Can I catch a disease (hep c) from a razor?

Question

Let's say a barber was cutting my hair and at the end he quickly shaves the back of my neck, and the sides of my face with a straight edge razor (he also used hot shaving creme with it). He wipes off my neck and puts on some sort of rubbing alcohol on afterwards. He cleans the razor by washing it in the sink for a few seconds and wiping it off with a towel. Is this enough to consider it sanitary? There were a few tiny shaving cuts afterwards...would the alcohol applied on me afterwards be enough to kill off any sort of disease?

Answer 1

IAW health departments in 3 states that I have lived in since hepatitis C became a big deal, the answer would appear to be, Yes, you could catch hep C from a razor, as the disease is spread by body fluids (blood, saliva, sex...)
As to whether or not the barber used sufficient methods to kill the culprits or not, probably, unless he was careless at the moment.
Few diseases spread as easily as the cold (bronchitis, flu, pneumonia and other such).

Answer 2

I didn't know anyone still used straight razors.

As far as the straight razor, just "washing it in the sink for a few seconds and wiping it off with a towel (a clean unused towel?)" isn't enough. Alcohol is good for killing bacteria and viruses on the skin surface but it works wth friction. It has to be rubbed against the skin, not just patted on. You haven't said how the alcohol was applied.

Answer 3

No, that's why we have autoclaves. Washing the instruments in the sink with soap & water, or even alcohol is not enough. Sharing razors IS a risk factor, so maybe you could have the barber skip this and have someone at home use your own razor to do this. HBV & HCV are very hardy viruses and can live outside of the human body for days. It's not worth the risk. Best wishes.

Answer 4

Ithought barbers that use staight razors was outlawed.I havent seen one you one for many years.But if he only uses water to clean it yes your chance of getting hep c and a variety of other virouses.Barbers are under same health regulations to a point as the medical field and they are strict.Im hoping he just washed it in the sink to get the shave cream off ,their should have been a jar on his counter to store all razors and cutting blades.It kills bacteria and sanitises the eguiptment .Its usally a blue colored liguid cant remember it name.If you didnt see it I believe I would switch barbers ,might not get that clean cut but you can relax about catching any thing