When I perform the HHT I always have the root end of the hair out, not pinched between my fingers. The reason why is the hair grows from the bottom up and has a "scale" structure. Thus you have something for the edge to grab onto.
I have only met one person who has hair so fine and limp/without body/stiffness that they cannot use the HHT.
At your stage of honing skills, I strongly suggest you simply rely on the shave test.
Try developing the other tests as you go, you will get there. :)
A 20x microscope is adequate for honing. What you don't want to see is at the very edge it is shiny on one side of the blade and not shiny on the other side. That is called a false edge which is an edge that is so thin that it rolls over, some people refer to it as a "burr", knife guys use that term when using the coarser grits but it is not the same thing. when that happens then back-honing/circles are the solution.
Just my 2¢ :)