The Forgotten Feather

**Kbennett** · 03-29-2009, 09:42 PM

So yesterday morning I open up my razor box and give my razors a look and begin the ritualistic debate of which razor to shave with. Slim? No, he gets regular use. NEW? No, just used him on Thursday. SuperSpeed? No. Flair Tip? No. Aristocrat? Maybe. Fatboy? Hmmm...

For reference, I should explain that none of my razors are in collector's condition and they're razors that are meant to be shaved with so, every single one is kept loaded and used in some form of a rotation. Most of them have Blue IPs, at least one has a Red IP, and apparently one had a brand spankin' new Feather in it.

I couldn't stand that sad look my Fatboy (set to 8) kept giving me day in a day out so I pulled him from the box and held him aloft like King Arthur holding Excalibur. Cut to after the shower and the application of some nice Speick lather. I begin my shave (a relatively fast one as I've got plans to meet some friends for lunch). I finish my sideburns and am marveling at what a close shave I'm getting from this Personna as I start shaving my chin...which has a small scar from a grade school accident where I felt I needed to prove that Newton was right.

"Ouch. Damn, I nicked myself. Well it happens. Wait, that is a lot of blood. Damn, what did I do?" Upon rinsing my chin I find that I've taken a good centimeter of scar tissue and removed it from my face with amazing efficiency. I figure a one pass WTG finish to my neck is in order and proceed to hurry up and complete the shave so I can tend to the cut on my chin. Big mistake.

I finish up shaving my neck knowing that I went way faster than I should, but I know what I'm doing and it was only one pass, right? The rinse with warm water stung a bit. The rinse with cold water stung a bit. The application of the Speich splash made the infamous scene from Home Alone flash through my head. What the holy hell had I done?!

Being the ever curious individual...with blood dripping off his chin, and now down his neck I twist open the Fatboy to reveal a shiny Feather that I completely forgot that I had loaded two weeks back. At that point all I could do was laugh and call my friends and tell them I was going to be late.

What is the moral of the story you ask? There isn't one I just wanted a chance to prove my idiocy again.

**jcm03c** · 03-29-2009, 10:23 PM

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your incident.

For some reason I don't like pre-loading my razors, it's harder for me to keep count on how many shaves on the blade being used. So I'll just move the blade to the next razor I want to use. Also, if I get a bad shave it's easier for me to blame it on technique than blade sharpness because I know the number of uses on the current blade. Cheers.

**SRock** · 03-29-2009, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by Kbennett

"Ouch. Damn, I nicked myself. Well it happens. Wait, that is a lot of blood. Damn, what did I do?" Upon rinsing my chin I find that I've taken a good centimeter of scar tissue and removed it from my face with amazing efficiency.

That is both good and bad? I mean if you removed scar tissue and it doesn't scar there could be promise in your actions?

Sorry about the cut!

**galopede** · 03-30-2009, 01:08 AM

I reckon it was the Fat Boy rather than the blade! I finally got hold of a good Fat Boy a few months ago and it ALWAYS nicks me, even set on low.

A brand new Feather in a slant or any other of my razors is fine. Fat boy with a mild blade like a Derby set fairly low and there's a blood bath.

Gareth

**ateace** · 03-30-2009, 08:06 AM

That's like taking a quick gulp of ice water and realizing that it's vodka.

**Brodirt** · 03-30-2009, 08:17 AM

Its funny...I have a large scar right under my chin from a hockey injury I sustained 3 years ago..30 stitches, some inside it was so bad. My surgeon actually advised me not to shave the area for at least a year and I wound up going goateed for 2 years because of it. The scar presents no problems even with a feather.

**glycerine** · 03-30-2009, 09:26 AM

Wow, sorry, I feel for you. I once put a KAI blade in a shavette... and that's all you'll ever hear from me of that story. But really, it was more the amount of cuts that caused my bloodshed and not necessarily the depth of the cuts.

**The Real McCoy** · 03-30-2009, 09:44 AM

Yeah fatboys are a bit rough on the upper numbers-sorry to hear about your scar.

**amateriat** · 03-30-2009, 11:48 AM

iCaramba!

Reminds me of the old Norelco (or was it Remington) "Gotcha!" commercials. T use video-game parlance, you got seriously ninja'd.

I strongly recommend taking those Feather blades out of your preloaded rotation. I haven't had something like that happen since the very first time I used a straight.

- Barrett