Thread: My hone wont pass the hanging hair test

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

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.

True (not the nonsense part though ), if we where to compare HHT yes, but the HHT test I do is for me and an indication (or more a validation) of my edge and where it is.

If I get one of my hairs (which I gathered when I cut it) to be consistent at least at HHT 4 along the entire edge, then gives me a smooth shave, I dare to call it shave-ready. This indeed does not mean that it is an HHT4 for the next person. It might drop off silently, it might need a slight drag, whatever. But if it shaves me comfortably that is all I can rely on to make sure it will at least shave someone else.

The point is that it is a useful tool in indicating when I am done honing, which areas need special attention, etc. If it won't pass at least a HHT3 (my HHT3 with my specific hair and specific method) I know it won't shave well enough for me. With an HHT4 (all after stropping) I know it is keen enough to shave with. Whether it is a smooth, comfortable shave, I do not know but I am confident enough to try that out.

If I don't get a reading at all, I won't even bother with a shave. I will give it another good stropping, another HHT, and take it from there. Plus I usually test with at least two different hairs (from the same bunch).

I never tried to perform my HHT on an edge honed by someone else but then again no one has honed a razor for me apart from my two first ones which I don't use anymore and messed up anyway. I probably would check it, just to see. But really, if someone dares to call an edge honed by them shave-ready, I trust he/she knows what they're talking about and would shave with it first before even considering putting it to any hone. Or stropping.

All in all it is a very personal and relatively subjective honing tool.