Thread: Hanging hair test a step too far?

I have very fine hair. The controversial HHT has just brought a question into my head.
My hair has trouble with this test, even with a DE blade.
With a DE blade i can only cut the hair after it slides over the blade for a few millimetres and then catches, which cuts the hair off.
With a straight i can do the same but only a few millimetres from where i hold the hair.
Some posts have informed me that overhoning produces an enhanced pop on the HHT.
I am wondering, if I hone all my razors so that they can perform a HHT, could I in fact be overhoning them, as my hair is too fine to be HHTed with a properly honed razor?
Any ideas?
I have not fully got the TPT down yet, so i might have to completely revise my honing approach if this is true. i was just wondering if it could be the reason that my razors seem like they could shave better
Thanks
Nick

I have never experienced an overhoned edge on my face, but apparently it feels like shaving with a cactus.

You are not overhoning if your razor passes the HHT and feels smooth on your face.

In the end, the shave test is the only test that matters. If it feels good, it IS good.

I agree with Bruno. In the end you have to put the razor on your face - it's the reason for honing in the first place, after all.

But, some recent debates have also lead me to think that with experience and by paying careful attention to how the HHT passes, and it's relationship to the subsequent shave, you can develop a useful and consistent test.

One logical approach to your dilemma is exactly what you have done already, IMO. See how your hair passess on an edge you know is shave-sharp and not overhoned (like the DE), and try to replicate this on your straight. Perhaps even better is to compare like with like - say using a honemeister sharpened straight as reference.

Whether your fine hair will pass the HHT on an overhoned or wire edge more easily than on a correctly honed edge is something I don't have enough experience to comment on. But, if it turns out to be true, you're going to have to be really careful when or if you use the HHT. On the other hand, as Bruno suggests, you'll find out what's going on pretty quickly when you go to shave.

James.

The main reason I thought of this question was because the shaves were coming in under par. I was trying to question every possibility.
I think I have had a couple of them very sharp a couple of times, and they shaved ok. Now it seems that no matter what i do, the shave comes in scraping, pulling and generally not removing the stubble.
Nick

That could be overhoned. Backhone on 8k a few strokes and test. If it feels better than it was overhoned. Thats Alan's simple overhoning test. Follow that with passes on 8k until shaving again like a hot knife through butter (which will occur after stropping) so experiment a little.

I've just got my razor back from Lynn and I cannot make it pass any of the tests however I have BBS cheeks and chin?

Beginning to think the HHT is pointless? If my Lynn honed razor cannot do it then why bother when the shave is fine?

Nicky,
Another SRPer and I are working on a standardized HHT test that will not use hair. We're doing it for the very reason you point. Hair is anything but standard! I agree with Bruno that the HHT is just one data point. The best test for the edge is it's ability to give you a good shave.

I guess its true that i must have made progress at some point. They were all dull as butterknifes when i got them.
I shouldn't have made the error of trying to do this independently, a well honed razor to use as an aiming point would have been the best idead from the start.
Oh well. I shall definately get this beaten one day!
A new standardised HHT? Sounds interesting, i look forward to hearing what you have to say
Nick