Had the same thing with a creak that only showed up when I stood on the pedals. Tore apart the whole crank, new chainring bolts, greased everything twice, still there. Turned out the noise was the rear skewer, the cam was just barely worn so it moved a hair under load. Swapped it for a spare and the creak vanished. I felt like an idiot after two weekends of work for a five dollar part. Now I check the cheap stuff first before I touch the drivetrain.

Hell yeah, saw a barber on YouTube say the same thing about dry hair being the real enemy.

My Uncle Ray used to swear by sharpening his knives at 3 in the morning because he said the steel was 'more settled' then. He was a retired rail worker who only carved turkeys twice a year, but he'd stand over my dad and yell about blade angles like it was rocket science. We finally let him do it his way one Thanksgiving and the bird came out fine, just took twice as long because he kept stopping to check the kitchen clock. Point is, old guys get locked into their habits just like we do, and sometimes their way works for them and your way works for you. But that tear mark thing would bug me too, I'd probably end up watching every cut I make for the next month obsessing over it.