Shear tip of the day #4

Always service your shears as needed, using dull shears is no fun and causes more damage to them and you, and in the end more metal has to be removed to repair compared to if you just had them honed when they first started dulling.

If you have dropped your shears and there is a nick you can feel or see stop using them and get them serviced, if the balance or set was knocked out from the fall and they are not working correctly, same answer, stop using them and get them serviced.

If you are missing the silencer or bumper stop using them, if you continue to use them the tips will be overlapping, causing damage to the edges and the chance of you cutting yourself or a client .

Never force your shears to cut, if they are struggling with certain hair types or because you are cutting to large a section take smaller sections and spend a little extra time to get the job done.

The whole key here is servicing as needed (if by a proper service) and not putting it off will actually help your shears last longer giving you a bigger return on your investment. Example, Sally has her shear serviced every six months and is very careful to keep them clean, oiled & adjusted properly, When she does have them serviced they usually just need a nice honing, removing hardly any material from the blades. Now Jessie puts off service and keeps using her shear way past the point of just dull, for the last year she has been forcing her shears to cut by using heavy side pressure with her hand and she has been hacking and chopping at the hair to get the cut done. By the time Jessie finally has them serviced there is so much damage that a lot of work and a lot of metal had s to be removed in order to get a new edge. Just 1 of these types of services can remove more metal than 6 or more of the honing services that Sally received. You can always contact us at totallyshears@gmail.com  &  www.totallyshears.com & Totally Shears on Facebook for info or with your question