sanitizing

[Fafhrd]

Hydrocide is also good and is also sold at Sally's.

 

[Teppanyaki]

As a germ-phobe, I autoclave any vintage/used razor once. If I didn't have access to that, Barbicide/Clippercide/Hydrocide (I think they're different brands of similar stuff) is EPA registered as a disinfectant for various pathogens if I recall correctly.

I think that Barbicide/Clippercide/Lysol are all quarternary animes, which are pretty widely used disinfectants. As above, some people use alcohol instead.

If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty, the EPA has a website that grades disinfectants/sterilants.

I've heard of plating being damaged with boiling, so I wouldn't try a pressure cooker. Having said that, I do wonder if an autoclave carries a similar risk.

 

[feltspanky]

A good cleaning with a toothbrush and antiseptic soap followed up by a soak in 90% rubbing alcohol. Your good to go and no danger of destroying your razor.

 

[luvmysuper]

All I'm saying is that if there is a safer way to do this then why not do it.

All I'm saying is that your statement about viruses was just plain wrong.
If you or anyone else wants to go to extreme lengths, that's fine. That's your right.
You can soak your razor in hydrochloric acid if it makes you feel better, it's your razor and your life -do what you feel comfortable doing.
But fear mongering isn't tolerated here, and it isn't your right to expose those who don't know better to information that is not true.
Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[nuclearblast]

No virus or bacteria or whatever can live on a razor for more than a few days,some even only live for a few hours, let alone a few years when you find a razor in some antique shop.
Simple as that. I can understand if going to extremes makes some people feel better, but that doesn't mean it's actually necessary.

 

[vaplanman]

Hearing germaphobes talk about their phobia gives me the heebie jeebies! The little cooties themselves don't bother me at all.

A mechanical scrub is more than enough to make a razor ready for use but a short soak in alcohol puts my mind totally at ease. But I buy used soaps so what do I know.

 

[vaplanman]

...Furthermore how do we know that nobody has caught anything from using a razor cleaned using these household cleanser methods. In fact many people have no idea where they contracted Hepatitis and can only assume they got it from a previous partner. Maybe they did contract it from a razor? I mean, how would you know that they didn't? ...

That's a very good point! But we also need to remember what a marvelous job our own bodies do at protecting us. Most of use are exposed to various invective agents everyday. Many of those times, our bodies fight them off well before we even see any outward symptoms. Every now and then, we lose that initial battle and become "sick." Sometimes we need a little reinforcement via antibiotics. Mostly, we treat symptoms and let our systems take care of the infection itself. It's only when you are around someone with a compromised immune system that you really appreciate how effective and efficient a healthy body is.

Finally, we really need to understand how our efforts to make our environment "safe" have begun to actually hurt us. Medical science has controlled polio, the flu and reduced small pox to a lab specimen. Unfortunately, it has also created drug resistant versions of TB, flesh eating bacteria and other nasties. Take reasonable precautions and help your body build it's own defenses.

 

[Mr_Fuggles]

Don't viruses only survive outside the human body for a few hours up to a few days at the most?

By the time that razor arrives in your hands after being in a box in the care of the USPS, any potential viruses would be long dead.

I'm not saying don't clean it, and use alcohol, or even Barbicide, but there seems to be a lot of unnecessary obsessing and fretting over this.

 

[nuclearblast]

True and false. True that most cant live for years but some can. False because you"re forgetting about each person that touches it passess something to it.

Who played with it just before you bought it???

In that case if I were you I'd wear gloves all the time, and don't touch anything else that is touched by other people daily. And we're talking about an endless number of things from door knobs to ATM keys, etc, etc ... A soft toothbrush, hot water and some dish soap is all I need, and I'm still alive. Also ... unless they feed on razor plating I can't think of anything keeping the viruses alive.

 

[nuclearblast]

Also ... it's hard to think of something dirtier than money for example. And I don't hear stories of people boiling and soaking $100 bills ...

 

[Musikmann]

... I've heard of plating being damaged with boiling, so I wouldn't try a pressure cooker. Having said that, I do wonder if an autoclave carries a similar risk.

I'm not a microbiologist but I used to sell autoclaves for a medical distributor. The high grade German stainless steel surgical instruments we also sold held up fine. The floor grade ones not well so that depends on the quality of the metal we are subjecting to that. For an vintage razor I would not use a pressure cooker or a steam autoclave.

But if you are so inclined, there are chemical autoclaves that don't run at as high a temperature. Plus we also sold a J&J product called Cidex. IIRC the claim is "sanitizes in 8 hours and sterilizes in 24". The downside there is it comes as a solution plus an activator and used at room temperature. There is Cidex-7 good for 7 days, Cidex-14 and Cidex-28. It doesn't cost very much but sterilizing with that might be the answer.

 

[luvmysuper]

I'm just generally amused that folks take such extreme precautions on a razor but have no such qualms about using the soda dispensers at fast food restaurants or the ice machines there. A recent study found 75 percent of ice machines checked had ice that was dirtier than the water in the establishments toilets.
We are constantly exposed to horrendous contaminants, and never think twice about it. We obsess over a nickel plated metal razor, and then go to a restaurant and shove a spoon or a fork in our mouth that was in someone elses mouth less than an hour earlier.

From here;

http://gigabiting.com/the-bathroom-is-not-the-germiest-spot-in-a-restaurant/

A look at restaurants in three states, with samples analyzed by the lab at New York University’s Microbiology Department, has located the germiest spot in a restaurant. And it’s not the bathroom; not by a long shot. In fact, if you want to steer clear of nasty bacteria, you’re often better off eating your meal in the ladies room than from some of the surfaces in the dining room.

There was some good news.
Salad bars were not as bad as you might have thought, although maybe that means we’re not eating enough leafy green vegetables. And ketchup bottles, as sticky and goopy as they can be, don’t harbor much in the way of food-borne illnesses.

And the bad news: take a deep breath, maybe gargle some mouthwash, and let’s look at some of the yucky, germy, disgusting things you probably put in your mouth.

Rims of glasses
Servers will too often grip glasses right at the top where we drink, giving pathogens a direct route into our bodies. Multiple bacteria were found, including one linked with tuberculosis.

Tables
Next time a french fry falls off your plate onto the table, I suggest you leave it there. A primary culprit is babies—spilling, drooling, and inadequately potty-trained, they are like little petri dishes perched in high chairs. The kids might be gone from the table but the server’s damp rag guarantees that their germs will live on.

Salt and pepper shakers
How often are these cleaned? I mean really cleaned. That same rag that just mopped the table is not going to help matters. Fully 50% of the shakers tested positive for infectious contaminants.

Lemon wedges
On the fish plate, in the water pitcher, these are slices of bacterial garnish. Lemon juice does kill germs, but what about the germs on the lemon itself? Two-thirds of restaurant lemon wedges carry some kind of disease-causing microbes with E coli and other fecal bacteria in the lead, since half of the lemon wedges in the study contained human waste. You would need to dunk the fruit in bleach, not lemon juice, to kill it all.

Menus
Did you ever consider how many hands a menu has passed through? And if chips and salsa are served, take notice of how many people lick the salt off their fingers as they ponder the entrée selections. Strep and staph infections were found on menus, as well as cold and flu viruses which can survive for 18 hours on a laminated surface.

Seats
The top spot on the list is reserved for your bottom. Seventy percent of the chair seats had sickening bacteria on them. These seldom-sanitized surfaces are like cesspools on four legs with 17 different pathogens identified, including strains of E coli from fecal matter we routinely sit in.

 

[Pebcak]

I have a question for those of you concerned with sterilizing your gear. Where do you store it in between uses and what do you do to the razor before using it each time?

 

[AngryGreek]

I just lick mine all over before I use it the first time.

 

[nuclearblast]

I just lick mine all over before I use it the first time.

 

[Musikmann]

I'm just generally amused that folks take such extreme precautions on a razor but have no such qualms about using the soda dispensers at fast food restaurants or the ice machines there. A recent study found 75 percent of ice machines checked had ice that was dirtier than the water in the establishments toilets.
We are constantly exposed to horrendous contaminants, and never think twice about it. We obsess over a nickel plated metal razor, and then go to a restaurant and shove a spoon or a fork in our mouth that was in someone elses mouth less than an hour earlier.

Wow! Thanks for this, I had no Earthly idea!!

 

[Musikmann]

Coming from someone who blows the dust off a dropped cigarette (mine of course) and sticks it back in his mouth I'm not terribly concerned with dirt, bacteria or viruses.

 

[vaplanman]

..... We are constantly exposed to horrendous contaminants, and never think twice about it. We obsess over a nickel plated metal razor, and then go to a restaurant and shove a spoon or a fork in our mouth that was in someone elses mouth less than an hour earlier.

Only Howard Hughes understood the true depth of our exposure to all these horrible pathogens.

And yet, there are 7 billion+ people walking this earth today and doing just fine.

 

[Badmedicine]

I've used medical-grade cleaning methods on a couple really grotty razors. Just yesterday I used Scrubbing Bubbles and Hibiclens (sort of a nuclear-strength Barbicide, used for cleaning medical equipment) on an H-2 travel Tech. I wasn't concerned about any residual pathogens as just getting rid of grime; Hibiclens will eat the paint off a Panzer. Came out alright. Got it clean enough to see the Gillette logo engraved on the cap. I even autoclaved one of my cheap shavettes once, just to see what would happen. Discolored the copper pins a little, but it seemed undamaged otherwise. Granted, it was all-stainless. For your average razor, Soap/water/Scrubbing Bubbles/Barbicide should be more than enough. If it's in good shape, you can probably skip the SB and Barbicide. The Old-type I got with the H-2 just got Dawn and a soft toothbrush. Generally, I don't care. There's far more germs on a doorknob than a razor that's been sitting for years. Most viruses can't survive more than a few hours outside of a host anyways.

 

[August West]

Foxhole Shavers Against Sanitation.