SCISSOR CARE & MAINTENANCE
(we do not offer a mobile scissor sharpen however we will provide loan scissors)
Our training tells us you cannot sharpen to the same level as a Manufacturer Trained Sharpener in the back of a van.
The machinery used at A Sharper Blade mimics the exact same machinery used by Excellent Edges to manufacture their scissors and simply put it just wont fit in the back of a van.
We supply loan scissors for all Wellington clients while servicing your scissors "free of charge".
NEW & FRESHLY SERVICED SCISSORS HINTS
Allow newly revived edges a few days to "Wear In" to each other.
Avoid
cutting heavy sections or pressure cutting as the new edges can
be more easily damaged until they have worn into each other.
Pay
particular attention to keeping the tension correctly adjusted.
It is
normal for the tension to loosen as the plastic expansion washers in the
centre screw assembly settle down, they must be correctly adjusted or you
run the risk of damaging your new revived edges.
If
the scissor folds hair, tighten the tension a little. You may need to
experiment a bit to find the correct tension.
The reason the hair folds
between the blades is because the scissor is TOO LOOSE, or your scissor has a Sett Issue (this is a totally different fix and one which needs to be re-sett by a professional Scissor Manufacture Trained Sharpener like A Sharper Blade).
When
scissors are too loose it encourages pressure cutting, which leads to
both excessive wear to the scissors and damage to your hands.
DO NOT
just ignore LOOSENESS in your scissors,
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT............."TENSION IS CRITICAL"
TENSION SETTING & OILING INSTRUCTIONS
Oil your scissor first and wipe excess oil away.
Hold
the scissor vertically by the thumb blade loop at the 6 o’clock position on a
24 hour clock (with your left or right hand) and lift the finger rest blade to the horizontal position
of 1 or 11 o’clock (depending on which hand you're holding it in).
Let go of the finger loop and jiggle slightly to make it fall if needed.
It should only fall a small amount and stop somewhere between 3 and 5 o’clock or 7 and 9 o'clock. This is the correct tension.
Do not let them close completely.
If
your scissor falls past 5 or 7 o’clock, then your tension is way too loose
and you have already caused damage to your edges. This will continue every time that you close the blades.
Think about how many times you open and close your scissor in 1 hair cut, as this action will remove a micron of sharpness every single time, you may find you need re-sharpening within 4 - 8 months.
Under normal operating conditions with a quality grade of steel, you Scissors Sharpness should last atleast 12 months (at a minimum) before requiring a service.
Tension is NOT a personal preference, it MUST be done for the scissor to work correctly and to maintain your warranty.
You cannot over tension your scissors, but obviously if they are too tight they can become uncomfortable to use and you may do harm to your hand.
Correct Tension Adjustment is vital, it must be done regularly by the hairdresser (at the very least a check should be performed once every week).
Along with daily oiling and wiping clean your blades with a chamois, your scissor life will increase by years.
If you want to learn practical skills with scissors in hand, join our education and training lessons for hands on skills and Hair cutting techniques.
Endorsed, Promoted and Supported by the NZARH, our workshops are suited to all levels.............from Apprentice to the Advanced Cutter.
Education & Training
Cutting Styles
Cutting angles
There is NO scissor that can master blunt cutting and slice cutting together in one scissor, not even the best hairdressing scissor in the world will do this.
Wet and dry cutting determines as to what type of scissor you require.
The
one alternative is a scissor for general purpose that has a blade angle
of 45 degrees it is a compromised edge that will do most types of
cutting but won’t do as a specialised scissor.
Top hairdressers have a multiple scissors that are each designed to cut a certain way.
When your watching them on stage demonstrating, putting one scissors away and taking out another, its not because their trying to look fancy...........its because they truly understand what edge type they need to perform that cut, at that particular moment.
Blunt
cutting ideally will be a bevel edge of 47 - 55 degrees.
A scissor with a
serration or bevel, is designed to be used at 90 degrees to the hair shaft. It
won’t slice or slide cut.
A Serration scissor will help you achieve a straight line cut with absolutely no pushing of the hair out the tips.............100% guarantee.
However it will only Blunt Cut and is not to be used on heavily treated hair.
Slice (or Slide) cutting scissors with a fine 35 degrees edge is designed to be used
from 0 - 15 degrees to the hair shaft, if used at steeper angle it won’t
cut properly. It's no good for blunt cutting, all it will do is push the hair out of the scissor tips.
Blade edges
How
a scissor cuts and what type of cutting it’s for, is determined on metal
hardness and what the cutting edge is.
It is also determined by the
shape of the blade radius, specifically the radius size of the blade
line, as the edge line is always curved.
Long
slim scissors with narrow blades, suit blunt work and heavy point
cutting. A long slim blade scissor has an edge angle of 50 - 55 degrees
with a blade line radius of 900mm – 1000mm.
Broadleaf Hairdressing scissors on the other hand are made for Slicing, Chipping and
Fanning the hair. They have an edge angle of 32 - 35 degrees with a
blade line radius of 600mm – 700mm.
Mountain
Blade Hair scissors have an edge angle of 40 - 45 degrees with a blade line
radius of 850mm and are used for Chip, Blunt and Point cutting.
It has
the strength in the middle of the blade to help the hair fall into the
cut. Along with a stronger tip than other scissors, which makes it good for general
purpose cutting.
The Six Degrees of Cutting
Six
degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average
approximately six links away from any other person on Earth.
At Excellent Edges, we use this same concept to marry together different types of cutting styles that produce a haircut.
We have broken down cutting styles to fit into 6 different categories. These are Slicing, Blunt, Point, Chip cutting along with Thinning and Texturising. Refer to the image below.
Each distinct style of cutting is best realised with a dedicated edge.
Most
conventional Hair Scissors have a 45 degree edge, which means they fall into
the category of a "General Purpose Cutter". They are somewhat capable of
achieving all of these cutting styles, but are brilliant at none.
Excellent Edges have taken scissors to the next level and we have the Best Hairdressing Scissors on offer.
A Sharper Blade and Excellent Edges promote the concept of having a kit of scissors,
which specialise in each of the cutting style areas. We liken it to a
make-up artist in their role, they do not rely on just one brush, but
have a range of them to achieve results.
Specific
scissors designed for specific cutting styles allow you to have the
perfect edge for that particular genre of cutting, and only using it for
that role will maximise the life of the edge between servicing.
Whilst
it is possible to only use one scissor for all styles of cutting,
please understand that this will reduce the life of your blades and be
restrictive on what you can achieve.