My first war story!

[woodbane]

After my shower tonight I thought I'd remove the blade from my Long Handle Classic as I always rotate blades out after 5 shaves. I didn't actually shave tonight as Friday is may last shave of the week, I resume on Monday unless there's something special going on.

Well, either my hands were a bit slippery or I really wasn't concentrating hard enough but as I began to unscrew the head of the razor, it slipped out from my fingers, swiveled around at a high speed and dug back into my left index finger removing a sizable chunk.

So there I am, naked as the day, gushing blood like a stuck pig into the sink! It was with a somewhat sheepish tone of voice I called out to my wife in the next room: "Honey, a little help here?"

Moral of the story: razor blades are BLOODY sharp, never let your concentration slip when doing anything with them. There'll be a scar from this one I feel....

Anyone else got a war story they want to share?

 

[roughrider]

Sorry to hear that. I usually use a towel to help grip the razor.

 

[joel]

After my shower tonight I thought I'd remove the blade from my Long Handle Classic as I always rotate blades out after 5 shaves. I didn't actually shave tonight as Friday is may last shave of the week, I resume on Monday unless there's something special going on.

Well, either my hands were a bit slippery or I really wasn't concentrating hard enough but as I began to unscrew the head of the razor, it slipped out from my fingers, swiveled around at a high speed and dug back into my left index finger removing a sizable chunk.

So there I am, naked as the day, gushing blood like a stuck pig into the sink! It was with a somewhat sheepish tone of voice I called out to my wife in the next room: "Honey, a little help here?"

Moral of the story: razor blades are BLOODY sharp, never let your concentration slip when doing anything with them.

Anyone else got a war story they want to share?

First time I used a "spike" straight razor - it was a 7/8 new old stock, drop dead gorgeous satinedge.... well - I didn't know that nearly EVERY satinedge spike had the "spike" honed out for a reason, and I tore a deep 1 in cut into my face... I mean DEEP enough that the blade was just sitting in the side of my face. Still have the scar.....

 

[SSLStudio]

Going with the grain at the part under my lower lip ! and having the angle not right the Feather blade left a cut there, when I pouch my lip I can still see the scar there .

First time use of a Fatboy wanted to touch up with some Arko shave stick.
very slippery stuff didnt pay attention and the razor slipped just under my chin area a cut as wide as the Featherblade the cut was so clean no scar !

I want to start with straights but stories of Scotto recently and Joel's now keeps me far away from them. I was watching the B&B DVD last night all over again seeing new things and watching Joel perform a Straight shave with his Perl Dovo..he has a DEADLY SPEED going on I almost was in PAIN watching just that bit on the DVD let alone feeling that blade on my face ! his face looked so beat up and full of cuts I felt for the guy because doing the demo he must have shot the whole DVD on one day shaving his face while it wasnt needed....for the sake we could learn something from it.....

 

[Jonnybc]

My first real wound was from shaving for the first time with a straight razor. For some reason I pushed the bottom edge (nearest the handle) into my face, I watched it happen and can still picture it today. It went in quite deep and took ages to stop bleeding, I still have the scar too!

 

[mrob]

I hate to say it, but after reading these "war story" posts, any lingering interest I had about straight razors has evaporated.

I'm more than willing to spend my time shaving, but am not sure if its worth risking serious injury/disfigurement when one can get a perfectly excellent shave with a DE--they are scary enough for me!

Wimpily,
Mitch

 

[Jonnybc]

Very wise. I still can't get a good shave from a straight, I have the occasional try with much less dramatic results but I always end up finishing with a DE.

 

[JMT]

I was shaving across the grain with a straight along my jawline. I was pulling the skin tight when suddenly my fingers slipped. Needless to say the blade dug right in. I now have a mark that still has not completely faded on my jawline that is about 1 inch long. I did learn my lesson, now I use a semi damp washcloth to hold the skin tight while shaving, I don't have the same problem with slippery fingers anymore.

 

[NMMB]

I hate to say it, but after reading these "war story" posts, any lingering interest I had about straight razors has evaporated.

I'm more than willing to spend my time shaving, but am not sure if its worth risking serious injury/disfigurement when one can get a perfectly excellent shave with a DE--they are scary enough for me!

Wimpily,
Mitch

I'm with you Mitch. Well, "evaporated" might be too strong of a word, since I am still curious... but each of these stories diminishes my interest in straight shaving. Perhaps I could describe it as an exponential decay function asymptotically declining towards some positive level of interest.

Of course, to make the above a truly dynamic and representative function it would also need to include other variables such as (but probably not limited to): amount of time passed since I last read a "war story" (the more time that passes the more I expect I will regain my interest in straights); and degree of ease for getting my hands on a usable sraight (I expect that this would be a more complicated relationship - if I were to be given a nice, usable straight tomorrow I expect that my interest in shaving with one would decrease significantly on account of the fear of actually having to use a straight, but as time with the straight passed I'm certain that I would become more and more intrested until I finially tried it... and I could then write my own "war story").

 

[mrob]

What are you, some kind of theoretical economist?

I must admit that I too am still a bit intrigued with the idea of a straight, but my enthusiasm has been tempered by the high costs and steep learning curve re: upkeep and maintenance (stropping, honing, etc.) that seem to be associated with straight razor shaving.

I guess I prefer to spend my "shaving time" fiddling with various and sundry creams and after shaves, rather than learning a whole new set of equipment--each to his own, I guess?!?

 

[NMMB]

Mitch,

I think that we are more or less on the same wavelength here... I am curious about straights, but I couldn't be bothered to put forth the effort required to use/maintain one. I'm thinking that at some point I may try a DOVO Shavette (or similar disposable-blade straight razor) to see if it would be possible for me to learn how to use one properly, but for now I'll just continue to play with (and enjoy) my DE.

As for the "theoretical economist" comment... well, I'll just assume that was a compliment rather than a dig at my sketch/graph (and making assumptions is what economists do best)... and hey, if there are any other economists here I am certain that they will tell you that we can explain a lot of stuff with some simple graphs/shetches.

 

[woodbane]

Funnily enough, I never thought about the effect these war stories might have on my mindset considering I have a Feather Artist Club on the way.

 

[Justso]

One of my first shaves with the Vision in the fully open (most aggressive) setting, I was shaving under the nose area, against the grain (meaning upward toward the underside of the nostril), I was taking it a bit fast and I felt the blade slice the underside of my nose. But it didn't hurt, it was just like I felt the blade -touch- the underside of my nose. So I stopped, didn't see any blood. Got up close to the mirror and cocked my head back, touched my index finger to my nose and the second I did that, I opened the slice up and blood just gushed down the front of my top lip, over my fingers, down my chin and into the sink. That cut was so deep, I was applying pressure like mad to my nose and it was still bleeding like a mortar wound.

Moral to the story, be ever so gentle around the protruding probostus.

 

[Nick]

Both times I did something stupid, it was because I was still sleepy and groggy. Once, early in the morning, while reaching for the soap to wash my hands, which is conveniently located next to the razor I used the prior day, I brought my hand down next to the soap, but lazily pushed my thumb right down over the head of my vision. That one smarted.

The other time, I was starting to get into straights, had several very nice shaves, and as such was starting to get cocky. I had to be at a 6am meeting, woke up at 4 after a couple hours sleep, lathered up, stropped my Filarmonica, and started to deftly work it across my face. As I got to the chin, I stupidly moved the razor laterally, realizing that for some unknown reason I was doing it... as I was doing it, and put an inch long gash on the left side of my chin. I got quite a few looks that day when I showed up with a huge, wet scab, barely being held together by gobs of alum, styptic and toilet paper hanging off the side of my chin. I still have a (razor thin) scar from that one.

-Nick