Thread: Ever gotten a truly gnarly scar from a safety razor?

After a fairly decent shave this afternoon, I was feeling my face and ran my fingers over this deep oval scar on my chin from about 5 years ago when I first started to use a DE. I remember I was in a hurry that morning and was using quite a lot of pressure with my razor for some reason. By the way, it was a Gillette slim adjustable set to 9! As i was taking a quite swipe at my jaw line, the blade dug in and carved out what looked like a tic tac cut lengthwise out of my face. I could not believe how much skin this blade had just taken out of my face , it was tremendous! Dont even ask me how the aftershave felt....I think sliding down a cheese grater covered in lemon juice might be a good way to put it. Needless to say, I have been much, much more careful since that incident.

I'm curious if anyone else here has learned razor respect the hard way like I did. It would be nice to know that I'm not the only guy dumb enough to gouge myself with a "safety razor". The irony never gets old

To tell you the truth though I mainly use a straight from the earlier days when I used a DE all the time and now when I use it on and off I have never cut myself with a DE. I always thought it would be hard to do.

I took a chunk out of my finger with a DE last year.

You may recognize this picture from the SRP Wiki.

I vividly remember the first time I used a DE. Talking like 47 years ago thereabouts. I was a kid shaving peach fuzz and was really digging it with a Gillette of some sort. I got a nick on my cheek and I was shocked. I still remember the feeling. I have nicked myself with a DE a hundred times if I've done it once. I don't have any scars, gnarly or otherwise, though.

I collect slant head DE razors. I got a 'no name' vintage German slant with a heck of a blade exposure a few years ago. I couldn't wait to shave with it and dropped a new Feather into it. I started my WTG at my sideburn and you wouldn't have believed the cut I put in my face. I have shaved with a straight exclusivly for the last couple of years and I rarely nick myself.

I think i've never nicked myself with DE, but it is possible to do so if no familiar with DE shaving.
I work at the ship and we have to keep ourselves shaved. Once some officer had forgotten his shaving gear back home, so i said that sir i can give you one DE blade and borrow my DE. With these you should get along about a week.
About hour later he returned my DE. There was few bloodstains in it and the man had his face full of bandaid. Never asked it again

Apart from cuts on my hands from cleaning straight razors, the worst cut I got whilst shaving was with a DE again..!

I wasnt used to having a blade on either side when I first got it and I sliced my nose when I was shaving my top lip. That must have bled for about an hour, and there simply wasnt enough tissue in the world to stop it..!

Clearly if you are a straight razor user you should never go anywhere near a DE..!

Originally Posted by Stubear

Apart from cuts on my hands from cleaning straight razors, the worst cut I got whilst shaving was with a DE again..!

I wasnt used to having a blade on either side when I first got it and I sliced my nose when I was shaving my top lip. That must have bled for about an hour, and there simply wasnt enough tissue in the world to stop it..!

Clearly if you are a straight razor user you should never go anywhere near a DE..!

Don't be so sure about that one
I of course like a lot of guys my age (23) started with and electric, then after realizing how worthless it was moved to wet shaving with a cartridge and sometimes disposables. From there instead of following that trend and taking the next step up I went straight to straight razors. After a few months of straight shaving I got my hands on a Gillette Tech DE and have yet to give myself any real good nicks when I use it (right now it is my main razor because I've managed to dull my straights after only about 4 months so I need to get them honed).

By the way this is totally off topic, but I ran up to the store real quick yesterday and saw the stupidest thing ever, I mean this thing looked RIDICULOUS! As I approached the shaving aisle figuring I would pick up a puck or two of Williams to wash out my newly acquired boar brush I looked up from my Williams puck (of course bottom shelf, nobody buys em) and I see this huge 5 blade monstrosity cartridge razor that also has a sixth trimmer blade on the back side of the cartridge. Then I died a little inside as I realized it's made by Personna...

I nicked myself twice a couple of nights ago with a safety razor and felt an utter fool. I've been shaving with them for two and a half decades, but just recently I've been using a straight unless I'm in a real hurry. So yes, using an open razor probably does make one careless when using a DE: another lesson learned. No scars from either type of razor so far, touch wood.

Yes, with a slant + feather. Took a patch of skin off the base of my neck at the start of an ATG pass. Worse than any cut I have gotten with a straight.

It's not a DE, but does a Feather AC count with a Pro Super blade? It was longer than a tic tac but not as deep. It was still nasty and the scar took about a year to fade.

Don't try doing a scything motion incorrectly with a Feather AC.

Chris L