Do Your Shears Need Sharpening or Service?
Rule of thumb: every 700 cuts.
Just like maintaining your automobile with oil changes, you should service your shears at regular intervals in order to extend their life. Regular service results in less stress on your hand because you need less thumb pressure to cut hair.
Common Problem: Pushing, bending or folding the hair
Cause #1: Shear tension is too loose.
If the scissor is closing halfway or more, the tension is too loose. This means that the screw in the pivot area is loosening and the blades will start to come apart. When this happens, the scissor will "bend" the hair rather than cut it. This often results in a stylist using their thumb to push blades together to get them cutting again. When they do this, they are "grinding" the blades together and will dull them very quickly.
Solution #1: Regularly adjust your shear tension.
On a daily basis, adjust the tension of your years. On a weekly basis, apply one drop of scissor or clipper oil at the pivot of your blades to keep them working well.
Cause #2: The shears are dull and need sharpening.
The blades could have been dulled by cutting with tension too loose (as described above), by applying too much thumb pressure (pushing), or if you're cutting hair with product in it or dry hair (this will actually cause a lot of small nicks that "dull" the blade and cause "bending" and occasionally "pinching".)
Solution #2: Sharpen your shears.
Sharp shears reduce the wear and tear on the shears themselves, but most importantly on you.
Common Problem: Pinching or pulling the hair
Cause
A nick on the blade. There are several ways that a nick can occur.
Solution #1: Avoid nicks
We have some helpful tips below for avoiding nicks:
Be careful you don't hit your scissor on a comb or clip.
When you set your scissors down, they should be completely closed.
Cutting anything besides human hair will cause damage to your blade. Even wigs labeled as being made of human hair are often treated with chemicals so we don't recommend using your scissors on this either.
Dropping your scissor.
Lots of small nicks can build up if you are cutting lots of hair with product in it or if you are cutting dry hair. These small nicks don't usually cause pinching as much as they cause "crunchiness" and "bending".