CLEANING & DRYING

1.      Clean them with warm water and soap or alcohol to remove residual of Barbicide

2.      Dry them with a soft dry towel or fabric which does not scratch or damage them.

3.      Wipe each blade carefully staying away from the cutting surface

4.      Wipe the area where the blades meet at the pivot to remove any hidden hair pieces as this is the area where the build up takes place.

5.      Use your hair dryer to dry them. Don’t use a forced air dryer as it can disturb scissor alignment.

6.      Put them safely in their case.

At the end of every work week clean/dry them as above and then apply good quality scissor oil or clipper oil around the pivot point. Apply the oil with the shears open and then repeat cutting action a few times so that the oil reaches the washer.

• *Note: Shears should always be dry at the end of the day’s work

HANDLING

Do not give your haircutting shears to anybody else as they might not know how to take care of them.

Handle gently. Do not throw them on the counter during use as this can damage the cutting edge on the shears as well as its alignment thus affecting the cutting action.

Please….try not to drop your shears! This can easily nick the blades or disturb the scissor alignment. If this ever happens please examine the blades very carefully looking for a nick. If you see a nick please don’t try to close the blades. Keep them open and put a soft fabric between them so that the two blades don’t get to touch against each others surface. The scissor is going to need some servicing and send the scissor like this with the fabric in between the blades.

TENSION CHECKING

Please check the tension on your hair cutting shears every day. The most common mistake made is to leave the tension too loose. People usually tend to think they are saving their hand muscles but actually they are causing damage to the scissor edge as well as putting more stress on their hands. To check the tension a general thumb rule is to hold your shear from the finger hole and point upwards. Now insert your thumb and open the blades by moving the thumb hole upwards. Let go of the thumb hole and allow the scissor to close. If the hair scissor closes more than half way that means the tension is too loose. For good cutting the blades have to ride on each other. If the tension is loose they will end up folding the hair or pushing the hair.

In the second scenario if the tension is too high the blades would not close at all and the user would be putting more stress while using the hair scissor thus more stress would be applied on the blades while riding against each other.

A majority of the problems with otherwise sharp shears are due to the tension. Therefore, please take good care of this aspect in your daily professional life.

SHARPENING

Get your haircutting shears sharpened by a reputable and experienced sharpening company or shear sharpener. It is good to ask a sharpener or sharpening service whether they are factory certified or have some qualification related to their work.