The Slice As Close Shaves Go, These Rank A Cut Above
Today we present readers’ shaving-accident stories.
So consider yourself warned. This is going to be a bloodbath.
“A couple of years ago, I was shaving my legs and I dropped the razor and then I stepped on it,” wrote Coeur d’Alene’s Julie Pickens. “I sliced open my two smallest toes.”
“I was shaving in a hurry and got down to the tricky spot on the back of my leg, down by my ankle,” wrote Jennifer Lindsley. “As I pulled the razor up, I turned it slightly. I felt no pain, but when I looked down a lot of blood was running down my foot. I looked at the razor, and there was like a two-inch chunk of skin in between the blades. Gross eh?”
When Janie Smith was about 9, she decided to copy her teenage sister and shave her legs. But she used her dad’s razor. And when her mom discovered her in the bathroom, it looked like a scene from a slasher movie.
Rebecca Androes thought her new “wet” electric shaver was working well until “Dozens upon dozens of suddenly stinging red streams merged into a bloody river over my ankle.”
When Betsy McMichael was about 12, she ignored her mother and tried shaving her legs - resulting in an unfortunate loss of skin on her shin. (Years later, Betsy’s own daughter ignored HER and did pretty much the same thing.)
Gerri Lockwood was in the bathtub, shaving her legs, when she dropped the razor. She tried to grab it, but it wound up nicking her on the stomach. Then it fell on her leg, causing a three-inch gash.
When Kim Davenport was 6, she found a razor her mom had left on the edge of the tub. She decided to shave her legs. The result? Well, let’s just say she became a convert to electric shavers and couldn’t face a razor again until she was in her 20s.
Juanita DeRyan’s first shaving experience was when she was a pre-teen. She figured the secret to getting a good shave was to press hard. “There was blood everywhere!”
Judy Gores had a roommate at WSU who took a divot out of her knee and then cut the same spot “At least 20 more times that year.”
Because of a wiring problem, Debi Turner once spent a few months shaving in a dark bathroom, using a flashlight. It was a period of carnage.
Skip Hubbard cut himself on his wedding day and dripped a large drop of blood onto his tuxedo shirt. (He was running late and had to do a quick change with a groomsman.)
One reader told about carving her thumb tip. Another was in the hospital waiting for an induced labor when she cut herself while shaving her legs and startled the nurses who thought something else had happened.
Our thanks to these folks and others who shared stories. Sorry would couldn’t use them all.
We’ve got room for just one more.
“Once when in high school, my sister (Reagan Oliver) was trying to get a REALLY close shave,” faxed Betsy Weigle. “She ended up slicing her leg so badly that mere hand pressure applied to the wound wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding. I ended up having to STAND on her leg until the bleeding stopped. (I don’t recall how long it took - long enough to stop any blood flow to or from her foot, which had that slightly yellow, dead sort of look.) Of course, we couldn’t tell our parents - regardless of the amount of blood she lost. I do believe my sister can, and will, show you the scar.”
That won’t be necessary. But one of you should arrange to come pick up the gift basket of women’s shaving supplies because we’re declaring that story our winner.
Today’s Slice question: Should there be Lilac princes, too?
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