Got my first bad blade the other week

southpaw · Post by **southpaw** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 7:14 pm

Well, I've been MIA for a bit and wanted to share this. Two weeks ago I got my first bad blade, a Derby Extra. Let me say that Derbies are my #1 blade and I'm a big fan. In fact, after all of my sample trials, I'm back to Derbies as their performance is very close to that of a Swede, they are much easier to get, and much less expensive.

Well, the timing of the bad blade couldn't have been worse. I was feeling terrible - had a bad case of strep that had hit my kidneys. I wanted to shave just hoping it would help me feel better. Only one side of the blade was bade. Chewed up one side of my neck pretty good and even had a few nasty spots on the side of my face. Given how ill I was, I wrote the horrible portions of the shave off to poor technique. Next day: same thing, except it was worse as I was shaving over damage.

The third day I was feeling somewhat better and noticed a pronounced difference when I switched sides on the razor. I briefly experimented, confirmed my suspicions, finished the shave with the good side, and promptly chunked the blade.

Lesson learned and another first in wet shaving for me.

billski · Post by **billski** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 8:50 pm

I heard that the quality of Derby blades was going down.

2clfrwrds · Post by **2clfrwrds** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:20 pm

Michael, I've been there. A bad blade is a rotten thing; you think you're doing fidelity, and somehow you get blind-sided.

Most men snap them in half before dropping them in the blade safe, because bad blades are without honor. Oh wait, maybe that's just me...

--Glenn

smoothshaver · Post by **smoothshaver** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:47 am

Ouch, Michael! Kidney infections are bad news.
I'm glad you appear to be doing better now.

Take care of yourself,

southpaw · Post by **southpaw** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:20 pm

billski wrote:I heard that the quality of Derby blades was going down.

Actually, my experience would argue to the contrary. This is the FIRST bad Derby blade I've every gotten. I've been wet shaving for nearly a year, predominantly using Derbies the entire time. That's pretty good quality control in my book.

smoothshaver wrote:Ouch, Michael! Kidney infections are bad news.
I'm glad you appear to be doing better now.

Take care of yourself,

Thanks, Ed. Actually, I went back on Friday for a two week test to make sure everything had cleared up and found out that the 1,500 mg of penicillin per day for 10 days had NOT knocked it out. I tested positive for strep (again) and my urinanalysis showed I was passing blood again, indicating the strep was once again in my kidneys. This time I'm on another antibiotic for 14 days. Yippie!

smoothshaver · Post by **smoothshaver** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:50 pm

southpaw wrote: Thanks, Ed. Actually, I went back on Friday for a two week test to make sure everything had cleared up and found out that the 1,500 mg of penicillin per day for 10 days had NOT knocked it out. I tested positive for strep (again) and my urinanalysis showed I was passing blood again, indicating the strep was once again in my kidneys. This time I'm on another antibiotic for 14 days. Yippie!

Here's hoping the second course is the charm.