A wall stuffed with razor blades sounds like the stuff of
nightmares, but if you live in a house built before the 1970s, there’s a good
chance you have a razor blade wall in your bathroom. Excuse me?
Yes, people are just living with walls stuffed full of razor blades in their homes. Little slots were built into the interior walls of bathrooms
that residents could slide their disposable razor blades into every time they
finished shaving.
According to Reader’s Digest, “safety razors” were introduced at the turn
of the 20th century and were becoming a disposal issue in the
1950s. People were tossing them in the trash, which was often
burned, and the ashes were spread into gardens. Gardeners were being cut and hurt by the
unmelted metal blades, which was obviously a problem. Enter this handy at-home
way to dispose of the sharp, used blades (covered in human biohazard like blood,
as well as skin cells and hair -- yuck).
With this new solution, you would just slide them in the slot and forget about them -- until it’s remodeling
time!
Could you imagine ripping down a wall and having it rain
razor blades? Judging by the photos on social media, this is a common problem
in the home demolition business, but it would still freak me out.
Some Twitter folks complained that it’s a very short-sighted
approach to dealing with trash. Stick something in a wall so that you don’t
have to deal with it?
This is a lesson in object permanence that most kids learn
by the time they are toddlers -- just because you can’t see something doesn’t
mean it no longer exists.
Razor blades, the environment -- what are “things that previous generations never thought about and now we have to deal with” for $400,
please.
Yet another person pointed out that some medicine cabinets also have slots for blade disposal. Same idea, and apparently
very common.
Razor blades tucked into crevices was in fact so common that the idea of a razor blade wall found
its way into a children’s book.
That book will certainly help kids sleep at night (not).
In addition to remodeling woes and poor planning, some people pointed out the very
nightmarish scenario of a house falling down due to weather and getting swept
up in a storm.
Does this happen? Has there ever been high razor-blade winds
or a funnel cloud of blades in Tornado Alley? Is this the idea of a cutting wind?
But razor blade walls aren’t your only concern. How about a
teeth wall?
Sweet dreams!