Thread: Effect of blade geometry on shave, hht performance

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

what is a corked thigh?

A dead-leg? A Charlie Horse? Blunt force trauma to the thigh-al area causing internal hemorrhaging into the quadricep muscle resulting in localised pain and eventual bruising?

Kinda like when my uncle caulked his thigh, but he lost his leg in the War so when he said he caulked his thigh it usually involved wood putty of some description!

James.

Originally Posted by Rsq

I have coarse, curly hair, so i really need the razor as sharp as possible or I get razor bumps. Thats why i started using a straight in the first place. I like the arm hair popping test and the idea of examining the way the razor cuts one hair at a time

There's nothing wrong with the HHT or the arm hair test, but you have to make sure you calibrate them continually to your shaves to get the most out of them. It really is a continual process actually, because your techniques will improve, you might get new razors, you might buy new stones or strops etc. I'm always comparing my arm hair tests to the shaves I get. There's this little patch of finer/sparser hair I have up near the elbow, and if it cuts in a certain way I'm almost sure to get a nice shave. Alternatively, if that area is out of hair, I know that at a certain height and at a certain speed, the arm hair on my forearm can be an indicator of a nice shave to come. The only way to develop these little localised tests is to iteratively recalibrate over a reasonable time period.

It is one of the reasons more seasoned straight razor shavers have less issues with things like burn or cuts - the experience time and practice have given them in assessing an edge using various tests.

James.