I'm one of the weird ones. The HHT is a "parlor trick" that I can't help but use daily prior to my shaves. Yup, after stropping and before every single shave, I just have to take one of my ultra-fine head hairs and HHT along the edge. True, even a marginally sharp ragged edge can pass the HHT. But given that I'm a habitual HHTer, I have noticed the following to be true for me related to sharpness:
- An edge that grabs a hair before cutting is simply less sharp than edges that exhibit the following:
- An edge that cuts a hair cleanly when you hold the hair by the follicle end but does not cut the hair when you hold it by the tip of the hair is sharper than above.
- An edge that severs a hair cleanly regardless of which end you hold is sharper still.
- Finally, an edge that silently severs even fine hairs with no apparent effort regardless of direction, almost as though the hair in the HHT didn't even touch the edge is sharpest.
Others can argue this, but this has been my experience. Remember, I'm talking about edge SHARPNESS here. That doesn't necessarily mean an edge that does not exhibit the "sharpest" behavior in my tests will not shave well.
Parlor trick or not, I personally would not shave with an edge that didn't pass either 2-4 of my examples. Sorry, I wouldn't and don't.
Chris L