Had a chat with a retired stylist who changed how I see thinning shears

Was talking to this older woman, Margie, at a shop in Portland last weekend. She said she never uses thinning shears on wet hair because it messes up the blade alignment over time. Honestly, I’ve been doing that for like 5 years and never thought about it. Anyone else ever hear this tip or am I just late to the game?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_diana1mo ago

Oh dang, yes! I had a similar wake up call last year when my hairdresser cousin visited and saw me using thinning shears on wet hair. She literally gasped and grabbed them out of my hand. She said the moisture makes the metal expand or something and it throws off the tension over time. I had been wondering why my shears felt kinda sticky after a few months and started snagging instead of cutting clean. Switched to dry cutting only and they've lasted way longer, like a year and a half now compared to the 6 months I used to get out of a pair.

violaramirez1mo ago

Tbh I still keep my old shears in a sealed case with those silica gel packets just to be safe. My aunt who does bridal hair drilled it into me that moisture is the enemy of any good shear. Definitely worth the extra couple seconds to dry section by section before cutting.

the_jennifer1mo ago

I literally had a pair of thinning shears die on me mid-cut last year and just assumed they were haunted or something, turns out I was just drowning them in wet hair like an idiot.