Thread: HHT

When you perform the HHT, are you supposed to feel a very slight tug as the hair is cut?

It seems like I can look at my razor wrong and it will decide to not cut the hair.

Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by a slight tug - but yeah, sometimes I can feel the hair being cut. Other times, it just falls away.

For me what happens depends on the hair I use and the blade I'm testing it on e.g Friodur: nothing, just a hair dividing; When I use my chest hairs more often than not I can feel the hair cutting.

But the important thing with the HHT is not the hair cutting part (although you could argue that is a necessary condition for passing the HHT) but how it corresponds to the actual shave - test, shave, test, shave etc. Every time you test an edge using the HHT, take a note of what happened and then test shave the edge. Soon you will be able to say "well, yeah there's a tugging feeling but I know that it will give me a good/bad shave", if you know what I mean.

But just for the record, I find if I have to work too hard to get the hair to cut (or if the hair splits rather than cuts) for me that is an indication that my edge is not quite there yet.

James.

Originally Posted by forrestp38829

When you perform the HHT, are you supposed to feel a very slight tug as the hair is cut?

It seems like I can look at my razor wrong and it will decide to not cut the hair.

Well, don't try to correct this by not looking! Even if you are feeling a tug, it means that the blade is catching on the hair. Even if the hair doesn't pop, you're pretty close and maybe should just go ahead and shave test and not worry so much about the HHT.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

... Every time you test an edge using the HHT, take a note of what happened and then test shave the edge. Soon you will be able to say "well, yeah there's a tugging feeling but I know that it will give me a good/bad shave", if you know what I mean...

Yes yes yes! If you don't have a baseline knowledge of what a good shaving edge will give you, and how that feels compared to a HHT, the HHT is only a parlor trick to impress your friends... That being said, it is pretty cool.

Originally Posted by joke1176

Yes yes yes! If you don't have a baseline knowledge of what a good shaving edge will give you, and how that feels compared to a HHT, the HHT is only a parlor trick to impress your friends... That being said, it is pretty cool.

Not quite the way I would put it but I do believe you conveyed my thought very well, , I personally do not believe in the HHT because it will have the same outcome on a raggedy edge.
Just my opinion thats all

regards,simon

If passing the HHT was a prerequisite for a good smooth shave I would rarely have one. Fortunately for me one doesn't seem to have much to do with the other. I have tried hair from my hairbrush and hair from a very old badger brush my hair being too fine to be reliable. Perhaps the hair from the brush is too fine as well. I rely more on popping hair from my forearm and now from my leg as the forearm is becoming a bit sparse. The important thing is I am getting great shaves without concerning myself with the HHT.

I tried that popping the hairs on my arm test and ended up with a bald patch. Never done it again.

If you get a good shave, feel the edge with your thumb and remember what sharp feels like.

You don't need to cut anything and don't cut your thumb. Feel, don't press at all.

It's the same with hones.

You can feel sharp. It bites, it grips it's sort of ragged. It gets smoother as the hones get finer.

If the bite goes, you won't get a good shave. If it doesn't grip and bite, it won't cut whiskers.

It's no different to a carving knife. Just sharper. You know the difference between a knife that will cut a tomatoe and one that won't.

Same with a straight razor.

What does HHT stand for?

Nevermind, just found the acronym sticky

it stands for the infamous "Hanging Hair Test", where a hair is split by the touch of a razor.