The Cut.

[The Mick]

So a few days ago I had my first real cut with the straight. One momentary lapse of attention and slice. 1/2" gash on my chin. It was enough that I had to keep pressure on it for about half an hour or so to get it to stop bleeding.
I didn't shave until just now but had to be really careful around the cut to not open it up again. I knew it would happen and at some point. It was a good reminder to stay vigilante.

 

[Seraphim]

They really give quite a *ZING* when you get them, don't they?


Err, um....or so i've heard......

 

[The Mick]

Indeed they do.

 

[Seraphim]

Keep the spine of the razor very close to your skin (i.e.- a very shallow angle), and the likelyhood of cuts is greatly reduced. When i first started is when I recieved my "war wounds", after going to a very low angle, they stopped getting me.

 

[netsurfr]

Did not get my first cut until I had been shaving for a month or so. Was getting pretty confident... a moment of inattention... and the rest was history. Nice long cut on my neck. Completely agree with Seraphim on the shallow angle; makes a big difference.

 

[mainaman]

I am 2 weeks into straight razor, and for the liast 5 shaves I am cut/nick free.
Anyway I would advise a styptic pencil for dealing with cuts

 

[professorchaos]

That'll teach you to pay attention, won't it?

The worst cut I have gotten, and it wasn't that bad, gotten came at the hands of a particularly vicious spike point. I was paying attention and it got me nonetheless.

 

[The Mick]

Well it was a little beyond a styptic. However it's healing just fine. I did put some Neosporin and a bandage on it to help it heal faster. I'm sure it wont be the last time. As far as the angle that is still a hard part on my chin for me though getting better. I think I was just too confidant that day.

 

[huracan]

I got myself during the third shave, twice. Once on the chin, then on my cheek with the tip, and this was a round point LeGrelot 8O.
The shave was going so well too.

Call me chicken but I wasn't getting a styptic near any of those, I was afraid to catch one of those nerves that run between the nose hairs and bunhole, I forget the medical term.

I was prepared with invisible band-aid, superglue for your skin.

Another thing that helps, from what has been mentioned, is to get proper skin stretching to prevent the skin bunching up in front of the blade.

 

[blackfoot]

I have used a straight three times and haven't walked away unscathed once. Last night was the first bad one though. Similar to the OP's. I didn't think it was ever going to stop bleeding.

 

[professorchaos]

Based on the one bad cut I had and what a styptic did to it, I wouldn't use it again. It really wasn't a bad cut. Not at all. Yet I have a scar of sorts, I think, because the styptic prevent it from healing properly.

Not to mention that it stung like a mother when I applied it.

 

[The Mick]

super glue awesome that takes me back to my punk rock years. Back in them days I shaved my head with a disposable. I had a Mohawk and not much in the way of facial hair though.

 

[chipinque1]

I was wondering if any of you know a case about a distracted shaver who cut his through and died for it...

I'm so distracted that I believe that never will shave with a straigh, even i want to... ha ha ha ha ha

 

[CraigJ]

I am not a big fan of the styptic pencil. It slows the healing down quite a bit. It almost feels like a chemical cauterizing. So now you are healing from achemical burn instead of a very fine cut. What takes five days to fully heal with the stytic pencil will heal up in three days without it. It also leaves a shadow of a scar for a few weeks.

I have a buddy that is a boxer and he told me his trick. Get a glass of ice water and stick a spoon in it til the spoon is freezing cold. Put firm pressure on the cut with the cold spoon til the bleeding stops. My guess is the cold acts as a vaso-restricter closing the capillaries.

The cold spoon trick does work. But to take it a step further, I took a tip from Lynn at SRP and used some neosporin to both wad up the cut and act as an antibiotic. Using the spoon and the neosporin you should be able to stop most bleeders very quickly and be fully healed in 72 hours.

I rarely get cuts but when I do it is because I have had a Homer Simpson moment. This just reminds me to F-O-C-U-S.

 

[CraigJ]

I was wondering if any of you know a case about a distracted shaver who cut his through and died for it...

I'm so distracted that I believe that never will shave with a straigh, even i want to... ha ha ha ha ha

This is the beauty of shaving with a straight. You will focus. Even us folk that have A.D.D. or fidget must and do calm down. The meditative concentration required is the main reason I like using a straight. This is one of the moments in my day where I am fully focused on one thing only and the rest of the world is tuned out. It is my zen moment of the day even if it only lasts for five minutes, it is an exquisite five minutes of meditation.

 

[Samouraï]

This is the beauty of shaving with a straight. You will focus. Even us folk that have A.D.D. or fidget must and do calm down. The meditative concentration required is the main reason I like using a straight. This is one of the moments in my day where I am fully focused on one thing only and the rest of the world is tuned out. It is my zen moment of the day even if it only lasts for five minutes, it is an exquisite five minutes of meditation.

+1 the best reason to shave with a straight

 

[gollum83]

I have used a straight three times and haven't walked away unscathed once. Last night was the first bad one though. Similar to the OP's. I didn't think it was ever going to stop bleeding.

I've been fairly lucky. Nothing major, well that was up until the other day. I managed to somehow nick my ear. The nick didn't seem like much, tiny really, but the blood wouldn't stop flowing for the better part of a few hours.

 

[The Mick]

it's all part of the learning experience.

 

[gollum83]

it's all part of the learning experience.

Yeah, but that part of the learning experience isn't supposed to happen to me.