Thread: Straight razor rookie in British Columbia.

Hello Abraham, and welcome to SRP!

All good advice here. The hanging hair test is only useful to you after you calibrate it to your own hair and develop a feel for what it says about the blade. When you get your honed razor back will be a good time to try. Here's how I made it meaningful for myself.

It is no substitute for actually trying out a shave (the "shave test") because some hones and honers will give a glorious shaving edge that cannot pass the HHT. Strange but true.

The shave test should answer two questions for you: How sharp should my razor be, and How much pressure should I use? I expect the razor to remove whiskers with no more force or pressure than it takes to scrape away the lather. That is all the force or pressure you should use anyway; more than that and you risk razor burn. If it takes more pressure, adjust your blade angle a little (30 deg or less for easy spots like your cheeks, maybe a little steeper where the whiskers are stouter, like your chin) and see if it cuts better. Try relathering if you're working through drying lather. If you find that the only solution is to press harder, then it's time to touch up the blade.

You can also tell a dulling blade because it tugs at the hairs instead of severing them.

And blah blah blah. I'll stop now. Best wishes and happy shaving.