Thread: Anyone have a funny shaving story they'd like to share?

My first experience with using a straight razor was rather grim. I was a Navy Corpsman stationed at San Diego Naval Hospital. We used straight razors with gaurds and disposable blades to prep patients. I got pretty darn good at it and thought, hey, I'll bet I can shave my face with one of these. I took one home along with a supply of blades and my first day off I was psyched and ready to try it. I lathered up and stretched the skin of my face out like they did in the movies and lined up the razor right at my sideburn line and made a nice smooth long downward stroke and followed along the curve of my jaw just a bit. I noticed just a drop of blood but I didn't think it was bad so I made my second stroke. By then the incisions I had made in my face with the first stroke were bleeding profusely. When I say incision I mean incision. These weren't nicks. Then the incisions from the second stroke began to bleed. Within about thirty seconds I thought I was going to need a transfusion. I was well trained in first aid and I did manage to get the bleeding stopped. The next day at work, people asked what had happened to my face. I just changed the subject. One wise old former navy nurse that now worked at the hospital as a civilian said, " Gosh it looks like you cut yourself with one of our straight razors". I didn't answer her either.
Years later I was chatting with my barber about straight razors and told him that story. After he picked himself up off the floor and stopped laughing he explained why I cut myself so badly. It evidently had to do with the square corners on the disposable blade. It's evidently impossible to not cut yourself with those. If you ever noticed that all straight razors are angled or curved at the tip of the blade, that's why.

Love that confidence you showed! Damn, it should have worked! Great story--

I shaved my buddy, and did it very slowly. As such the lather dried. You should have seen the look on his face when it started "snowing." I think he thought his face was flaking off.

I got a great one! Just cant tell it here cuz it involves a gold dollar, a plucked chicken and a 9yr old korean boy. And you know how gold dollars upset folks.

My wife gave me a fancy holder for cartridges, and she was in the "shave den" when I started to use it. I was raving about how smooth and effortless it was when I realized the cartridge was put in backwards. At least I didn't cut myself, eh?

Several years ago I made a decision to improve the quality of my SR shaves. I had been using a straight for about 16 years and had the honing, stroping and lathering down pretty well so that left technique to upgrade. After several unsuccessful attempts I decided to map my beard. The first few tries on paper were more frustrating than anything since my hair growth goes every which way. I then had the bright idea one Saturday to do the mapping directly on my skin. I could then shave and see what direction for each pass. After looking around I found a purple marker labeled "Skin Marker" in the medicine cabinet and it seemed ideal for the experiment. Soon I had circles and arrows all over my jaw and neck.

The shave that day didn't go exactly as planned because after lathering I couldn't see the marks that well. Still, the diagramming helped and I had one of the best shaves that I had had to that point. Oh my god!! After razoring off the lather three times, the marks were as bright purple as when I put them on. I grabbed my glasses and looked at the pen more in detail and saw " Skin Marker XL, Long lasting ink. Not for use on infants."

Well, a little witch hazel with alcohol in it should take it off. No it dint! Not at all! Just as bright as when applied. Hydrogen peroxide. Not working. Maybe a bit of balm would remove it. Nope, it wouldn't budge. Soap and a little scrubbing should certainly remove it. Okay, that just brightened my cheeks under the ink. Next step was to lock the bathroom door and regroup. I had several hours before my wife returned from shopping and my ego was crushed under her dancing feet. This indignity she would never let me forget. What could I do? I was suddenly considering the Dremel.

It finally turned out that dish soap and a sponge removed most of the marker and hand cream got most of the remainder off my face. I had nice rosy cheeks when I was done and the little that remained was barely noticeable. I made sure my wife didn't get a close look at my face until the next day after the final remnants disappeared in the shower.

And after all that, I couldn't remember which way all the arrows went. And yes, there was some beer involved.

When I was about 5 or 6 years old I got a little set of plastic toy disposables razors. I used my dad's barbasol to lather up and 'shave'. Every so often I'd rub my chin, look at my mom, and say 'I feel a little stubble, I think I need a shave'. I'm probably lucky that I didn't get more adventurous and use real disposables.

I remember those toy shaving sets. I had one that had disposable paper razor blades. It had a little wooden bowl with shaving soap and a nylon bristled shaving brush.

Not really a shave story but shave related.

As I recall I was about 4 years old and always admired my Pa's Schick injector razor and one day I climbed up to the medicine cabinet over the sink and got the injector assembly and proceeded to work the mechanism as I gleefully watched the blades go shooting out. It was a few seconds later I realized they were shooting over my right index finger. As I type this almost 60 years later the scar is still clearly there.

Funny or sad, depending on your point of view: Last night I caught my girlfriend using mine to open a shipping carton.