Thread: Hair test.

Any thoughts on using badger hair from a shaving brush for the hanging hair test. Very rarely can I get a razor to pass using any hair samples from family members. I know not to put to much emphasis on this test. It would be nice to have a standard to know when its time to move up in progression. I am out of arm and leg hair. lol. Thanks.

The question is, are you going to be shaving yourself or a badger?

There is no real substitute for the actual thing. If you have run out of hair you're trying too hard.

One thing you may or may not know about the HHT is that it matters which direction the hair is held. Hair has "scales" that protrude from them and they mostly protrude in only one direction. If you are holding a non-damaged, non-frizzy hair by the root end, the blade will not easily catch on the hair scales (cuticle). However, if you hold the hair in the direction where the root is away from you, the cuticle scales will catch on the blade and cut it. That would be true for your hair or badger hair. Often people think the HHT is failing, when it is just the hair being held in the wrong direction. It's also kind of an indication why the HHT is more of an illusion of sharpness rather than a test of actual sharpness -- although a blade has to be pretty sharp to catch on one of the layers of the cuticle.

My wife has long fine hair. I use hairs from her brush. If it can cut those it can cut beard hair that I'd tougher.

Over the years

Badger hair
Horse Hair
Boar Hair
Mono-Filament Fishing Line
Tomatoes
Paper
Your hair
Wife's hair
Kid's Hair
Cat and Dog's hair


All those for sure have been proposed...

Heck there is an actual calibrated machine to test knife blades

The one thing that stands is that "Sharp" doesn't relate directly to "Smooth Shaving"

I have actually tried many of the "Cutting tests" using the Sharp Edge produced after buffing blades in the shop, and they pass, so it shows me that most of these tests can produce seriously false positives..

Figure out a few tests that do NOT fail for you on the bevel set,,, then you just practice


ps: If you adjust your Arm Hair Test (AHT) away from shaving patches on the arm, and just pinging a couple/three separate hairs each time it will allow for more testing media

I have found that 'my' cat's hair is the best test ever for whether a razor is shave ready. Never fails to give stellar results. He doesn't eat much, is house broken to the litter box, and I will express mail him to you for a nominal fee .......... PM your address ......

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I have found that 'my' cat's hair is the best test ever for whether a razor is shave ready. Never fails to give stellar results. He doesn't eat much, is house broken to the litter box, and I will express mail him to you for a nominal fee .......... PM your address ......

I would have thought your cat would look like this....

Originally Posted by 32t

I would have thought your cat would look like this....

That is funny. Again ROFLMAO.

Well Ill happily also offer this high speed hair generator for all your HHT needs.
Right now market price is 2 cents an ounce or buy in bulk. Take the whole thing for 10 bucks for an endless supply. My furniture thanks you in advance.

Trying to answer my own question I played around a bit. I took my best shaving razor a 200 year old Wostenholm wedge and it passed the HHT. I had a Greaves that sixgun had worked on(bought on ebay) and no problem with HHT. I took a hollow ground German razor and honed it on a coticule until it passed the HHT. This razor previously could not pass with my or badger hair. I honed until it would cut badger hair but not my hair. I kept going until it passed the HHT. It took a lot more laps to pass then I normally would do. I checked some other razors in my collection. A dull(shaveable but tugging and pulling) razor would not cut the badger hair. I guess to sum it up, you could use badger hair to judge if you are making progress. In my case I was to quick to say it was the hair when it was my honing. I could get acceptable shaves from razors that would not pass the HHT. I know the test do not mean to much and the shave test is all that counts. By trying, knowing now I can pass the HHT will hopefully make me better at honing. Now to find that Badger to shave or maybe Jimmy's cat. Thanks everybody for your input it's much appreciated!