Pass hanging hair test -- do or die?

Hi, guys. I just received my first straight from the B/S/T and despite the seller's claim that it is shave ready to his standards, it does not pass the hanging hair test. Is passing this test a must, or can an edge that doesn't cut hanging hair still give a good shave? I wonder if perhaps this gentleman has lighter, more fair hair and doesn't require an edge that passes this test to give him a comfy shave; if maybe those with light beard growth need only a 6 or 7 on the sharpness scale whereas those with Balkan forests growing on their faces need at least an 8 or 9.

I also have a straight and poor man's strop soon arriving from Larry. Probably a good idea to hold off until it arrives and then see what's what? Or just go for it? Any other tests I can do to size up the quality of the edge? Thanks.

KarlMaldensNose said:

Hi, guys. I just received my first straight from the B/S/T and despite the seller's claim that it is shave ready to his standards, it does not pass the hanging hair test. Is passing this test a must, or can an edge that doesn't cut hanging hair still give a good shave? I wonder if perhaps this gentleman has lighter, more fair hair and doesn't require an edge that passes this test to give him a comfy shave; if maybe those with light beard growth need only a 6 or 7 on the sharpness scale whereas those with Balkan forests growing on their faces need at least an 8 or 9.

I also have a straight and poor man's strop soon arriving from Larry. Probably a good idea to hold off until it arrives and then see what's what? Or just go for it? Any other tests I can do to size up the quality of the edge? Thanks.

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The HHT is more like a rule of thumb than a reliable test to see if a razor is shave ready, if it passes the test it will most probably be shave ready but if it does not it still might give you a very good shave. Most of my razors do not pass the HHT but still give very good shaves. You could try a thumb pad test, read more about it here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/45763-thumb-pad-test Another way to test it is to shave with it, if it drags or tugs it is probably not shave ready.

Apart from that I would wait until the strop arrives before starting test shaving. You can strop a blade on newspaper or on a seemless belt but IMO it is difficult to get consistent results using these implements. Good Luck!

Shaving is the only true test. If it's made shave ready by the seller you should be able to use it right away with no stropping. Email him and ask if it was stropped after honing.

The HHT is more of an indicator than a definite proof of shave readiness. The only important test is the shave test.

There are a lot of factors which might prevent the hair cutting, and a lot of them are not to do with sharpness of the blade.

Using the HHT only becomes a useful tool when you are honing your own blades. That way, using the same type of hair, the same way each time, you can measure one blade against another. If it is your first blade... just shave with it.

Shave readiness is a subjective thing & the razor itself can be a limiting factor but if the blade shipped with oil on it it won't pass HHT unless you wipe it off.
Do you have any blades that pass the HHT. Unless you do you have no basis for a comparison. Try with a DE blade & establish a base line first
but passing HHT does not in any way guarantee a comfy shave & depending on how thick the hair is can be damaging to the edge. It is actually harder to HHT a light thin wispy hair as it gives no resistance to the blade.
The shave test may tell you nothing also if you are not experienced so its good you are getting a second razor for comparison.
If they both shave badly chances are it's your technique but lather up & go for it.

I make sure the razors i hone pass the hht, though i have bought some shave ready razors, which claimed to pass the hht, but did not, and still had good shaves from them.

HHT is a parlor trick and has no correlation with how well a blade can shave.

I would wait for the razor being mailed to you to use for comparison. In all likelihood, both razors will be shave ready, and by seeing they are similarly sharp, you will have more confidence when shaving that the blade is shave ready.

By the way, what will probably happen is that no matter which razor you decide to use, you will think it is too dull. Straight razors, properly honed straight razors, do not always lop off whiskers like a laser. There can be significant pulling in some areas of the shave.

There are tons of threads here from guys who got "dull" straight razors that weren't dull. These threads hold advice that is quite useful. At the least, hunt up one or two of these conversations.

Wait for your second straight razor. Decide which straight you will shave with. Set the other aside and don't shave with it, using it as your standard for comparison.

The hanging hair test from what I hear is a skill within itself. And why I say "from what I hear" is because I can never get it to work myself. I've received razors from an extremely reliable honemeister that I couldn't get it pass the test but shaving with it was great. As said, the only reliable test is shaving.

If you're a newbie that may be a difficult test in itself. Bad technique is common and equals a bad shave which newbies can assume means a dull razor.

all hair is not created equal.

Thanks for the input. Most of it is what I expected but I guess I just needed some assurance by those with experience. And I'd like to make it clear that I am in no way calling into question the seller's honing skills or veracity. Instead, my post has everything to do with my limited experience and knowledge of the subject.

The HHT is not a valid test, unless the source of the hair is from the same place. For example I only use the hair, that has been freshly extracted from a Willy Mammoth. This allows for consistent testing. I would highly recommend that everyone uses Mammoth hair, than we will all have the same baseline to compare our razors edge too.
(LOL).

LarryAndro said:

I would wait for the razor being mailed to you to use for comparison. In all likelihood, both razors will be shave ready, and by seeing they are similarly sharp, you will have more confidence when shaving that the blade is shave ready.

By the way, what will probably happen is that no matter which razor you decide to use, you will think it is too dull. Straight razors, properly honed straight razors, do not always lop off whiskers like a laser. There can be significant pulling in some areas of the shave.

There are tons of threads here from guys who got "dull" straight razors that weren't dull. These threads hold advice that is quite useful. At the least, hunt up one or two of these conversations.

Wait for your second straight razor. Decide which straight you will shave with. Set the other aside and don't shave with it, using it as your standard for comparison.

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+1, I am a couple or three weeks in and I thought my razor was dull at first...I read the other newbie posts and kept at it. I am now getting good comfortable shaves with my "dull" razor . BTW mine was from Larry at whippeddog and it was indeed plenty sharp...I just didn't know what sharp was, if that makes sense...

goatee said:

all hair is not created equal.

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+1

Most of the razors I've honed won't pass a HHT unless I go to the 12K, but at that point, I don't get the best shaves from them. I'm still fairly inexperienced shaving with a straight, so my technique is probably junk, but I get more irritation from super sharp razors. On a razor that works well for me, SWMBO hair will almost never pass HHT. If I run the razor against my arm or leg hair (a few cm off the skin) and can hear lots of popping, I'm usually in good shape.

Debrushman said:

The HHT is not a valid test, unless the source of the hair is from the same place. For example I only use the hair, that has been freshly extracted from a Willy Mammoth. This allows for consistent testing. I would highly recommend that everyone uses Mammoth hair, than we will all have the same baseline to compare our razors edge too.
(LOL).

Click to expand...

*** is a Willy Mammoth?? I think you are just bragging.

This topic is covered so well by the coticule.be website. (Seems to be down right now but you can read the Google cache of it.)

Summary:

• the HHT is a probing test, much more than a True/False-type of test
• it's important to use an invariable source [of hair]
• Moisten the hair.
• hold the hair at the tip side
• angle the edge of the razor away from you

and most importantly?:

• [There is a] Scale of possible results
• during the early stages of razor sharpening, sawtooth patterns are present at the edge, and this has a big influence on the performance of the HHT

They explain why a poor edge can pass the HHT better than a good edge, and why HHT performance can drop during a perfectly good honing progression.

Well worth a read.

Edit> Not sure I should use so many quotes without permission. But they are just the flavour, the meat is in the article!

Once you get pretty good at shaving and pretty good at honing, your expectations (and demands) of what a sharp razor and a quality shave should be become more refined.
At that point, the HHT has little significance, IMO....

The HHT is not pass/fail, it has a gradation of responses that tell you at what stage the edge is during the honing process. I find it very valuable, but it was harder to learn to get consistent results from the HHT than it was to learn to shave with a straight. You need a hank of hair from a single person and you need to calibrate it with some standard edge, like a DE or SE commercial blade IMHO. You can use hair from a mammoth's willy if you want, but I found it easier to get a hank from my daughter's hairdresser.

Once you get the hang of it, it is another good source of information, but only one of several including the ultimate, the shave test. But when you are a beginner, the shave test doesn't do you much good as you don't know what a good shave is.

If you had a good hair sample and knew what to expect with it you could certainly test an incoming edge with it, be sure to wipe off the oil or vaseline. But for now, it is probably better just to forge ahead and not worry over nuances. I doubt there is a beginner out there who didn't think the blade was dull when they first started. It pulls, it skips, it drags, it nicks you, and it is all your embryonic technique. Things will settle out quickly and when you embrace the challenge and fun of honing your own the HHT can take its place in your toolbox. Good luck and keep on keeping on.

I think people have done a good job explaining here. I would just say that I can use an 8K or 9K hone (will not pass HHT) then strop and get an irritation free shave, but one with lots of tugging. I can also hone up to a 12K or 15K level (pass HHT) then use pastes up to 0.1 microns (obliterates HHT), and wind up with a shave free of ANY tugging, but have some minor irritation. Sharpness is not necessarily smoothness. The sharper the edge, the better the technique (and lighter the touch) needed to prevent irritation. I like a good sharp edge, but I also like not getting weepers... I have been stopping after my finishing stones lately (still stropping) and getting a smooth, irritation free shave. As always, YMMV.

Over a hundred years ago people shaved every day with razors that were not HHT sharp. Very few people were able to get stones that were capable of producing that fine an edge. Its neat to have something that sharp to show your friends but its not even remotely necassary.