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So what is with the "Do Not Wipe Blade" printing?

For info; The Gillette Kro-man blades were recalled shortly after release because of defects and were never re-released.

That may well be true (I have no doubt), but the three words it spawned across the industry live on to this day. Do not wipe.... Even in markets where trial lawyers have a rich history as a protein source, the three words are, and have long been a staple...
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
That may well be true (I have no doubt), but the three words it spawned across the industry live on to this day. Do not wipe.... Even in markets where trial lawyers have a rich history as a protein source, the three words are, and have long been a staple...

It was for info about the blades, not debate about the wiping.
You are as free to believe any personal hypothesis which pleases you, as anyone else here.
 
i'm guessing it's litigation concerns... when i use DE blades I palm strop them before use (1st shave with blade or 4th). whether it makes a difference I can't quantify scientifically but *I think* it does so it works for me.

palm strop all 4 sides... maybe it's the straight razor user in me that's compelled to strop before every shave.

I also jsut picked up a really inexpensive 40s/50s era DE stropping machine on ebay. haven't used it yet but it was too cool to pass up :)
 
A Little Baby Oil On A Q-tip Or Maybe Cooking Oil Would take care of the glue.

I've wondered about that, too. Ultimately, I decided I don't care why, but I do care about the crud they leave on my brand new toy, so I avoid buying them. Seems like the glue is just a nuisance, anyway.
 
I don't mess with it anymore. I just take it out of the wrapper and it goes into my DE89 with the wax spots facing down. The blade stays in there for 3-5 shaves. The wax doesn't affect my shaves and it doesn't leave residue in the DE89.

The wax bothered me at first, but life is too short to spend time fretting over something so trivial.
 
The earliest reference I could find in Google Books was The bedside Phoenix nest: 21 nights with America's humorists, Martin Levin (1965). The full text was not available, but another search turned up http://www.unz.org/Pub/SaturdayRev-1963nov30-00006 which appears to have the full text and sources it from The Saturday Review, November 30, 1963. From context I would guess that the warning had been around for perhaps a year or two, but was still new enough to mine for jokes.

I tried to fix a few OCR errors.

Confessions of a Blade Wiper

No one can say I don't try to cooperate. In hallways, I walk, don't run. On the subway, I don't smoke, carry lighted matches, spit, or ride between cars. To make sure I keep my hands off the doors, I keep them in my pockets. Never in my life have I created a nuisance or an insanitary condition.

I cross at the green, not in between. I don't drive, much less park. I neither litter nor loiter. I post no bills, and I don't play handball where I'm not wanted. I keep off all grass, so naturally I don't pick flowers or start forest fires. I don't try to gain admittance where there is none. I keep out, stand clear.

I don't fold, mutilate, or spindle machine-processed checks. In fact, I smashed my spindle long ago. When I use paper towels I rub, don't blot. This took lots of practice, because I'm a natural-born blotter.

It was only when They started throwing prohibitions at me in my own bathroom that I grew restive. I didn't mind keeping my shaving cream from freezing, but every so often, when I had an empty can, I got this terrible urge to puncture or incinerate it. Recently, I stood in front of the incinerator for fully ten minutes with an empty shaving cream can in one hand and an ice pick in the other, staring at the injunctions on the can and over the incinerator.

My conscience won. I incinerated the ice pick and carried the can back to the bathroom, where I stacked it in the tub, together with the twenty-four other empties I don't know how to get rid of. I've been able to take only showers for the last year.

Nerves of Stainless Steel

This morning I disobeyed Them at last. I was all excited about trying out these new stainless steel razor blades. I didn't get a bad shave either, so I was feeling pretty good, sort of romping around, playfully clutching at shaving cream nozzles with my toes, when I saw the words on the box: NOTICE: DO NOT WIPE BLADE.

That did it! I've been wiping my blades since I shaved the first hairs over my lip. I helped my father wipe his blades before that. I'd rather go to jail than keep a wet blade in any razor of mine overnight. I gave it a good, vigorous wipe. I felt a lifetime of repressions slip instantly from me. I stood straight and tall for the first time in years.

My thumb is still bleeding, but I don't give a rap.

—Lou D'Angelo
 
Bingo. Take a look at the warning labels on many products. Because we live in a law suit happy economy (and I am a retired lawyer) labels have to be put on many products to protect the manufacturer. For example, a bottle of dishwashing liquid tells you not to drink it. An electric knife sharpener I have tells you not to put your fingers in it. I recall the heavy lady who got a generous settlement from McDonalds when she spilled hot coffee from a cup placed on her lap.

Bad retired lawyer!!!

She was "heavy"? LOL, what does that mean?
The coffee from McDonalds wasn't just "hot," but dangerously hot.
She suffered third degree burns. She had several skin grafts. If I recall, she spent 8 days in the hospital.
There were 700 other injury cases caused by McDonald's hot coffee
McDonalds knew the danger and didn't change it or warn consumers.
They knew the risk for at least 10 years and never lowered the temperature.

And she did NOT get a generous settlement. This went to trial and won. They settled after the appeal was filed. And all of it could have been avoided if McDonalds paid $20,000 for her medical costs and lost income. That is all she wanted.

As a former lawyer you should know this.


It has to do with the coating. It is on older blades, and on foreign blades too. I'm pretty sure this has been discussed ad nauseum.
 
Does this answer the OP's question?

I stupidly decided to wipe my injector with a blade loaded in it. This is what my left thumb looks like two days later. I came "this close" to needing stitches!

full



Four days later, almost healed (looks worse in the picture than it actually is):

full


The body's power of self-regeneration is pretty amazing, isn't it? Not that I'd want to test it again any time soon... :scared:
 
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If I do choose to wipe the blade, I suppose those numbers tell me the order in which to wipe the blade sides?

I mean, what other purpose could they serve?

:001_tt2:
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
If I do choose to wipe the blade, I suppose those numbers tell me the order in which to wipe the blade sides?

I mean, what other purpose could they serve?

:001_tt2:

The numbers are actually a mathematical code for "do not wipe blade"

You add one to the digits on the blade, so 1, 2, 3, 4 becomes 2, 3, 4, 5
2=Do
3=Not
4=Wipe
5=Blade
 
Go to the Mr-Razor site, and read the (awesome site, by the way) Photo prints of Gillette instruction papers from 1903 or so onward..... All of the carbon steel era razor instructions were careful to explain how to clean and dry the blade after each shave. As soon as stainless blades came out (by 1960, anyway), Gillette changed the drill to caution the user against removing the blade at all after shaving. Just loosen the head a bit, rinse well, and let it dry... Their own explanation at the time, and for years to come was that it prevented blade damage, and that stainless steel made the need to dry blades obsolete, as they will no longer rust over their working life.

That makes sense, as the satisfaction guarantee Gillette offered likely caused them to send out lots of new blades because of user inflicted damage. Keeping the user away from the blade edge from strat to finish must have been a long term goal for Gillette, and a worthy one at that....

Polymer and other coatings didn't arrive for quite some time after "do not wipe", and lawyers had not yet figured out the slip and fall gold mine extension into consumer life. If they did,Gillette would have never continued advising people to loosen their shaver handle for a more aggressive shave for years after stainless blades and do not wipe hit the scene..
 
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