# Why Are There Razor Blades in My Walls? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476 "2003-11-16T00:35:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/81 "2018-05-11T06:36:27Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > I remember Jerry Seinfeld doing a stand-up bit about those slots many years ago. “WHO IS SHAVING ON THE PLANE?!?” Nobody, since I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to bring any kind of blade onto a plane. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/82 "2018-05-11T06:39:43Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > I just find this all fascinating. Was this a new question in 2003? Had anybody asked it before? At some point everyone in America must have known about that slot. Did people forget? Quite possibly they have forgotten, given that probably most people these days use either electric razors or disposable cartridge models. I don’t think many people still use safety razors, although there certainly remains enough demand that they’re still available in the larger drugstores. Like I said, I still use a safety razor, because I like something solid and heavy to pick up in my hand, and even more importantly because I can’t seem to use cartridge disposables without lacerating my face. I don’t know why that is; I thought the disposables are supposed to be more comfortable and “safer”. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/83 "2018-05-11T06:56:35Z")
> [@thornyrose](#): > > I have never seen this. My grandparents’ house was build approximately 1890. In Melbourne Victoria Australia. > My parents’ house was built approx 1950. > We have traveled a bit in Australia QLD. NSW. Have never seen it in motels, or private houses. With regard to the 1890 house, that was presumably too old. Safety razors didn’t really take off until the early 1900s. Of the last three hotels I stayed in, the first one was too old (1888) and the last two hotels too new (post 1980s) to have the disposal slots. In Sinclair Lewis’ _Babbitt_ (1922) the title character has about fifty or sixty used blades stashed atop the frame of his medicine cabinet, since there’s no disposal slot. Given the nature and typical townscape of smallish Midwestern cities on which the fictitious Zenith was based, in the 1920s most of its imaginary citizens, Babbitt included, likely would have been living in late 19th century or even post-bellum wood frame houses, which would have been much too old to have razor disposal slots. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/84 "2018-05-11T22:20:58Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > [https://youtu.be/n0E7EaRLmSI](https://youtu.be/n0E7EaRLmSI) Thanks for finding that! > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Nobody, since I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to bring any kind of blade onto a plane. Seinfeld’s joke was probably pre-9/11, but his point is still valid. [You can take disposable razors onto a plane](https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2010/08/17/safety-razors-and-disposable-razors), but actually shaving in an airplane bathroom seems ill-advised to me. You could get a nasty cut if there were unexpected turbulence. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/85 "2018-05-11T22:31:30Z")
> [@The\_Cabbage\_Man](#): > > The code for electrical wiring has been relaxed frequently, but when i was watching my father and uncle install wiring for an addition to our house (in northeastern Illinois), the wiring inside the walls required a solid metal conduit that had to be bent in a jig when it needed to turn a corner, later, flexible metal conduit was used. I do not know when or if plastic conduit or unprotected wiring was allowed… I have never seen a requirement for conduit inside a wall in residential wiring. Installed on the surface, yes. Must be a strict union town… Dennis ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/86 "2018-05-12T15:37:41Z")
Our 1938 house still has the original medicine cabinet, complete with blade slot. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/87 "2018-05-14T15:40:09Z")
I keep one of those small plastic prescription drug bottles from the pharmacy in a bathroom drawer and store used blades in it until it’s full. Then toss it in the trash and start again with a new bottle. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/88 "2018-05-16T02:16:30Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I have never seen a requirement for conduit inside a wall in residential wiring. Installed on the surface, yes. Must be a strict union town… Chicago and surrounding area used to operate under the Chicago Electrical Code. Fiercely pro-union. It used to require conduit, not flex, not BX, but actual rigid or EMT conduit inside walls for everything. The doorbell button wire in my mother’s house is run in conduit. It was’t until businesses with their new-fangled computer networks started leaving Chicago that electricians’ unions were forced to relent and allow Chicago to adopt the National Electrical Code, which did not call for running doorbell or computer data cables inside labor-intensive steel pipes. > [@Fear Itself](#): > > Some airline bathrooms still have razor blade disposal slots. God only knows where they end up. Someplace undoubtedly safer for the cleaning crews than randomly being inside a plastic trash bag. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/89 "2018-12-15T01:12:07Z")
[Be glad that it is only razor blades](https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/hundreds-of-teeth-found-in-downtown-valdosta-wall/article_2c6a0635-f973-58c2-8e18-949e63e4d9c7.html). ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/90 "2018-12-15T03:29:57Z")
I don’t see any mention of the 2017 youtube video, [Why Are There Razor Blades In My Walls?](https://youtu.be/79GlUDVJXaA?t=15) I randomly searched for the phrase and got a link to the video…keep your eye peeled for the screenshot right about 19 seconds in. In case you miss it, the video shows screenshots of various websites discussing the razor blades/wall phenomenon. One of the screenshots is of the the OP on the SDMB: [https://photos.app.goo.gl/GpVbbHthtv91EpKw5](https://photos.app.goo.gl/GpVbbHthtv91EpKw5). Kind of a wierd bit of synergy, or something. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/91 "2018-12-15T08:22:21Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > I remember Jerry Seinfeld doing a stand-up bit about those slots many years ago. “WHO IS SHAVING ON THE PLANE?!?” Larry Talbot? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/92 "2018-12-15T08:39:46Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Be glad that it is only razor blades](https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/hundreds-of-teeth-found-in-downtown-valdosta-wall/article_2c6a0635-f973-58c2-8e18-949e63e4d9c7.html). Site cannot be accessed from the EU. ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/93 "2018-12-15T09:55:55Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Site cannot be accessed from the EU. The headline is: “Hundreds of teeth found in Downtown Valdosta wall” Construction workers renovating an old former drugstore with a dentist office above it found thousands of human teeth in the walls. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/94 "2018-12-16T11:49:57Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Thanks for finding that! > > Seinfeld’s joke was probably pre-9/11, but his point is still valid. [You can take disposable razors onto a plane](https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2010/08/17/safety-razors-and-disposable-razors), but actually shaving in an airplane bathroom seems ill-advised to me. You could get a nasty cut if there were unexpected turbulence. Back in 1974~1975, I went to the back of the Air France '747, where the electric razors were in 3 cabinets across the bulkhead, with UV lights that turned on when the upward opening cabinet door closed. Presumably for some kind of disinfection. There was a queue at two of the electric razors, and no queue for the third. I was young and up for any new experience, so I opened the unused cabinet and started shaving. We hit a bit of a bump and the cabinet door fell closed and hit me on the head. That was a blow, and I understood why there was no queue. But I was young and resilient, so I pushed the flap up again and continued. We hit another little bump, and the edge of cupboard door hit me again _on exactly the same spot_. My eyes watered. My knees buckled. I developed other interests. My memory is that later, the airlines provided a safety razor as part of the long-distance economy kit. They’re all to cheap to provide anything like that now. Anyway, razor blade slots on the airplanes still exist. They have been relabled as disposal for “sharps”. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/95 "2018-12-17T15:41:19Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > I just find this all fascinating. Was this a new question in 2003? Had anybody asked it before? At some point everyone in America must have known about that slot. Did people forget? I do find it interesting how knowledge fades and dies off. I guess it is as simple as the old people didn’t tell the new people. I am in my mid-30s and I didn’t know until a few years ago. As far back as I could remember (80s) my dad used a cartridge razor. House built in 80s, so no slot. My grandparents house built in 70s. No slot. How the heck would I know unless someone sat me down and said “Hermitian, we need to talk…about razor blades in walls.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/96 "2024-03-02T01:58:49Z")
Facebook discovers the razor blade slot: > **[Our Old House | I thought this would interesting to share..found all of these...](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1706748102970911/permalink/3797775510534816/?ref=share&mibextid=NOb6eG)** > > I thought this would interesting to share..found all of these this weekend after we removed the medicine cabinet from the wall. Yes I know there is a slot in the cabinet I just wanted to show... (Thousands of comments.) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/97 "2024-03-02T02:15:33Z")
Still better than asbestos in your walls. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/98 "2024-03-02T02:19:03Z")
That picture is horrifying. How would you dispose of that, safely? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/99 "2024-03-02T02:32:02Z")
A few years ago I rented an older house in Denver, and encountered the razor blade slot in the wall for the first time. The same house had a dedicated spot for a phone (sort of ann an alcove) and a slot near the door for milk delivery. It was a cool place, although the showers were horrifically small. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476/100 "2024-03-02T02:33:56Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > How would you dispose of that, safely? How would you dispose of used needles? Same principle. [Answer: put them in a strong plastic container.] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-razor-blades-in-my-walls/213476.md?page=6)