Disinfection & Cleaning of Razors

GaryH

GaryH

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76
Location
West Midlands
Hi all,

I have tried searching for previous threads around this topic but have not found one that is up to date or one that covers all the options.

My daily routine is to just rinse under the tap and dry with a small towel. Occasionally, say once a week I use a toothbrush to give them a more thorough clean. However upon watching a few videos around the subject and after having a couple of friends ask if they could try one of my razors before they buy, I began thinking about disinfection and a more thorough cleaning regime.

My research so far has raised a few questions. They are as follows:
1. How often do I need to disinfect my razors? (obviously if I lend a razor to a friend it would need disinfection upon its return)
2. Do I need to go to the degree of buying an ultrasonic cleaner (found one on amazon for £29.99)
3. Barbicide (approx £8 per 500ml) or 100% Lab/Pharma grade Isopropyl Alcohol (approx £8 per ltr)?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
GaryH said:
Hi all,

I have tried searching for previous threads around this topic but have not found one that is up to date or one that covers all the options.

My daily routine is to just rinse under the tap and dry with a small towel. Occasionally, say once a week I use a toothbrush to give them a more thorough clean. However upon watching a few videos around the subject and after having a couple of friends ask if they could try one of my razors before they buy, I began thinking about disinfection and a more thorough cleaning regime.

My research so far has raised a few questions. They are as follows:
1. How often do I need to disinfect my razors? (obviously if I lend a razor to a friend it would need disinfection upon its return)
2. Do I need to go to the degree of buying an ultrasonic cleaner (found one on amazon for £29.99)
3. Barbicide (approx £8 per 500ml) or 100% Lab/Pharma grade Isopropyl Alcohol (approx £8 per ltr)?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

1. Disinfect the razor by using Barbicide whenever you give your razor to another or receive a razor from someone else.
2. No need to use an ultrasonic cleaner unless your razor is really grotty and you cannot reach all areas to clean with a toothbrush. Ultrasonic cleaners are useful though if you are going to buy several second-hand razors and for jewelry etc.
3. A 10 minute bath in Barbicide will do it to hospital grade cleanliness. Easy to source from eBay or Amazon etc.

I just rinse my razor between shaves but give it a good clean with an old toothbrush and fairy liquid whenever I change blades.
 
GaryH said:
Hi all,

I have tried searching for previous threads around this topic but have not found one that is up to date or one that covers all the options.

My daily routine is to just rinse under the tap and dry with a small towel. Occasionally, say once a week I use a toothbrush to give them a more thorough clean. However upon watching a few videos around the subject and after having a couple of friends ask if they could try one of my razors before they buy, I began thinking about disinfection and a more thorough cleaning regime.

My research so far has raised a few questions. They are as follows:
1. How often do I need to disinfect my razors? (obviously if I lend a razor to a friend it would need disinfection upon its return)
2. Do I need to go to the degree of buying an ultrasonic cleaner (found one on amazon for £29.99)
3. Barbicide (approx £8 per 500ml) or 100% Lab/Pharma grade Isopropyl Alcohol (approx £8 per ltr)?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
1. If you are the only user there is no need for disinfection. Just clean the razor. If you consider buying second hand razors you need to disinfect them upon arrival. If you lend someone a razor (or are part of a pass around) it's good style to disinfect before sending them out and again when you get them back.
2. Ultrasonic cleaners are nice to have. I wouldn't want be be without mine, but they are not a must.
3. Barbicide of course. Looks more expensive, but it's used diluted with water to 'hospital strength' (instructions on the bottle) so a bottle goes a long way.
 
I don't see any need to disinfect if it's all in the family. As for cleaning. U-Sonic on a regular basis seems to be over kill. I find that if you remove the blade after each use and rinse the razor it will preclude having major scum build up. For that once a month, or so, cleaning I find that a soft tooth brush, Dawn dish soap and hot water does the job quite well - IMV.
 
There is as said little need for OTT cleaning, however I do like to give my razors a soak in Barbicide once a week after giving them a toothbrush shampoo but it isn't required at all.
The biggest danger with cleaning is the use of salt, all the fairy liquids etc use lots of salt to make cutlery/crockery shine, just avouid it.
 
Thanks for the feed back. Much appreciated. I have lent one of my razors out to a friend along with some soap and a brush. He wanted to try wet shaving out before committing to buying. As he is unlikely to have the relevant disinfection equipment , I thought it a good idea to invest in it myself.
 
It's obviously important to disinfect a razor you either receive or pass to someone else. I don't pass on or loan razors, but any used ones I acquire get a good scrub in soap and water, an ultrasonic bath if very dirty, and lastly the hospital-strength Barbicide dip.
Old blades are definitely a no-go.
As it happens, I would not consider using another person's brush, disinfected or not. What do you do with these?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Fergiebilly said:
Disinfect a Razor..Puh..:confused:

Billy
Click to expand...

Oh come on now Billy, dem dere germs can sometimes carry cooties, which are bad. Being a little on the compulsive side causes me to use severe methods to clean used shaving things up with.

This is reflected in the way I maintain the razors sold to members, with them receiving a final touch up using spit and a fairly clean bathroom towel. Yes, I am particular I guess.

Martin
 
dodgy said:
Oh come on now Billy, dem dere germs can sometimes carry cooties, which are bad. Being a little on the compulsive side causes me to use severe methods to clean used shaving things up with.

This is reflected in the way I maintain the razors sold to members, with them receiving a final touch up using spit and a fairly clean bathroom towel. Yes, I am particular I guess.

Martin
Click to expand...
He wasn't asking about Disinfecting Razors for passing On..He acknowledged that..But as usual folks don't read the question..Senile Auld Yanker..:p:D:p

Billy
 
Chico Winterton said:
There is as said little need for OTT cleaning, however I do like to give my razors a soak in Barbicide once a week after giving them a toothbrush shampoo but it isn't required at all.
The biggest danger with cleaning is the use of salt, all the fairy liquids etc use lots of salt to make cutlery/crockery shine, just avouid it.
Click to expand...

I think all this stuff is over the top but as to Fairy liquid....There have been numerous debates about Fairy containing salt on motorbike Forums, so unsuitable for cleaning bikes. Someone sent the makers of Fairy an email on the subject and they claimed it was salt free so perfectly suitable as a de greasant on bikes.
 
Dave-the-rave said:
I think all this stuff is over the top but as to Fairy liquid....There have been numerous debates about Fairy containing salt on motorbike Forums, so unsuitable for cleaning bikes. Someone sent the makers of Fairy an email on the subject and they claimed it was salt free so perfectly suitable as a de greasant on bikes.
Click to expand...
Someone seems to have done a bit of research on Fairy, which says that it does indeed contain Sodium Chloride i.e. salt, along with a bucketful of other stuff.
http://www.theecologist.org/green_g...bel/268721/behind_the_label_fairy_liquid.html
It works very well for killing aphids on my greenhouse chillies and vegetables.

Some people swear by washing well with soap, followed by a dip in surgical spirit or isopropyl alcohol, which I have tried, although you'd need to do lab testing to see if "germs" were still on a razor. I prefer the 10-minute dilute Barbicide soak, but I time it exactly. I've seen in various forums that overdoing it with Barbicide on some forms of plating can be damaging, but stainless steel shrugs it off.
 
Greetings

I have been away for a couple of days and have missed this thread, which to be quite fair has arisen very very many times before. Here is my honest answer to your three questions.

1. Never
2. No
3. Don't bother!

If you feel I am wrong, which of course you may and be perfectly entitled to feel, then please tell me how you disinfect the cutting edge of a new razor blade before you use it as this is the only part of your entire equipment that may stand a chance of coming into contact with your blood. Ah!........ I suspect you will just let the hot tap water run on it, having disinfected the handle of your razor, that makes sense!o_O

Regards
Dick.
 
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