Hair Shear Sharpening Need Signs and Common Errors, Part 1

When it comes to hair shears and related grooming tools for stylists, sharpness is a top factor across the board. Dull blades for any type of hair shear can lead to several issues, from problems with performing basic cuts to comfort and eventual pain issues for stylists themselves.

At Scissor Mall, we’re here to provide not only a wide variety of hair shears, including point cutting shears like our Dynasty Butterfly and numerous other options, but also expertise on the care and maintenance of these products. In this multi-part blog series, we’ll first go over some of the top signs that your shears are in need of sharpening – then dig into some of the common mistakes clients make when sharpening their shears and how to avoid these.

Blunt Cutting Movement Issues

In cases where you’re using your shears to perform a blunt cut or straight cut on a client’s hair, some of the earliest issues involving sharpness may show up if your blades are too dull. In particular, you’ll notice that hair you’re trying to cut will actively move away from the shears as you’re cutting.

This is a common sign sharpening is required, signaling the blade is too dull to maintain its edge on the hair in question. Sharp shears will not push the hair at all, rather cutting straight through it with no movement.

In some cases, as is the case with certain other issue we’ll discuss here, other maintenance methods may also be effective. These include cleaning the blades, applying lubricant oil and perhaps adjusting tension. If these efforts don’t do the trick, turn to sharpening.

Pulling or Grabbing

During slide cuts, on the other hand, dull shears will often create a pulling or grabbing effect on the hair being cut. This is because the shears are dull or have not been sharpened in the proper way, causing many hair strands to grab onto the uneven areas of the blade. This sort of effect makes the cut experience extremely uncomfortable for clients, and they’ll almost certainly let you know about this almost immediately.

Quick Dulling

Another issue down related lines here is shears that begin to dull very quickly after previous sharpening. This should not be the case – if you sharpen properly, your shears should return to nearly sharp-as-new state for at least the first several years you own it, if not longer. This generally means you’ve sharpened incorrectly and should take stock of your sharpening practices, which we’ll do later in this series. If this issue takes place directly after purchasing a shear, return to the manufacturer to inquire about a rebate.

For more on sharpening signs and habits for your hair shears, or to learn about any of our blending shears, thinning shears or other products, speak to the staff at Scissor Mall today.