Your hair shears and scissors are as essential
to your business as good investment tips are to a stockbroker – and they can
have just as damaging an impact on your reputation if they’re of low quality.
Taking good care of your hair cutting shears ensures they’re always ready to
give you the assistance you need to perform well on the job
Cleaning Your Hair Shears Daily
You should
clean your hair shears after every haircut, but many hair salons simply drop
theirs into Barbicide as a shortcut method. This is a bad move for several
reasons, since small pieces of hair can still get caught in your hair shears.
Even though they’re sanitized, they’re not clean. What’s more, Barbicide can
actually harm your hair cutting shears by removing all lubricant if you leave
them in for too long.
Instead of
the Barbicide-drop method, clean your shears with warm soapy water after you’ve
sanitized them. Wipe the blade away from the cutting edge and make sure to
check the place where the blades of your hair shears connect, since that’s
where hair is most likely to get caught. Make sure they are dry before you
close and store them to avoid rust. Some beauty salons like to dry their hair
shears with a hair dryer, but this can warp the blades and ruin their set,
which can have devastating effects on your next haircut!
Cleaning Your Hair Shears Weekly
On a weekly
basis, your hair cutting shears need lubricating. A good way to remember that
you need to lubricate your shears is by always doing it at the end of the day
before a day off. That way the lubrication has time to set into your hair
shears and do its work before you need to sanitize and clean them for your next
haircut.
After you
clean your shears with sanitization agent and soap and water, apply a few drops
of quality shear lubricant around the pivot screw of your shears. Open and
close the blades gently a few times to let the lubricant get all the way into
the part of the pivot screw that you can’t see inside the hair shears. Wipe the
extra lubricant down the blades of your hair shears and store them in a case or
pouch.
Sharpening Your Hair Shears
If you find
your hair shears are “pulling” or “pushing” hair or having trouble cutting the
tips, they probably need sharpening. Shear sharpening is not for amateurs,
since doing it incorrectly can permanently ruin your blades. Go to professional
shear sharpeners with certified equipment for hair shears. Ask around your
fellows in hair salons – they probably have someone they can recommend that
they trust with their hair cutting shears too.
If you
treat your hair shears well, they shouldn’t need sharpening until you’ve served
about 600-700 customers. That number goes toward the lower end of the scale if
you’re frequently cutting thick, coarse, dirty, treated, or damaged hair.
If
you’re looking for a pair of quality hair
cutting shears that will last for hundreds of cuts, visit us at The Shears Depot. We have a wide
array of hair shears and other beauty products that are sure to satisfy your
every need at home or in the salon.
Julie Sullivan - July 24, 2009
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