Thread: Popping arm or leg hair versus shaving arm or leg hair

Due to a couple of recent posts I thought it pertinent to mention that testing an edge by popping hair on the arm or leg is done properly by keeping the edge above the hair and lightly brushing against the hair. If the edge is approaching shave ready it will cut or "pop" the hairs readily.

Touching the razor's edge to the skin on the arm or leg and shaving the area is not IMO a true test of a razor's keenness. Again this is in my opinion based on what I have learned on this forum and from practical experience. If anyone has a differing opinion based on their experience please post it.

I agree, those are two entirely different tests. Although you can shave arm/leg hair with a razor that's not keen enough to shave your face, the test isn't completely invalid IMO. If you get to know the feel of how your razor shaves arm/leg hair off, then it can still be a valid test.

I'll give an example of what I mean: Say you have two razors, razor A and razor B (creative, I know). Razors A and B BOTH shave arm/leg hair, so assuming that's the only test of shave readiness you go ahead and test-shave. Well you soon find out that razor A shaves your face smoothly, but razor B is crap. But if you're more attuned to how both razor A and B shaved your arm/leg hair, maybe you'd find that razor A did so with more ease (i.e. less resistance, tugging, etc.) than razor B.

My point being that the mere fact that a razor shaves arm/leg hair cannot be used as a test of shave-readiness by itself, but how well it shaves can be. But this would depend entirely on your own arm/leg hair.

I could be completely wrong, so feel free to contradict me.

I'll weigh in with my tests.. Take them for what they are worth, as all tests are a personal read....

1k level the bevel set = pass the TNT easily then a few more light laps and the edge will pop arm hair at the skin level and I mean pop not cut just a touch and the hair is gone....

4k level sharpened = Pass the TPT easily and the edge will pop arm hair above the skin, again it pops the hair I don't have to try and play with the edge...

Yes I have no hair on my left forearm the wife now calls it "Hone Mange"

Above that I don't do any more tests until after the final stropping when I do an HHT with the wife's baby fine hairs... I don't even consider this a real test I do it because I know as soon as somebody gets the blade home they are going to try it ..... The last test is the shave test and really the only one that matters...

I use the arm shave to check the bevel's all there & the hair popping much later along to assess whether i feel it's ready for the shave test. I do agree that they're very different. My knives all shave my arm, but none will pop the hair.

Hone Mange

I can shave my arm with my Swiss Army Knife if I have the blade on the skin. It won't work with the blade held above the skin as one would do the elevated razor "hair pop" test. So I agree with Jimmy that sliding the blade on the skin of one's arm to shave hair is probably not the best test of shaving sharpness. I'll do the arm hair test with a chisel or plane iron too, just to see if my honing is up to snuff. And as with the Victorinox, even if they cut arm hairs and pass that test, I wouldn't consider shaving with them.

The thumb pad test and shaving have become my "touchstone" determiners.

So far, I've found the same thing to hold true Jimmy.

Coming off the 1k after setting the bevel, I look for TPT to pass on the length of the blade, which easily will shave hairs from the base, but not generally pop free standing hairs. When I'm done my pyramid on the 4k and 8k, I lift up my pant leg and with a damp hand I rub my leg hair against the grain a few times to get it standing. Then I keep the razor about a quarter inch off the skin and pass it through the standing hair. If it pops them all as it passes and the hair is falling off, I've found that I'm in good shape to shave with it, or move on to final polish on the 12k or whatever. I actually try to check different parts of the blade by passing each part of the blade through the hair to see how it cuts. I then pinch a small amount of hair, whisk it off gently with the razor and attempt a HHT with that hair.

I've only done probably a dozen razors this way so far, but each one has shaved me well as long as it pops the hair off my arm or leg with ease (moved to leg because it has more hair left and I'm sick of having patches of hair missing on my arm, lol). I've stopped actually "shaving" hair, because I can't differentiate as well yet between"sharp" and "really sharp" with this test, but the popping hair test seems easier to be more consistent. I mean, I can feel the difference in shaving patches, but I don't trust myself enough to be reliable at knowing for sure!

Good thread subject! i am a HHT person simply because my arm and leg hair doesn't grow all that fast the tests are definitely subjective and personal, but you have to have some guidelines to go by to start.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

testing an edge by popping hair on the arm or leg is done properly by keeping the edge above the hair and lightly brushing against the hair. If the edge is approaching shave ready it will cut or "pop" the hairs readily.

Not for me. I just did some more tests. I'll split my blades (straight razors and fresh DE disposables) into groups. I got the same results for brushing against hairs on my arm or doing the HHT on head hair I trimmed off yesterday (after washing it.)

Group A: Henckels Friodur; Dovo En Vogue; DE blades: Feather/Derby Extra/Israeli.
These will cut a hair only if I'm very persistent. Eventually the blade catches a hair then it pops. Sometimes it splits lengthways. No silent cuts or instant pops.

Group B: Wapienica.
As group A, but even less reliable, takes me ages to make a hair cut.

Group C: Double Arrow; DE blade:Merkur Super.
Would not cut or catch a hair.

Even these disappointing results are better than I have managed before in my few months of using a straight. Spring has arrived here. I'm wondering if air temperature and humidity is what makes the difference.

EDIT> All the above straights shave well, though some are better than others. (Yes, the groupings do reflect how well they shave.)

I still desperately cling to the belief that the hair tests depend on the hair as much as the blade. I do concur with Rajagra that not all razors perform equally well no matter how you hone it, whether you are gauging it by the HHT or the shave itself.

Right on Jimmy, when I do a hair test (which is not all the time
since I have a more robust method that I shall document in
detail once I get back to the Commonwealth) it is always about
1cm above the skin to `pop' the arm hair.

- Scott