Thread: Off day

This isn't so much a question as just a vent. I've been super happy with my shaves the last month or so, I feel like I've finally gotten the basic technique down, figured out the major grain variations of my face, and found some good razors and figured out how to maintain them.

With that being said, today's shave was AWFUL! Usually I'm down to one, maybe Two, weepers per shave. Today I had like five, and a couple of nicks to boot. The entire bottom half of my face was was burning for like an hour afterwards (usually I just have a couple of hot spots around my jaw that go away after 30 minutes or so). My wife thought I was having an allergic reaction to something because my skin was red and inflamed.

The annoying thing is that the shave didn't feel any different while I was actually shaving. I didn't do anything different than normal, and the razor Felt smooth and easy; but somehow by the end my face looked and felt like I'd taken a cheese greater to it.

Ok, done venting now. I'm assuming everyone has an off day now and then.

We all have off days

I think it happens to all of us. Maybe the prep was a little different. Sometimes when I switch up razors in the rotation, my angles aren't exactly right for the next razors and get a little razor burn. Same thing can happen with a double edge razor. I travel with double edge sometimes and one time, I felt like everything went fine and when I put the white hotel towel on my face to pat it dry after a three pass shave - the towel looked like someone splattered little tiny red dots all over the towel! It was pretty gruesome. We all have those days.

Adam

no worries,
I got two today.
I only have 4 razors and use only two of them. I shave 7 days aweek, one is a Boker Tree Brand, my daily workhorse, the other a Aust. ( I swear the aust is jinx ..seems to cut me ever time I use it..fingers, face..so far. )

and the Veg today was a super burn with a girly scream.. :-)
you're not alone..

It happens. After a while it wont happen as much and when it does you really get to wondering what went wrong.
I personally havent drew blood of any kind in months, so i guess im do.
It will be better next time.

Been there, done that
Eventually it becomes a very very rare event

It happens to everyone so don't beat yourself up about it.

You will probably find that whilst you think nothing changed, something really did.

It can be the slightest thing. I found that whenever I got nicked or had a bad shave it was almost invariably the part where I was using my non-dominant hand. After a while I also noticed it seemed to be with the same razor every time. I have a vintage Atkinson razor and it was almost always the culprit and I couldn't figure out why. In the end I put it down to the fact that it has a very small tang compared to my other razors. This means the grip is very slightly different. Now I know that, it never bites me anymore.

Analyse what you did and maybe you can avoid it in the future.

When I first started out I was quite analytical, what works what doesn't as I'm sure you did too. Then after a while when the routine settles down I didn't analyse things as much. It's always worth doing though even after you are getting consistent shaves.

Good luck and I hope you figure this out and only have good days ahead.

Happens to me a lot when I don't concentrate well enough. Also happened to me once really bad when I was starting out, and afterwards my wife casually mentioned that she'd used my "funny looking razor" to open a letter the night before... education on blade integrity soon followed

Originally Posted by Butzy

my wife casually mentioned that she'd used my "funny looking razor" to open a letter the night before.

That's outrageous! If my wife did that I would demand she buy me a new razor...

Or more likely I would apologise for leaving it laying around and then skulk away and hone it in secret

Thanks for the reassurance, everyone. After taking a day off for healing, I'm ready to jump back in today! I'll let you know how it goes.