So, work has been a whirlwind of idiocy and all-out craziness for the last several weeks. Trying to manage the logistics requirements of a military installation that is 1) closing, 2) in a host nation, and 3) no longer has funding to do anything has become my entire life. This past weekend, however, I did finally buckle down (after a few weeks of using the same 2 razors as all the rest needed touch-ups or full on rehones) and lapped my stones with my new D8C, and spent a few hours rubbing blades on rocks. I have weird hair, in that an arm hair test is incredibly unreliable for me. Sometimes, a blade will remove hairs like a light saber on my arm, but be an absolute nightmare on my face, or vice versa (I'm swooping at arm hairs at about halfway up the strand). I can never seem to get a blade to lay over arm hairs AND be comfortable on my face. Call me strange.

So, because of this, I decided I should just go straight to a shave test. But, I found myself asking, how does one test-shave 7 razors that all needed work in just one night?! I won't claim my solution was elegant, but it was quite effective. I simply decided to divide my face up in about 6 different areas. The blades that needed the most work would be tasked with clearing the growth from my neck and jawline (my most sensitive area), and the touchup blades that were still shaving, but just need some refining could handle different patches of the rest of it. I do keep a can of barbasol on hand for *ahem* grooming purposes, though I haven't put it on my face in nearly a year. I didn't want to lather up some of my good stuff, though, just to have it dry out after a test, so I found myself wetting and lathering the canned crap on small patches all over my face for about 6 hours test shaving the razors.

The results were pretty great, actually. I got real world feedback on the state of my edges (all of which are back in ship-shape), and I didn't need to break out the whole kit and relather everytime I wanted to shave a 9 square inch patch on my face. So, it's obviously a very specific use, but if you find yourself in a similar situation, I give it 2 thumbs up!