them. Amazing things.

Does Barbicide work? YES. He and others didn't say that. They only wanted to belittle it.

You seem to not be able to accept that there are other people who have differing opinions than yours. I've said it before and I'll say it again, your first post was very good. It was very well written, clearn and concise. I'm not trying to be condescending. It's just the truth. But you have been a member on this site for quite some time. Long enough to realize a few things. First, there is not one single opinion on any topic. What works for one person doesn't always work for another. What you took as belittling was not belittling but just an expression of an opinion that happens to be different from your. And you are upset that he focused on only one small point, the Barbicide. So what? That is such a small part of your excellent guide. Why are you so sensitive? When your reaction to someone else's opinion is so overblown, it detracts from the good that was in your post in the first place. Why can't someone have a different opinion than you? You won't take anything I have to say here as genuine because you think I'm a troll, provocative and you just don't like me. I'm ok with that. But I guess that just leaves you with one big problem. You have to live with yourself.
 
You guys have too much time to argue over f****ing Barbicide. Use it or not, your choice. Great guide, would you recommend a polish for gold plated razors? Thanks.
 
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