First of all, yes, I am writing about a razor. Ridiculous, I know. But they sent me one to try, and as is my job, I tried it. And a couple of things made it post-worthy.

The Gillette Fusion Phenom is the latest in the "let's keep adding more blades" contest between Gillette and Schick, and this one has six: five on the front and one in the back.

And that's one of the reasons the Fusion Phenom is noteworthy. Beyond the fact that I have a seriously heavy beard, get a 5 o'clock shadow at 2:30, and the five blades shaved me smoother than a baby girl's bottom (even long after the indicator strip said it was time to move on), the single trimmer on the back has become addictive.

For testing purposes I grew some ridiculous facial hair: sharp, pointy side burns, some chin thing I can't even describe - all to test the single trimming blade. I'd been using the Mach3 (to me three blades seemed plenty), and the biggest problem I had with it was getting into the hard-to-reach spots, like under my nose, and it's lack of sharpness when trimming my side burns. The Fusion's single blade does that. And does it well. I got those pointy sideburns honed to a dart-point, 80's-alt-rock sharpness. And the chin thing? Stupid looking, but it has straight, clean lines.

My only problem? They're friggin expensive. Each replacement cartridge costs almost as much as two bags of twin blade disposables. And, dammit I'm hooked on the trimmer. And the pointy sideburns. Looks like I'll be getting a second job to support my habit.

www.gillettefusion.com