Nobody works more durable in the course of the vacation season than the pink Venus razor that’s been dwelling in my mother’s visitor lavatory for the reason that early days of the pandemic. Even if this three-blade disposable was imagined to be trashed after a number of makes use of, it’s been hanging round for the higher a part of the final three years and—apparently, as I not too long ago and horrifyingly realized—is utilized by a number of members of my household each time they arrive residence.
In case your response to that’s, “GROSS,” nicely, that’s appropriate—there are a complete lot of hygiene points occurring right here. For starters, a “disposable” razor is supposed to be precisely that—disposed of after a number of makes use of (ideally two weeks), not stored round for years. “From a hygienic perspective, it’s an absolute nightmare, particularly with plastic cartridges,” Leslie Tessler, the founding father of shaving model Hanni, beforehand advised Nicely+Good. “Simply take into consideration the truth that you’ve bought three, 4, 5 blades, with plastic in between, sitting in a moist surroundings for lengthy intervals of time… We’ve spoken with many gynecologists who typically see bacterial infections because of this.”
The larger concern, although, is that a number of individuals have been utilizing this identical razor. As any dermatologist will let you know, simply because my siblings and I share the identical dad and mom completely doesn’t imply we must be sharing the identical razor—whether or not it’s recent out of the package deal or outdated AF—and the identical goes for anybody else in your family.
“Borrowing one other individual’s razor is a severely unhealthy concept,” says Rachel Nazarian, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based mostly in New York Metropolis. “The razor collects micro organism because it’s pulled alongside the pores and skin, and except it’s sterilized between makes use of, it truly spreads the micro organism to the following individual.” She explains that if the first person (aka the one that truly owns the razor) has particular strains of micro organism on their pores and skin, like staphylococcus, it should contaminate the following person with the identical micro organism—which might be probably harmful and will certainly elevate their threat of an infection.
“The blade additionally creates microtears within the pores and skin, breaking the tissue down because it shaves the hair, so your threat of pores and skin irritation and an infection is already elevated,” Dr. Nazarian says. “And that’s earlier than we introduce cross-contamination with micro organism. So even when usually, ‘sharing is caring,’ we draw the road at our shavers and blades.”
So in case you, too, are residence for the vacations, rethink reaching for that unhappy, uninteresting razor—or some other shaving device that another person has used. The excellent news? Derms say one of the simplest ways to get a easy shave is with a primary, single-blade razor—so take into account choosing up a brand new one on the drugstore as your excuse for getting out of the home when household time begins feeling overwhelming.