If you are wondering why people did not throw them out, the reason is simple; these blades were technically biohazards and could not be thrown away with general refuse. During the ‘30s and ‘40s, many homes burned their trash to use as fertilizer in their gardens.

In later years, as razor blades became more and more evolved, they were no a single use item anymore! And as the practice of growing your own vegetables began to become more rare, people had no issues with throwing out old dull razor blades in the trash.

By the mid-1970s, built-in razor blade disposal was all but eliminated. This was when Gilette’s French competitor, Bic, entered the story. Bic came out with lightweight plastic razors that were totally disposable and resembled the ones we use today!

So, if you live in a home that was built before the turn of the 20th century, you might want to go look inside your medicine cabinet to see if you still have those tiny slots! Now you know what they were used for!

Or perhaps, if you do remodeling and find a small pile of razor blades in your home, you won’t be shocked anymore!