Thread: HHT

I just conducted the hanging hair test. Soaking the hair in water makes a huge difference! Anyway, just thought I would share that the water really is key.

HHT does not indicate how well the razor shaves. I personally do not see why people get hung up on this test so much, the ultimate test is the shave test.

MikeMN,

IIRC the water swells the hair and raises the 'scales' on it, making it easier for the blade to cut it.

As mainaman says, the 'real' test is how well the blade shaves

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Originally Posted by mainaman

HHT does not indicate how well the razor shaves. I personally do not see why people get hung up on this test so much, the ultimate test is the shave test.

The nice part about the HHT test is that, on a continuum, it is more on the objective side of the spectrum than shavability. * Now, you may have a highly calibrated shaving procedure, but this is the beginner's forum, and expecting a new SR shaver to be able to tell if his new SR is sharp enough (or requires honing) with a shave test is, to be blunt, silly. *

It's akin to me telling a new computer user they don't need a resident virus checker because they don't work that well, they slow your system down, and, besides, if you set up an external firewall, keep your operating system up to date, and stay away from dodgy sites, you should be okay.

That being said, as beginners gain more experience, I am sure a shave test will become his ultimate standard. *Meanwhile, objective (or at least more objective) measures are useful

Don't take this wrong Mike but that logic is *Silly* as you put it

Take two hairs from two people, at just my house, One hair "mine" will pop an HHT at 1k set bevel...
The other hair "the wife's" will not pop an HHT unless the edge is absolutely perfect shave ready stropped...

So what is the HHT going to tell me if I were single????? and a beginner???
You need to think that through a bit..

Originally Posted by gssixgun

So what is the HHT going to tell me if I were single????? and a beginner???

You need to buy a virus checker ?

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Don't take this wrong Mike but that logic is *Silly* as you put it

Take two hairs from two people, at just my house, One hair "mine" will pop an HHT at 1k set bevel...
The other hair "the wife's" will not pop an HHT unless the edge is absolutely perfect shave ready stropped...

So what is the HHT going to tell me if I were single????? and a beginner???
You need to think that through a bit..

Completely agree!

The EASIEST way for a new guy to tell if his razor is shaveable is to lather up and shave with it.

That'll tell him if the blade is sharp and smooth.

The tests (HHT, TNT, TPT etc) won't tell him anything because a) he's new and has no reference point of what a shave ready edge is like and b) has no idea how those tests should perform for him.

I gave a honing lesson earlier this week and even a really easy test like shaving arm hair yields different results between people.

There are more threads here about these tests from confused new guys than you can shake a stick at. I should know, I started a few of them when I first joined..! The final test for me on all the blades I hone is the shave test, that's the only way to tell if it's a good shaver.

Seriously, the only true test of a blade is to use it for it's intended purpose: Shaving. If it shaves good, it is good. Simples.

The best way for a beginner to ensure a shaveable edge is to get his/her razor honed by someone who has been honing razors for a long time. Even if it's just to compare his/her honing results with. This way of shaving is not very objective or we wouldn't have so many different strop and honest that everyone swears are the best, we would only recommend boar hair if your beard is scrubby. Knot sizes would be standard or numbered based off your face. Both VDH and Martin de Candre wouldn't coexist.
All these items do the same job bit while I prefer boar hair, mama bear and Al's bomb, pinaud clubman, and my SRD premium II strop, there are other brushes, creams & soaps, AS, and strop out there which work well. Not everyone is going to prefer the same thing and that is where experience matters.

Hence the shave test.

All I have to say is that the HHT is the antithesis of 'objective.'

Originally Posted by Stubear

Completely agree!

The EASIEST way for a new guy to tell if his razor is shaveable is to lather up and shave with it.

That'll tell him if the blade is sharp and smooth.

The tests (HHT, TNT, TPT etc) won't tell him anything because a) he's new and has no reference point of what a shave ready edge is like and b) has no idea how those tests should perform for him.

I gave a honing lesson earlier this week and even a really easy test like shaving arm hair yields different results between people.

There are more threads here about these tests from confused new guys than you can shake a stick at. I should know, I started a few of them when I first joined..! The final test for me on all the blades I hone is the shave test, that's the only way to tell if it's a good shaver.

Seriously, the only true test of a blade is to use it for it's intended purpose: Shaving. If it shaves good, it is good. Simples.

The reason that the "new guy" searches around for a supposedly objective sharpness test is that the shave test won't work for him because he has not yet learned how to shave. Look at the "First Shave" posts in the Beginners forum. This is not to make fun of them, but most of them have no clue whether their blade is sharp, whether their technique is off, or what the heck is going on. To tell the 'new guy" just to go shave with his razor and that that experience will tell him whether it is sharp won't work because he won't be able to learn from that experience.

That is why the HHT seems so attractive to the "new guy". He longs for a way to tell whether his blade is sharp, knows from experience that his shaves arenn't telling him whether it is or not.

The HHT may not be objective, certainly has to be customized to make any sense at all, and is probably better used during honing and stropping than at any other time. But even a flawed attempt at the HHT is better than sending someone who has yet to learn how to straight shave back to the shave den to perform a hopeless "shave test".