Imagine you run your own hairdressing salon and just gave a haircut to one of your customers. But, the next day they storm back angrily. Upon asking, they tell you how unsatisfied they are with their haircut and accuse you of missing some strands here and there because of which they could not get the desired look.
Now, imagine yourself in another situation altogether in which you are not a professional but you tried cutting your hair on your own or you gave someone else in your family a cut. You did it because you thought haircutting is not a big deal and can be easily done by watching a couple of tutorials on youtube. But, the twist in the story is you used the regular scissor that you could find in your house.
In the first scenario, as a hairdresser, you must have used the professional hairdressing shears while in the second situation you used non-hairdressing scissors. In the former situation, even after using the specialized shears, you ended up getting complaints from your clients. Why? Because you might not have used the right one.
Shears are a really essential and crucial tool of a barber’s kit that needs to be of good quality to ensure the best results. Using any type of shear is typically not a good idea to carry out this business. There are so many providers of this tool available but we cannot just rely on all of them. Where some companies offer good quality shears, others also supply ordinary material.
So when you go for shears shopping for your salon, delve deep into the market after doing your work. Do not land on the first tool you find, instead carry out thorough research depending on several factors. When you are sure of having taken care of every single technicality, only then think about proceeding with the purchase.
Now, coming to the other situation where we asked you to imagine yourself engaging in haircutting as a novice or nonprofessional while using a regular scissor. Here, it is pretty obvious why you did not get your desired results. Because you were not using the right tool. Thus, using shears is important for hairdressing but it is also very important that you choose the correct one.
What things do you need to consider while buying a good hairdressing shear?
With all these scenarios imagined above, it is quite clear that finding a good shear is not an easy task. But, it is also not impossible. You can find the best one with some considerations. We will list down a couple of factors that require your attention and if you follow them properly, you will surely find the best possible shear in the market.
The right handle
What enables you to hold any type of scissor in your hands? Handle of course. This means if the handles of the shears are not appropriately made, to begin with, you cannot have a good cutting experience regardless of how first-rate the material or how sharp the blades are.
You would find several handle shapes of the shears in the market which are all different in functionality. While shopping for shears, keep two things in mind to look for best handles: what hand position does the shear offer and what will be your thumb interface.
Having said that, let us break it to you that only those shears that come with asymmetrical handles are effective. Never ever go for perfectly symmetrical ones as they put a lot of stress on your thumbs and make it highly inconvenient for you to hold the shear right.
If your thumb or any of your fingers engaged in haircutting is placed even slightly incorrect, the nerves traveling through the wrist can be squeezed. This condition can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome or many other muscles and tendons related injuries. Therefore it is very essential to choose ergonomic handles for the sake of your health.
The perfect blade
Just like the handle, the blade is again yet another most crucial part of shears. A good blade can turn any type of cut into a masterpiece while a poor one can turn it into a horrible one. When talking about the right blade, two things are typically considered: its shape and length. Broadly speaking, we divide blades into three types which are beveled, convex, and sword.
All three offer different purposes so you need to decide which one to get based on what sort of haircuts you usually perform. Beveled edged shears, being the oldest ones in the market, are typically good for haircuts that are old school and also blunt. For more advanced cuts that involve slice and slide cutting, convex blade shear is more convenient and easy to use.
The third one which is a sword blade is thought to be less effective than convex blades but it has its perks when used for cutting thicker hair sections. With its peaks in the center, the shear can easily hold chunky hair locks. If you frequently deal with delicate haircuts that are modern and involve texturing, convex blades are usually the best bet.
The only drawback of convex edged shears is that they are more expensive than the other two. But the cost of these shears is justified with their precise and detailed make. On the other hand, beveled shears are good if you are a non-professional looking for shears to only trim your hair or give only a few strokes here and there.
Additional customer care services
After focusing on the obvious and physical aspect of the shears, focus on the additional customer care services the sellers provide. These services are equally as important as choosing the right type of blade or design of the shear. If you are already in this hairdressing field, you must know that these shears are a bit steep.
And if you do not know, then let us break it here for you- hairdressing shears will cost you a lot! So when you are investing so much in a tool as small as these shears -not negating their functionality here at all- you may as well get all the extra features like a reasonable warranty. Moreover, make sure that the product comes with a good deal of information on its care and abundant tips for maintaining it properly. A good quality shear with impressive warranty and accurate instruction will surely make it a real bargain.
How to maintain your hairdressing shear for prolonged use?
As we have seen above how important it is to critically evaluate your option when it comes to shopping for shears and know your preferences exactly to buy the right one. Plus, we also talked about how costly they typically are. By now, you are well aware of the value of this hairdressing tool that seems small but is crucial to giving a good haircut look.
A tool that holds such immense value also requires a significant amount of maintenance. Although good quality shears are made of durable and top-grade material, it still needs to be handled with care if you want your investment to not go in vain. Extra care on your part will drastically increase the age of your shear and requires no such hard work.
Without further ado, let’s get down to business and see what are some ways through which you can maintain your shears for prolonged use.
Regular cleaning
When you use shears for hair cutting regularly and do not clean it after every cut, then you are making a big mistake. This may seem like a small problem right now, but in the long run, it poses disastrous issues. When the blades of the shears come in contact with the hair of different people, the blades do not get covered with hair only but product residue and moisture also accumulate on it.
This build-up usually leads to corrosion. Consequently, the blade of the shear would get rough and rugged which will lead to uneven and messy cuts. This will also impact the way you hold the shear as the corrosion creates a distance between blades due to the roughness between them, which leads to decreased pressure. Eventually, you have to put more pressure with your thumbs and finger that could lead to muscular and nerve strain.
Therefore, it is really important to clean the blades of the shear thoroughly after every use with a clean and soft cloth. This will help in maintaining the sharpness of the blades for a very long time.
Oil regularly but correctly
To ensure the smoothness of blades and overall efficient shear performance, the pivotal areas of the shears have to be oiled regularly. Lubrication of such areas where the entire shear movement depends is really important but it is also very tricky. These areas are usually not easy to be cleaned with a clean cloth only.
However, these areas need to be cleaned to remove all the residue that accumulates over time and can affect the smoothness of the shear. Lubricating these areas with oil is the only way of doing that. To do that, you have to open the shear wide by almost 90 degrees, then pour a drop of the oil such that it goes deep into the pivotal area.
Where lubricating daily is essential, it is also very important that you use the right oil for the purpose. Handling of the hairdressing shear is packed with delicacies and a little ignorance on your part can lead to major adverse results. If you have been using or thinking to use ordinary oil because this is the only one you could find easily, then do not, we repeat do not!
All your hard work of choosing the best shear and then cleaning it daily to keep it maintained could go in vain with only one slight mistake, that is using ordinary oil for its lubrication. These oils are usually filled with impurities like unstable hydrocarbons or sulfur and come from petroleum.
These impurities and petroleum leave a sticky layer on the surface of the pivotal joints that gums up the shear and hinder its smooth working. This residue together with the already existing dirt will double the effect and the impact will go down all the way to the blades. The blades will no longer remain in alignment which will eventually lead to reduced pressure. And, we know what reduced pressure by blades could do to our hands and fingers.
So, to keep shear from getting sluggish to work and harmful for your health, wipe it with a clean cloth after every use and lubricate it with a special oil daily before you use it. If you do the maintenance correctly, you should expect an excellent performance of the shear for a very long period.
Shear sharpening by professionals
What is the point of buying a shear if it loses its sharpness in a short period and gives you bad cuts? Apart from all the cleaning and lubricating, you also need to make sure the sharpness of your shear remains intact. To do that, you have to contact good professionals who are backed by good reviews.
When true professionals take on the mission of sharpening, they don’t just sharpen the blades. They carry out a series of steps after thoroughly studying the shear. The entire process includes cleaning, examining for any damage, replacement of the part in the case of damage, studying of the blade type, blade sharpening accordingly, polishing, oiling, testing, and quality control.
Conclusion
A hairdressing shear is that tool of your barber’s kit that can make or break the deal for you. You have to be careful with its purchase and maintenance afterward to ensure that the investment you made does not become a lost cause. By following proper guidelines, you can easily land a good shear and can easily sustain its effectiveness by following the tips we told you above. If you are not sure where to look for a good shear, then visit www.scissortec.com.
