HOW TO IDENTIFY HIGH QUALITY HAIRDRESSING SCISSORS
This is a contentious topic, but I will steer you though some basic elements that will help you determine if the hairdressing scissor you are going to spend hundreds of dollars on is actually a Quality product. Here is the basic criteria
1) Quality of Materials and Hardening
2) Quality of parts
3) Engineering accuracy and Precision
4) Blade design and features
5) Handle design and Ergonomics
6) Sharpening, Q.C. and Warranty
1) QUALITY OF MATERIALS AND HARDENING . As many of you may know the very best hairdressing scissors made on the market are 100% Made in Japan. For that reason many fake and copy scissors from China, Korea, Taiwan and Pakistan use “Japanese sounding Brand names” and dishonestly misrepresent their scissors as Made in Japan or Japanese Steel. They also often claim well known Japanese steel alloys such as 440C and VG10. Unfortunately both these alloys are also copied in China. The difference between the Chinese copy and the original Japanese steels is caulk and cheese. Chinese steels have a much high percentage of impurities such as Sulphur and Phosphorous. Japanese steels on the other hand are far better refined and better “milled” with a focus on quality. Cheaper steels will rust easy, and not harden well. The cheaper scissors are basically hardened with a simple furnace and a oil quench, a 15 minute process. The best scissors are hardened with high technology, particularly using a Computer controlled Vacuum furnace with Nitrogen quench, they go through a complicated and expensive process which includes multiple sub zero treatments , all of which can take over 24 hours to complete. The result is tougher, stiffer and more wear resistant steels that do not chip or bend easily, yet will not break either. This treatment allows the maker to design very thin and very sharp blades. PRO TIP One of the easiest way to tell the difference in steel quality is observing how thick the blades are, cheaper scissors are thick and clunky. Also how flat the convex and fine the edge is a sign of good scissors. Sharpline has extensively tested all common Japanese steels (excluding Powder Steels and Stellites ) in the chart below and has pinpointed which famous brands use them. Sharpline uses its own advanced alloys that are custom made and propriety information with the exception of Takefu VG10.
2) QUALITY OF PARTS The quality and design of parts is vital to real high quality scissor performance. It is relatively easy to spot the difference. The best parts are very well machined and finished, use magnification to look closely at the finishing. Avoid tension assemblies with rhinestones or painted coatings. Avoid tension assemblies with cheap thin spring plates. Look closely at how the drilling and fitting is done, is it a precise fit or is there wobbles and space between the scissor and the parts? Look at how much “give” is in the pivot, do the blades move side to side or back and forth when the scissor is held closed? There should be very minimal play and the adjustment should stay as set without coming loose. No matter what a great deal you may think you have in a cheap scissor, its no good to you if it always loosens and even falls apart. The best tension assemblies have a click system. Don’t be fooled by bearings, many cheap scissors have cheap rough bearings that are open and will rust very easily causing the scissor to jam. The best bearing are sealed and high quality stainless steel, not ordinary steel and brass. If the scissor has a finger rest, check the thread is tight, there should be no wobble. Common poorly made finger rests fall off. Is the bump stop solid and straight in line to the handle. Try slightly pulling it, did it come off easily? Common problem with cheap scissors. If you are buying a cheap scissor online, how are you going to check all these things before you pay for it… answer, you can’t, beware.
3) ENGINEERING ACCURACY AND PRECISION. For the hairdresser this may be difficult for you to determine easily. Here’s a few tips. Well made scissors have clean smooth precise looking surfaces. Cheap scissors have dips, wobbles, poorly finished areas and defects. Examine the scissor carefully. Look for sharp edges where there shouldn’t be any, such as on finger holes. Better scissors tend to have more elegant artistic looking handles. Cheap scissors are often copies of these designs but look poorly finished and are chunky. Look at the marking, is it clean and neat, easy to read, nice detail? The marking on cheap scissors is often white laser (cheap) has no relief, scratches off easily and looks cheap. Often there are misspellings of famous brands or dodgey sounding Japanese names that are meaningless. All good scissors are “two piece” which meand the handle and blade are welded together from different types of steels. You should be able to see the “weld” area around where the handle and blade meet, use light reflection to see it. The reason is that high quality blade alloy is not suitable for making handles and vice a versa. To make the scissor all of one metal compromises the quality. The cheapest scissors are either one piece cast or one piece forged and you will not see any weld mark.
4) BLADE DESIGN AND FEATURES Look at the shape of the blade, Is the blade nice and flat and thin with a convex “invisible” edge? Can you seel a tiny “bevel edge” this is a cheap scissor giveaway. Look at the hollow grind, does it look well done, or doses it have wobbles, dips and double cuts. Use light reflection to see these things., move the scissor with the reflections, does it look precise or wobble? Most cheap scissors are plain convex blades, relatively thick, not well finished and with the tell tale polished in “mini bevel” edge. Here is the secret, a high quality scissor for hairdressers is all about slide cutting and precision cutting. To do these techniques easily and well, and to cut very soft and clean the scissor needs to have a finished edge angle of 35 degrees or less. The problem with cheap scissors if they try to make the edge to fine they don’t last more than a few weeks. The edges either deform and bend (too soft) or chip and damage easily (too brittle, bad hardening) . To solve the problem they make the scissor thicker and use a hidden mini bevel edge over 40 degrees. That means the scissor cuts clunky and won’t slide cut well. Do you get it yet?? Making “mountain blade” or “3/4” blade designs is more difficult so these designs are usually a key feature of better scissors. If the scissor blade has a center or side ridge, is it well done, does it look precise. Cheap scissors tend to make a poor job of it. Some high quality scissors do have a bevel and/or serrated edge, these are usually for barbers and groomers, check how well done they appear.
5) HANDLE DESIGN AND ERGONOMICS Cheap scissors are either poorly cast in one piece and cheaply forged in one piece as stated before. If this is the case it is difficult to nearly impossible to make a beautiful handle with intricate features and a 3D design. Ergo nomic handles are more sculptural, not flat. There are twists and turns, thicker parts and thinner parts, all designed to fit and feel more comfortable. The very best handles such as Sharpline Multishear Cyborg are also custom fitted and individually made by very expensive 3D , 5 axis computerised milling machines. These handles take over 10 hours machine time to make. If you choose a swivel type scissor, check if the swivel is well made and works well, does it look clunky and poorly finished. Many cheap swivels fall apart easily.
6) SHARPENING, Q.C. AND WARRANTY. There is no machine that can sharpen a hairdressing scissor by otself. All hairdressing scissors are sharpened by hand. Yes we use machines but also hand stones. The correct and high quality way is to use a series of abrasives and to control the finished angle while reducing the burr to nothing, leaving the scissor razor sharp. To do it properly takes time. At Yamazaki Shears the hand sharpening, setting and finishing takes over an hour. That’s how you achieve the invisible edge. Cheap scissors are sharpened very quickly and as I mentioned earlier with a mini bevel edge that is buffed to hide it.
Finishing is a high skill job, it can’t be learned quickly and the sharpener needs good hand eye co-ordination and some natural ability. That is why many people can never be good sharpeners. The problem with cheap scissors is there is little Q.C. other than some basic testing. In these factories actually all scissors get sold, its just a matter of how many are sold on the local market or online through Ali Baba and Wish ( the rejects) and how many get exported. The list of manufacturer defects on these scissors is long and varied, additionally many ( estimated at around 10%) get damaged during packing and transit. If you are lucky a skilled re-seller will perform additional Q.C. and fix any problems discovered… if you are lucky. It’s common for cheap brands to claim to be high quality and to offer warranties which in fact are worthless. It’s no good to you if your fixed or replacement scissor is just as bad or worse.
Here’s another Pro Tip: use Google and search for the brand name, spend 10 minutes looking at what is available online. Top brands have plenty of online support and information, social media , You Tube, Reviews, etc. etc. Low quality brands will have little exposure or worse, lots of complaints. It’s worth it to do your research if you expect to get value for money. If still in doubt look for contact information, talk to a representative directly and see if they actually know what they are talking about or just trying to high pressure sell you. Ask questions about doing a possible trial, how the warranty works in practice, what are your options if you are not happy. You will soon work out who is who. I hope this information helps, feel free to use the Contact Us link if you have any questions
Happy Cutting!