I should be a politician, then I'd have another face to shave (geddit?)
But seriously, in the fullness of time I hope to test all the best blades against each other (and even retest the same blades in different razors). But there's one overriding thing that I'm learning from all of this...
I really had expected to be able to clearly say X is better then Y at the end of each test (at least for me), and end up with a knockout-style winner. But the more I test, the more I realise that just isn't possible. When I'm blind-testing, the differences that I think are obvious when I know which blade I'm using often turn out not to be there, and there are qualitative differences which cannot be quantified as "better". Blind-testing really is helping me to overcome my pre-conceptions.
And at the end of the day, that may be the most important thing we all learn from this. I already know that there are several blades, that I can count on one hand, that are all exceptional in terms of smoothness, sharpness, and durability, but that I can't actually pick a clear favorite among. I was hoping you would be able to help me achieve some clarity in this matter, and it appears that you may, but in a different way than I expected. Instead of picking the greatest of the greatest by the most objective available means, we might be learning that there are more than one greatest blade available which, when you think about it, isn't a bad deal.
Its also been interesting to learn, objectively, that the sharpest blade doesn't always win the comparison, because I love my Personna Reds and Timors just as much as I do some other, sharper blades, because sometimes I prefer a less-sharp and more forgiving edge. I should also mention the other elements of the shave test besides the blade that I enjoy reading as much as the blade test itself. The cream/soap selection, and the after shave selection is as much a part of the shave as anything else, and the descriptions of those add a lot of color. All good stuff. One of the first threads I look for at B&B.
