Cleaning safety razor with Scrubbing Bubbles question

Hello. This question is for the ones who use Scrubbing Bubbles. Do you use it on the safety razor after every shave, or once in a while? I'm asking because I'm wondering if it's not too abrasive for cleaning the razor often.

 

Scrubbing Bubbles is not abrasive. I only use it when I get a new razor. It works great with a toothbrush to get the scum off of an old razor. I don't allow scum to accumulate on my razors. I clean them after each shave with just hot water and dry them off. That seems to sufficient. I don't understand how old razors got so scummed up. They must have belonged to some nasty guys.

 

Yup. Keep them clean and no need to use bubbles except on new to you razors. I use it on all new to me razors to sanatize them also. No need for all that after a shave or even a bunch of shaves.

 

I use it once a month or so to remove any soap or mineral residue from my SS shavette.

 

I'm in Europe, so as an alternative to Scrubbing Bubbles there is CIF Bathroom Ultrafast.

 

One of the things that I've noticed about all three of the shave soaps I've used extensively (Arko, Williams, VDH Deluxe) is that they tend to leave a scummy film unless you rub it off with your fingers (or a toothbrush, etc). If the older soaps operated the same way, then it wouldn't take long for it to build up. I suspect that most of the truly disturbing razors (which are the fun ones) belonged to older folks, who shaved, did a brief rinse of the blade, and put it down. They never changed the adjustment, or anything else. Then, when they couldn't do it much anymore - the razor stayed in that same scummy cup/stand/whatever for a long while.

One of the Slims I did a cleaning on, and have passed on, was completely caked with it. The woman who passed it on to me, along with a Super Slim Twist with a bent comb, had it from her mother (possibly left from before her father died). It hadn't been used in a decade or more _prior_ to the old lady dying, and her husband predeceased her by twenty-some years. The bulk of the soap buildup was underneath the head, in the handle, and clogging up the adjustment plate and the number ring. All places where foam would creep, and it wouldn't be removed by a quick rinse.

Just a theory.

 

I think that back in the day, users just rinsed them off and put them away, blade and all. If you do that for 10+ years, then you are bound to get crud in all of the crevices. I notice this when I change the toothbrush head on my Sonicare electric toothbrush. There is toothpaste and spewy where the head connects to the handle; so it gets cleaned about once a month. You can imagine what happens inside the drain pipe of the sink, let alone inside a Slim or other TTO. So, I think a thorough cleaning every now and then (maybe annually or biennially) is a good idea. If you don't have too many razors, then maybe you could deep clean when you change the batteries in your smoke detector. You do change the batteries in your smoke detector, right? Since, I have hoarded a lot of razors, I tend to deep clean them when I put them away for awhile. It may be a year before some of them get used again.

 

In the day the fastidious shaver kept a brush in their kit. Recommended.

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D) All of the above.

 

Yippie. I must be fastidious. I keep a few old toothbrushes. I give my razor a rinse and a light toothbrush scrub after I clean and rinse my brush.

As for the scrubbing bubbles I use it on every new to me razor.

Tom


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Just mildly. If you were excessively fastidious, it would be a new blade every shave, and the razor sprayed with scrubbing bubbles or dipped in barbicide/lysol/alcohol _every shave_. I've seen a few of those.

I do rinse out my TTOs each shave (flipping the blade as well, nowadays), but disassembling the three piece to do a full clean is a PITA sometimes, especially when you really don't want more water in the handle. So I only do that when I change the blade, and I don't tend to flip the blade either. Just open it enough to rinse out the hair and the soap that'll come loose.

I've never bothered with a barbicide soak, but I'm all for lysol on the brush. I've done alcohol as well. (corrected barbasol to barbicide)

 

Even with my OCD I don't do anything drastic with my razors..
Rinse.
Completely break the razor down, and dry off.
If and only if I start to get soap build up I'll give the razor a bath in 91% rubbing alcohol.
I received my wife's grandfather's Gillette 109, it had a used blade in it, the razor sat in a drawer in the bathroom for well over 25 years, no stains, no nothing. Don't over think it.

 

Well, I guess I went to the other school. I _always_ flip the blade after every shave and try to go at least 2 shaves with most every blade; some brands are one-and-done. I always thoroughly rinse, dry and wipe down my TTOs and breakdown/rinse/dry/buff my 3-piece razors. They just look nicer in the stand when you do that. Before I store my TTOs I put a drop of mineral oil down the center stem and every now and then I put a drop at the seam of the TTO knob. I put a small drop of oil in the threads of the handle and cap on my 3-piece razors. The oil will displace water, pickup crud, prevent corrosion, and keep the mechanisms from freezing. I use detergents is when I think they would benefit from a deep cleaning. That's not very often as I usually do that right when I acquire these things. I figure if I keep up my normal routine, then they shouldn't need a deep cleaning, but once in a long while. Besides, it's fun to imagine that someone in the future will marvel at an old razor from the 70's that still works after a hundred years.

 

Ok I'll bite....why flip the blade?

 

It's similar to stropping.

Think about the impact angle of the blade against your skin and hair. That creates minuscule bends and dents. If you then shave with the same edge angle the next shave, you continue the pattern. If you flip it over, you're reversing the bends and dents. It's just a leveling effect (evening out?)

 

If a blade is bent down.which it will not be.and you flip it then its bent up. How is shaving with it again going to straighten it out. Or straighten out a dent?

 

How do strops work, and what are they made out of? Skin, and they straighten the edge. They only 'hone' if you add other stuff to them. In this case, we're pushing the blade, not pulling.

Take a blade at an angle to the skin \| You are skating it along the skin. As it drags along the skin, and hits keratin, it will 'hang' slightly (this is the pull). That flexes the metal up. Not down, up. If you turn that blade over, the minuscule 'up' becomes a 'down', and will be pulled back the other direction. This is ONLY at the very edge. If you've honed a heavy blade, such as a chisel, you'll have experienced 'wire edge'. This is similar.

 

I just soaked a dull, greenish, slightly rusted Keen Kutter in regular old vinegar for 20 minutes, then scrubbed with a toothbrush. Rinsed in a neutralizing bath of baking soda/water, rinsed again and towel dried. Now it's pretty clean and shiny all over.

 

You strop a blade by pulling is in the opposite direction from use. I shave with straights remember. Your just playing with the blade flipping it. If it mattered every one would do it. People get a lot of shaves from blades they never touch once in the razor. When you flip a blade your still pulling it forward. That is nothing like stropping. It does nothing to improve the shave.

In closing...newer shavers no need to play with your DE blades.