Barbicide for disinfecting

OldFashioned · 05-11-2008, 08:56 PM

After seeing this, I got scared
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...349#post585349
Is it safe to use barbicide on the brush? Also planning to use white regular vinegar with warm water and finally shampooing it with regular dishwasher soap. Ive had my brush now for over a month but I do notice I get these mild red bumps but only on the left cheek (maybe its not brush related, but maybe it is). So I think it needs to at least be cleaned but cleaning it doesnt eliminate that tinea barbae fungi. What do people think?

poona · 05-11-2008, 09:39 PM

Double post..

OldFashioned · 05-11-2008, 09:59 PM

Thanks for taking the time to notice that.

p.z. · 09-16-2008, 09:06 PM

bumps on left cheek only.. are you right handed?

my guess is that you (and I, also) need to work on shaving technique.. shaving the right cheek is easier for me, and gets better results, shaving the left is a little more awkward, and more inclined to razor burn and such.

RichZ · 09-17-2008, 01:49 PM

I agree with p.z.

I have used my fathers brush which is over 40 years old until recently giving it to my son. No barbacide, no vinegar nothing... My father didn't either by the way. If it was a problem with the brush it would have been your entire face unless you just lather and shave the left side....

JimmyH-AD · 09-17-2008, 03:19 PM

I have used Barbicide on straight razors at work and I would think it might stain the bristles. It is blue and it will stain some surfaces. I don't wash my brushes as the shaving soap I use accomplishes that and I rinse throughly when I am done with it. I have been using a shaving brush for thirty five years with no problems except that lately they seem to multiply like rabbits.

JerseyLawyer · 09-18-2008, 01:13 PM

I guess to each his own, but I think the need to "disinfect" everything is overblown. The chances of catching something from a brush or straight razor are vanishingly small. And if you're only getting this on one side of your face, I would be much more suspicious of my shaving technique than my brush.

This is one of those great questions in shaving - along with how many laps and whether to use linen or not. So, if you feel the need to do it, by all means, go for it. I just think that some people get a fetish about it. (Was there mention of an autoclave in some other post on the topic of sterilizing razors?!)

Whiskers · 09-18-2008, 03:32 PM

Hepatitus is quite tenatious.

It can and will live on something cold and/or metal for around three to four weeks.

It will also live through applications of alcohol and bleach, if the bleach solution is weak.

To me, that's serious enough to leave the blade sit undisturbed for a few weeks before use.

What can I say ... I am patient.

T-Ram · 09-22-2008, 07:07 PM

I let a wapi sit in barbicide overnight this weekend and the famous "Stainless" scales are now effectively brown.

No blades or other scales were discolored at all. I guess I'll have to find some metal polish and see what I end up with. Probably very shiny scales again, but since I rarely, if ever, polish metal it's going to be a pita!

Tony

AaronX · 10-01-2008, 03:57 AM

I think the barbicide directions say like 10-15 minutes... why'd you do it overnight?

loueedacat · 10-01-2008, 04:31 AM

i did the same thing wiht water, and my zebra black and metal blade was pretty easily restored to beauty with some MAAS. That's after I had a heart attack of course.

metalhead · 10-01-2008, 08:33 AM

ok all of you are discussing sterilization. have any of you ever thought about useing surgical soap? its easy to get and rather cheap. and works very well.

T-Ram · 10-02-2008, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AaronX

I think the barbicide directions say like 10-15 minutes... why'd you do it overnight?

Meant to get them all out before I went to bed. Totally forgot them. As lazy as I am (that is if any of us that actually take a straight to our faces can be called lazy) , the "brown" look is kinda growing on me.

Bruce · 10-02-2008, 03:22 PM

This making things sterile comes up repeatedly so must be one of the great concerns. For those for whom this is a great problem the only solution is either removing the blade from the scales or installing the blade in stainless steel scales and autoclaving the razor whenever the user thinks it needs to be sterilized or re-sterilized.

Actually the non-stainless steel and un-sterilzed scales, if removed from the blade and then reinstalled on that blade, could be a source of re-contamination. Thus that option is only the penultimate for the optimum of cleanliness. The ultimate bein only something where all parts can be washed and rinsed thoroughly and then all those pieces autoclaved. Reassembly could prove problematic if the parts have to be touched to do that, but sterile gloves could solve that issue - if the reassembly were done in a clean enviroment.

Disposable blades are really the only option for the most reliable system of assuring cleanliness and only if these are made by machine, with no human contact, then cleaned, packaged, sterilized, and opened only by the user and used by the consumer himself - only once.

So what do these clean freaks do when they sneeze? Or, heaven forbid, someone else nearby sneezes? Using the toilet must be incredibly painful.

Chimensch · 10-02-2008, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerseyLawyer

(Was there mention of an autoclave in some other post on the topic of sterilizing razors?!)

It might have been the thread I started yesterday about the Feather razor and blades in Europe. The context was using a real straight razor in a barber shop, where there are health regulations that require it, instead of a disposable razor like a Dovo Shavette or a Feather Artist Club. I started a hairdresser's course Monday because I want to work part-time giving shaves in a barber shop. The original point was that, in my opinion, you get a better shave with a real straight and that the disappointment with a barber's shave that we often hear about has to do with the disposable razors. I'm going to check out whether or not barbicide can replace the autoclave.