Thread: My hone wont pass the hanging hair test

Welcome to the forum robwolfgang. You have gotten great advice above. Forget HHT and enjoy your shaves. Stay with us
and let us know how it goes.

While I agree that the HHT is not important, there can be a knack to doing it. The easiest HHT I have found is a chest (or similar) hair, held with the root toward the edge. When you place the hair over the edge let it rest there and give a very slight pull toward you so the scales of the hair catch in the edge. It still may not "work", but that is certainly the way that maximises the chance that it will.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

While I agree that the HHT is not important, there can be a knack to doing it. The easiest HHT I have found is a chest (or similar) hair, held with the root toward the edge. When you place the hair over the edge let it rest there and give a very slight pull toward you so the scales of the hair catch in the edge. It still may not "work", but that is certainly the way that maximises the chance that it will.

James.

Not all of us have chest hair
Btw, it is very hard to get a hone to pass the HHT.
How do you get the sides sharp enough? It's not like they have an edge.

God I hate the HHT I hate the HHT 1-5 even worse



To the OP take a DE blade and Calibrate your Hair using the DE blade, see what a machine sharpened edge can do to your hair, did you even try flipping the hair around ??? Holding the root side vs-holding the end ..

The key word to HHT is Calibrate until you do that with your hair, it is completely and utterly beyond useless....

The main problem I have with the HHT 1-5 nonsense is that there so much variation in human hair between people doing the test, that the actual numbers mean absolutely nothing in terms of being able to compare your HHT with someone else. A person can only compare results which are done by the same person using the same hair. Any other comparison is by definition completely meaningless.

Well, I kind of find it (the HHT test) useful, _for me_ and the hair I use. 1 = you have to drag the hair on the edge before it cuts and 5 = deadly silent cut, it just falls off the edge as soon as it hits it. So I think it's strong to call it nonsense, but as a newbie tool it leaves _a lot_ of room for errors. But I guess it's a WWFM (What Works For Me) thing

Originally Posted by Mikael

Well, I kind of find it (the HHT test) useful, _for me_ and the hair I use. 1 = you have to drag the hair on the edge before it cuts and 5 = deadly silent cut, it just falls off the edge as soon as it hits it. So I think it's strong to call it nonsense, but as a newbie tool it leaves _a lot_ of room for errors. But I guess it's a WWFM (What Works For Me) thing

Yes, but depending on your type of hair, you may never be able to achieve 4 or 5, while the same edge (say a 3 for you) would be a 5 for someone else.

The HHT is only useful in comparison with your own hair, and calibrated to shavereadiness. If we both agree on what shaveready means, and you can get a HHT3 for that edge, and I get a 5, would you feel bad about being 'stuck' at 3? Even though that would be an excellent edge?

that is why I think the HHT levels by themselves are nonsense. they are only good to make a correlation with your own face, but the level by itself says absolutely nothing in terms of shaveability or how your edge compares to mine.

Originally Posted by Bruno

The main problem I have with the HHT 1-5 nonsense is that there so much variation in human hair between people doing the test, that the actual numbers mean absolutely nothing in terms of being able to compare your HHT with someone else. A person can only compare results which are done by the same person using the same hair. Any other comparison is by definition completely meaningless.

I've found the variation in human and even canine hairs valuable in using the HHT. Different hairs can be used to refine HHT results and improve edge calibration. While the results ultimately are shown in the shave itself, it is useful to have a way to check edges without having to shave while doing it, especially during honing. As Glen points out, calibration is the key, and this takes time and effort. It took me a month to get the test calibrated to my use in honing, but now I can use it starting at 8K and get an idea of how the edge is doing. With practice, I've now gotten to the point where I can reliably predict shaving results with the HHT. The value is that I can now determine whether a blade is shave ready without shaving with it. It's worth working on because it can be such a reliable test, but you can't expect to just give it a try with some random hair and learn anything from it. It takes work.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Not all of us have chest hair
Btw, it is very hard to get a hone to pass the HHT.
How do you get the sides sharp enough? It's not like they have an edge.

It's easier to get DMT hones to pass HHT - you can grind the edges at a taper.

I have never been able to get a razor to pass HHT. Even ones that Lynn honed right out of the mailbox. When it came to shaving they shaved great. HHT to me means nothing.