Flight attendant says a male passenger requested bandages for a ‘scratch’. Then he discovers what the injury is: ‘I was not prepared’

Flight attendants witness many things while over 30,000 feet in the air. From unruly passengers who need to be detained or offboarded to flights that regularly turn into a nightclub in the sky. One flight attendant, however, was faced with a situation he did not expect: a passenger shaving their pubic hair during a red-eye flight.

“I’m a flight attendant, and this is one of the most unexpected and bizarre things that has happened to me,” Dan (@dan_s_p_) told viewers in a video that has reached hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok. According to Dan, the incident happened years ago when he was working as an attendant in the economy section during a flight to Bangkok.

Dan said the beginning of the flight was routine. After takeoff, the crew served the in-flight meals before passengers fell asleep. “Everything was peaceful. My colleague and I were standing in the galley, and near this galley was a restroom.” Dan said.

Passenger asks flight attendant for bandages

Dan soon realized that not everyone was asleep, and that one man was allegedly involved in activities that would have any person questioning whether it was appropriate to do on a flight. “A male passenger came out of the restroom and asked my colleague for a Band-Aid,” Dan recalled.

A flight attendant’s primary training and responsibility is to ensure passengers’ safety and security throughout the flight. In any first-aid situation, they immediately seek more information from the passenger, as medical issues can escalate quickly. Since they are all far from hospitals and medical professionals, it’s crucial that crews are informed of any problems as soon as they arise.

“So my colleague asked him, ‘Who’s this for? Is everything alright? What happened?’” Dan said. “And he said, ‘Everything’s okay. I just have a scratch.’”

The man, however, soon returned and appeared more panicked, according to Dan. This time, the man allegedly asked for bandages, alerting the attendants that his injury was more serious than just a simple scratch. Dan said they tried to coax more information about the nature of the passenger’s injury, only for the man to tell a female colleague, “I can’t tell you. It has to be a man.”

When Dan stepped up, he was brought to the restroom, where the passenger allegedly showed Dan the unexpected injury that left him speechless. “This man proceeded to show me that he had injured himself while manscaping,” he said in disbelief.

Looking back at the incident, Dan said nothing could have prepared him for what he witnessed thousands of feet in the air. “In training they tell you to be prepared for anything,” he said. “When I went to work that day, I was not prepared to see someone’s manscaping injuries.”

Getting injured in the pubic area is common

Manscaping is the act of shaving, trimming, or removing body hair to improve a man’s appearance. While it remains uncertain why the passenger decided to groom himself during his flight, injuring oneself while manscaping is a rather common occurrence, according to a study by JAMA Dermatology.

The study showed that 23.7% of men injure themselves while grooming their pubic area, with 61.2% usually nicking themselves with their razors. On the other hand, 23% found that they have suffered burns due to chemical products, while 12.2% experience rashes as an aftermath of their manscaping activities.

Like Dan, viewers were left in disbelief at the passenger’s method to pass the time. “.. during a flight???” one commenter wrote. Some felt that they learned something new from Dan’s experience. “Eeeuuwww l don’t know what manscaping is but it sounds wrong. you did well,” a comment read. Another joked, “Bro was trying to declare mayday in his own cockpit.”

Some shared their own unexpected passenger encounters. One wrote, “I had a passenger that wanted us to put our hand down the toilet to search for her teeth that fell in.”

Fortunately, most manscaping injuries down below don’t require medical attention, with only a small percentage needing antibiotics or surgery after the grooming session. Dan said the passenger’s injuries were surface-level and superficial, and the man “went on with his life” after his concerns were assuaged.

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