Worst single shave???!!!

Thoughts and input on anything related to wet shaving or men's grooming.
harper
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Worst single shave???!!!

Post by harper »

Do you remember the worst single shave you ever had? Do you have any ideas why it was the worst? Do you remember when?
LouisIII
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Post by LouisIII »

It was the morning of one of my final A-level exams and I gashed my upper lip with a Mach 3. Bled profusely for about an hour, and entered the exam hall with dripping red tissue held to face. Unfortunately, I had several years of cartridge/gel to follow.
~ Infusing the irreducibly quotidian with sensual pleasure ~
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KAV
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Post by KAV »

My first and last shave with a feather blade. It was BBS and when I applied AS realised it was a poorman's version of a chemical facial peel gone awry.
brothers
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Post by brothers »

Louis, I was going to try to recreate the morning the cap broke on a tube of something, or when Tom's Mint turned hard in the tube, maybe it was the same day, but anyway, I yield to your worst shave. That's really bad, man!

Bob (Harper) what was yours?
Gary

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DeanoG
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Post by DeanoG »

When I thought a Feather in a Fatboy turned up past 5 was just as safe as one in a SS. Still got the scar above my chin as evidence of my disrespect for the Feather and an opened up Fatboy.... #-o
-Jim-

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Araner
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Post by Araner »

I don’t have any bloody horror stories, I suppose my worst shave would be the time I tried a straight razor. The contortions I went through trying to hold the blade to make decent passes on my face was one problem. The fact that I didn’t want to apply any pressure was another; I hardly sliced any whiskers off. No nicks, no cuts, and plenty of whiskers poking out here and there. Not a good shave.

Mike
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Post by ShadowsDad »

I can't remember what blade it was, but I was testing it and part of the test is to take it as far as I can up to 7 shaves.

Well, this blade started to show that it's life was near the ned the previous shave, but it was still shaving when I put it up, so next day I used it.

I had about 20 weepers that day. No exaggeration. That was my worst. I never felt them either. But after the shave it looked like I had ebola.

My other bad shaves all happened when I was in la-la land, my mind off doing other things when I was using my favorite very aggressive razors. They wait for a split second of miscalulation to strike.
Brian

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dosco
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Post by dosco »

This past August on a business trip. Forgot my Gillette Mach 3, talked to the folks at the Hotel's front desk and got what looked to be a no-name-brand clone of a single-bladed Bic disposable as well as a teensy can of no-name-brand foam.

Did the normal hot shower and soaking of the face to loosen things up, and that POS tore me up real bad. It hurt while I was using it. Lots of nicks, blood, etc., but fortunately no permanent damage.
Last edited by dosco on Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ThePossum
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Post by ThePossum »

I remember mine very vividly. Happened on January 8, 2012. Put a new Pella blade in one of my Lathercatchers and proceeded to make two WTG strokes on the left side of my face. It felt really bad and looked even worse. What I got were two long scratches on my cheek that bled like crazy. Right away I knew I had a dud blade. Got the bleeding stopped, changed the blade and went about finishing my one pass shave. Darn scratches took over a week to heal and disappear.

What makes me so angry in that I did not catch the dud blade after my first stroke. Instead I had to go on and take one more stroke before I was convinced that the blade was a dud.
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jww
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Post by jww »

KAV wrote:My first and last shave with a feather blade. It was BBS and when I applied AS realised it was a poorman's version of a chemical facial peel gone awry.
:lol:
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EastTexasMan
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Post by EastTexasMan »

The first and last time I ever used a Tech double edge razor.
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desertbadger
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Post by desertbadger »

It was 1966 and I thought I was hot shit because I was one of the few boys in school that had to shave.
I got careless with a model J Schick Injector and ended up with a horizontal cut across my upper lip, the dark meaty part of the lip you don't shave. A stypic pencil wouldn't stop the bleeding so I went to school with a small wad of toilet paper :oops: stuck to my lip to help the blood clotting.
I still have that same razor and since then, it and I have become good friends.

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David
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Quarterstick
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Post by Quarterstick »

I have had lousy shaves, but nothing off the charts that stands out. Worse cut I ever had was when I was a kid and should not have had a razor against my face in the first place. Curiosity is sometimes the harbinger of accidents and I cut my chin pretty bad. Otherwise, my worst shaves have involved disposables. They are 180 degrees from sharp and smooth for me, feels like I am ripping the hair out.
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Squire
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Post by Squire »

When the furry child came bounding into the bathroom and slid directly into my right knee.
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PanchoVilla
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Post by PanchoVilla »

I sure remember, or maybe not.

I woke up in the morning with blood all over my pillow and my wife screaming at me.

I had taken a sleeping pill and had earlier celebrated 4th of July (IIRC). Oh, and I had just received a new str8. Honestly, I don't remember a thing. The wounds were damn near up to my eyes. Thankfully I was good enough in my sleep not to cut my throat. No stitches needed. ](*,) It took me a little while to figure out what had happened, but sure enough, there was my new razor with this dark red stuff, nicely put away.

I've played Rugby and boxed most of my life at one point or another, so a little blood to me certainly wasn't as big a deal as to her. It was, however, a pretty cold shower realizing that could happen.

Yeah, I know, pretty damn dumb.Image
~Bob~
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Post by AFG »

Tried out a Gillette NEW long open comb head on a BRW handle with a Feather blade. My face was on fire the rest of the day.
Al
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Post by brothers »

My worst shave was when I had spent a lot of time honing away on what has turned out to be a great disappointment, a beautiful one-off straight razor. Something about the steel and/or the geometry of the blade is terribly wrong, but anyway, I completed the entire 3 or 4 pass shave and upon cleaning up afterward and applying an after shave product, I was stunned to find that the hair splitting edge that was there the day before had disappeared overnight, and the razor didn't cut a single whisker. Being resourceful, of course after I had a good laugh at myself and the stupidity of the situation, I didn't have to go far to find a nice DE razor and blade that worked quite well on my second shave within 20 minutes.
Gary

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harper
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Post by harper »

Brothers: since you asked me about my worst shaves I have thought carefully about it. I have been shaving for about 65 years now and I divide worst shave in two parts: I don't think I ever had a really great shave until the Gillette Super Blue blades came on the market in 1959. Until then I had good shaves ... the usual cuts that most shavers get from time to time -- but the Super Blue was the difference between a great blade and a very good blade. I used them exclusively until I got hooked on Wilkinson SS blades because of longevity ... they were not as sharp initially as the Super Blue but kept their edge far longer. The Super Blue was to me just light years ahead of any other blade at the time. As for the other worst, I remember when I was about 17 or 18 and Shick Injector Razors were heavily advertised and I tried one. I wanted to like it ... I did like the idea of an injector blade ... and endured about six or seven shaves (many knicks, more weepers) and then said the hell with it. I tried one again about 20 years or so again at a friend's house and the results were much the same. I might add that I have never had a bad shave with any other type of cartridge razor since TRAC 11 and still use a Power Glide razor for much of my neck area although I use a DE (currently with a Feather) for the rest of my face.
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aircraft_electrician
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Post by aircraft_electrician »

My worst shave was the only time I've ever paid someone else to shave me. I'd had a pretty bad motorcycle accident (an SUV pulled out in front of me on a rural highway) and had both arms in casts from my fingertips to my elbows and couldn't even dress myself, much less shave.

My wife was great, helped me with everything, except shaving. She was a home health aid before we got married, and the thing she hated most about it was helping patients shave. So, about a month after the accident, the stitches are freshly removed from my face, and I'm off to one of the oldest barber shops in the area for a haircut and shave.

After the shave, the barber wraps a hot towel around my face. I should have known then it wasn't going to be good. I've been handed hotter towels on overnight flights across the pond. He got some "lather" from a machine similar to a Lather King, and proceeded to hack through a month's growth of not quite softened whiskers with a pink disposable.

The result was the most uncomfortable and least effective shave of my life.

On a positive note, the haircut was very well done and after seeing how poorly the barber did and how much he charged, the wife shaved me twice a week until the casts came off. She was much better at it than the barber!

Tom
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brothers
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Post by brothers »

Harper, I was with you until I read you use a Power Glide razor, and my brain froze, as the only Power Glide I can think of is the old 2 speed automatic transmission used by Chevrolet until around the mid-sixties. Who makes the Power Glide razor? I ask this question anticipating it's as common as a super speed or a tech, and I've probably got a couple. Just one of those brain things, I suppose.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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