Safety razors served our previous generations for years, providing them with smooth and clean shave for years and our father or grandfather used to feel proud, owning a conventional safety razor and the double edged blades that go with it. Most of us, used to throwing away a plastic razor after a few shaves or even the multi-blade razors after a few months.
They will find it difficult to understand how the safety razors used to last years in the hands of the people of that generation. One secret, perhaps, lay in how they managed to maintain the razors by carefully cleaning the razor every time after use and keeping it safe and dry.
So, how to clean safety razor? Before we answer the question, a little more about the safety razors and their utility.
Safety Razors – A Double Edged Affair
In terms of knowing how a double edged safety razor would function; it has a handle (the good ones are around 4 inches long), with the gripping portion, textured for a non-slippery surface and on top is the provision to fix the blade.
The round cuts in the middle of the blade would sit comfortably on the round projections and using a rotating mechanism at the bottom of the handle, one can open or close the flaps on the top to secure the blade tight in its place with only the edges visible at an angle.
This angle of the blade’s shaving edges which will come down on the chin while shaving can be finely altered through a mechanism provided on the top of the handle.
Now, the description of your safety razor is complete. The razors are generally chromium plated with a shiny look. You apply lather on the beard and comfortably move the razor down to get a neat shave.
Cleaning and Maintaining the Safety Razor
After you have completed a shave using the safety razor, wash the razor as it is and then, open the blade compartment and remove the blade. Now you can give the razor alone a thorough wash and using a dry cloth, wipe the razor dry after shaking it dry. The dry razor can be kept in the open condition in a dry place.
The blade can be washed separately under running water so that any remaining soap residue is fully removed. The blade, especially the cutting edges should not be touched. Just wave the blade by holding one edge between fingers and blowing it dry. Some men prefer to use the blade’s edges alternately.
Most such blades come with a number written on the edge surface such as 1, 2, 3 and 4. This way, like you would reverse an audio cassette from side A to side B, spending a little more time each day, you can stretch the use of your safety razor blade and extract a better shave each time, before you discard and buy another blade.
Thus, hopefully, you got the answer to the question how to clean safety razor? A lot of people are going back to the safety razors, if not for anything else, just to feel the same pleasure as their fathers or grandfathers did while getting that clean shave.