It’s been a while since my last cardboard cut, but it is much worse than a normal paper cut. With paper cuts, I can usually “press” my skin back together and go on without any pain, unless I get lemon juice or something in the cut. A cardboard cut is not like that, it is quite painful for the rest of the day no matter what I do.
I’ll hypothesize that the thickness of the cardboard, plus the irregular profile both combine to make the cut much worse