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I was watching Lynns DVD, and in the honing section he said that a way to tell if his razor has been sufficiently honed was to hold a hair in mid air and slice it in half with the razor.
Having just tried this with razor I found that it's not sharp enough.
I have used my razor 8 times with 2 passes each time.
My question is: At this point should my razor still be capable of slicing the hair in two?
this was discussed again the last few days
Some thoughts on HHT - Straight Razor Place Forums
The hanging hair test or HHT is a VERY subjective test, a lot of factors can play into making it work. That being said, most members will say don't worry about the HHT so much and just give your razors the only true test.....The Shave!
Don't worry about chopping hair, it really means nothing. As long as it is shaving well that is all that matters.
I don't type fast enough, mainaman has the right idea.
Really useful links, thanks guys.
+1 on the above. The HHT works for some guys, some (me) not. It's a huge YMMV thing.
An over-honed edge will also cut a hanging hair. So relying on HHT for honing progress is not such a good idea.
I've gotten great shaves from razors that do not pass the HHT.... I think that test is pretty bogus. I've even tried it with a brand new dovo shavette blade and it took like 4-5 tries to get it to cut... I test blades on arm hair... The true test is on yer face.
Since you are fairly new to straight razor shaving I would suggest forgetting about all the tests except one, the shave test. As long as your razor is giving you a comfortable shave I would not worry about the tests. If you don't know what a comfortable straight razor shave feels like it is even more a reason to forget the tests, including the HHT.
The HHT is a fun test to perform if you can get it to work but is not the end all test to see if a razor is shave ready and I don't know of any people that hone razors professionally that perform this test. I do know quite a few that perform a shave test on their face.
Enjoy your shaves w/o the tests. Try the tests to gauge them to the shaves you are getting and not the other way around for a while until you know what the results mean in relationship to your shave. Do note that the TNT (thumb nail test) may damage the edge and is not used except in the initial stage of setting the bevel. Once the TNT is passed more honing on the bevel setting home is performed to hone out any damage the test inflected on the edge.
Good luck!
As a further note, just reference any standard barbers' textbook. I think there are some stored at the SRP archives, and there are several to be found on the web. Check out Scribd.com as one source.
You will find no better source of instruction on how to use a straight razor than what will be found in a professional barbers' text book. And that will help you sort out the often confusing and contradictory info found in shaving forums.