Call me Scarface

The sensation was unpleasant. The epidermal layer being peeled away and the precious fluid glistening on the cheek. I was not happy.

The Monday morning ritual started well enough trying out a new blade that I had attempted to make shave-ready. I was not successful so I went to another razor for the second pass; a spike point I believe they call it. It was my first one.

The first few strokes went well enough but as I passed down the right cheek (the toughest part of my shave), the incident occurred and I looked like I received an epee across the cheek. The only think I can think was that the tip (the spike?) dragged across my cheek and gouged a valley of pain and red.

I'll live but what I need to learn from the Masters is whether this is a typical newbie faux-pas when using a spike point or was I just extra careless? Should I have even bought a spike point? I have a goatee and wanted to be more precise on the "boundaries".

Advice and comment are welcome. I need to conquer this razor and move on.

I use spikes, round points and french points. I preferr the round point for that reason you mentioned. You just have to go slower and lighter. Take your time. In addition make sure you have a good photo of your face, this will give the plastic surgeons something to work from :) lol. Once again go slow and smooth.

I just nicked my lip trying to get around my goatee. You can gently round the spike on a hone to get rid of any needle sharpness at the tip. i haven't had any problem with any of my spikes by doing this.

Watch out for pressure, it'll kill you. A super sharp blade means you will have to use less pressure so maybe there was some of that to your mistake.

X

Don't worry, you will have a fine schmiss! ;)

From my point of view, while the advice, "Don't move the razor parallel to the blade" seems rather obvious, the application can be harder than it would seem. Be careful that when you're trying to get the best angle, you don't accidentally slice.

I use mainly a rounded point at the moment, which I find is good for getting into all those places my face would rather keep hidden.

Don't give up, we've all been there!

Schmiss.
I feel much better now that I have a proper term to describe it. Now when my friends ask, I can give a better answer than "straight-razor-induced-injury".

Bach,

I feel your pain...and that is why I stay away from spikes!

RT

No reason not to buy a spike right away, but you have to respect that baby. Not unlike a firearm, or even a very sharp knife for that matter. Spikes don't cut faces, people wielding spikes, (and who don't maintain a constant mental picture of where that spike is and what it's doing), cut faces. Be that as it may, there are not many things a spike can do that a round point cannot ~ in the right hands. A good rule of thumb for me when using a spike, is always think of keeping the heel down at any given moment during a normal stroke. You CAN get precise with the tip when the need arises, that's the beauty of a spike. Normal, full strokes, however, HEEL DOWN. Just don't fall into the round-point habit of "point and drive" with the tip of the razor. You can get away with that with a round point, but...well you know, obviously. Get Well Soon!!! Jeff

I use em all but must admit I prefer a round point, maybe its a lazy man's shaver I don't know but when I use a spike I have to alter my stroke a little so I don't get a gotcha. I have a case red imp which is a surperb shaver but the spike point actually has a slight flair outwards and you really have to be careful with that one so I don't use it very much.

I took a similar chunk out of my face with a round point so I would just put it down to "one of those things" that happens when you are learning. And dont worry about the scar - it adds character to your face ;)

Bach , for what it's worth I'm now sporting a 3/4 inch slice above my moustache line - caused by taking my eye off the ball for a second , I was manouvering my round tip Dovo to have another pass at my moustache and presto !! I placed the blade straight on to my face .... styptic to the rescue . This morning it looks like a fine red line - hopefully no scar .

For what it's worth, I was doing just fine in trying to learn straight shaving. Then I did the big mistake, I ordered a shave-ready razor from a honemiester! I cut myself a few times, but I'll never lose track of where the tip of the razor is anymore! :nono:
I've found that there is a learning curve with sharpening that parallels the learning curve with shaving. Bad things happen when those curves are not the same. :hmmm:
-Fred

I'm not convinced my Dovo is honed to shave readiness .. I honed it myself on a little barber hone , it shaves but until my shave ready dovo arrives ( uk postal / customs service is a complete joke this time of year ) It's all I have .. I'll keep shaving / honeing it until them ... think the SR fever is hitting me tho .. Im bidding like crazy on ebay ( and getting outbid ) on some nice razors .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Garry

Bach , for what it's worth I'm now sporting a 3/4 inch slice above my moustache line - caused by taking my eye off the ball for a second , I was manouvering my round tip Dovo to have another pass at my moustache and presto !! I placed the blade straight on to my face .... styptic to the rescue . This morning it looks like a fine red line - hopefully no scar .

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I've done something similar, right near the left side of my mouth, and had a red line that looked like a cat scratch for a few days. Then there was the time I cut the top of my lip shaving my moustache... that bled like a bastard.

But, unless you really, really, really cut yourself up, I don't think there's any worry of a scar. I mean, a bad shaving nick is what, some minute fraction of an inch deep?

I note, too, that like the schmiss I mentioned, my cuts seem to accumulate on the left side of my face. I guess this means I'll have a good right profile. :) The only question is whether women still dig scars. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Garry

Bach , for what it's worth I'm now sporting a 3/4 inch slice above my moustache line - caused by taking my eye off the ball for a second , I was manouvering my round tip Dovo to have another pass at my moustache and presto !! I placed the blade straight on to my face .... styptic to the rescue . This morning it looks like a fine red line - hopefully no scar .

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I took a hunk out of my right cheek with a really sharp 7/8 wedge by not paying enough attention as to the location of my razor. I look at it every day before soaping up it reminds me to be careful :O

Garry, cudahogs and the rest of the newest shavers. I'd like to recommend that you read my musings on Creative Visualisation on my In The Deep End blog linked in my signature. Bad things needn't happen at all if we're properly prepared. I think you're right about the parallels with the hone and shave learning curves, cudahogs, but your conclusion that 'bad things happen' is more an indicator of your not being aware enough of the change which occurred for you with the sharper blade.

I can't remember where exactly, but on another thread someone was mentioning that upon newly honing a blade, one is prone to cut oneself being used to the pressure( :nono: ) applied with the formerly dullish razor being FAR too much for a properly honed, *YOWZA! sharp blade.

X

* Official term for a razor as sharp as one gets from Lynn.

Quote:

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I can't remember where exactly, but on another thread someone was mentioning that upon newly honing a blade, one is prone to cut oneself being used to the pressure( :nono: ) applied with the formerly dullish razor being FAR too much for a properly honed, *YOWZA! sharp blade.

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You are exactly right. I did apply too much pressure to a blade that was very sharp because I was used the honing job that I had done on my razors. During some recent experiments with a DE, I did not make the same mistake because you can see a large, sharp instrument in your hand, whereas, the straight edge razor's (honemeister honed and honed by me) looked the same.
-Fred

Bach, sorry to hear about your little mishap, hopefully it won't happen again. I've never shaved with anything but round points because frankly, I'm a little leery of a chisel point. I wear a Van Dyke and trim around it by making a pass where I run the razor edge towards the beard, making a clean line where the razor stops at the beard's edge. I do this all around it. I also shave a space below my lower lip and I work the razor around this by using two hands on the blade to carefully guide it. This is the hardest part of the operation and is where I'll generally get nicks, if they happen. I hope you have better luck in the future with whatever razor you are using. :)