I think I damaged my hair by cutting it myself...

[aquadreamer]

Has this every happened to anyone? I used to get salon trims every 6 months, and then thought "hey, it's just trims, I can do it myself", so I bought a pair of tweezerman scissors, and asked my mother to cut them for me. Ever since she started cutting them, my hair started developing split ends :( We have cut them dry and wet, but it doesn't seem to matter, I ended up getting split ends every time. I have never used the scissors to do anything else...why did this happen?

[Sammich]

Dull scissors can cause more damage than it's worth.
Perhaps your scissors are dull?

[Islandgrrl]

It's likely the scissors.

A stylist friend of mine (yes, she's scissors happy and I won't let her near my hair!) once told me to buy the very best quality scissors for hair that I could afford and to never ever use them for anything else.

[aquadreamer]

I think that might be it... it caused problems for me ever since I bought them...wanna cry. I had to trim once a month ever since I started using those scissors. If I had continued with my salon visits, I'd have hip length by now (have waist length now, but has split ends, so it will become just short of waist length the next time I visit a salon) :(

Would you need to maintain the scissors then?

[PrincessTieflin]

YOu have to keep your scissors sharpened.. Especialy if your cutting on dry hair.. that will dull them fast!

When I was a stylist, we had someone who would come sharpen them for us.. NOw I send them back to the factory to be sharpened.

In my experience if the hair is being pushed to the side as you cut, you either are cutting to big a section, or they are dull.

Hope that helps

[melikai]

You can sharpen them yourself by either cutting through some fine sandpaper, or "cutting" the top of a glass bottle a few times.

[Lianna]

You can sharpen them yourself by either cutting through some fine sandpaper, or "cutting" the top of a glass bottle a few times.

How interesting. I'm going to try that. :D

[PrincessTieflin]

You can sharpen them yourself by either cutting through some fine sandpaper, or "cutting" the top of a glass bottle a few times.

I have never thought of this, thanks for the tip... you will save me HUNDREDS of dollars :) :cheese:

[Tia2010]

How often do you need to sharpen them? I bought a pair of shears from sallys beauty (beveled edge professional shears) that I use for s&d ,how often would they need sharpening since it's only used for s&d?

[Dragon]

You can sharpen them yourself by either cutting through some fine sandpaper, or "cutting" the top of a glass bottle a few times.


Great idea, Im going to have to try that.

[luxepiggy]

Has this every happened to anyone? I used to get salon trims every 6 months, and then thought "hey, it's just trims, I can do it myself", so I bought a pair of tweezerman scissors, and asked my mother to cut them for me. Ever since she started cutting them, my hair started developing split ends :( We have cut them dry and wet, but it doesn't seem to matter, I ended up getting split ends every time. I have never used the scissors to do anything else...why did this happen?

Send them to tweezerman for sharpening. It's free. You just have to pay for shipping to them (in Texas). They will ship them back. Here's the info:


Send tool insured in a padded mailer with your name, address and phone number to: Tweezerman Service, 235 Blue Bell Road, Houston, TX 77037, USA. Allow four weeks.


Also, make sure your mom's not cutting great big chunks of hair at once, and that she's cutting perpendicular to the hair shaft (^(oo)^)

[alwayssmiling]

I would like to know how I know that my scissors may be blunt. Is there any test other than waking up with lots of split ends?

[Lianna]

Well, I know when my scissors aren't the best when I don't cut through fabric with ease, that's my clue.

[luxepiggy]

I would like to know how I know that my scissors may be blunt. Is there any test other than waking up with lots of split ends?

If you a tug on your hair as the scissor blades are closing, or if strands seem to be getting pushed sideways before the blades cut them, those are definite indications. Usually I can just tell by the "feel" as they close on the hair. I always test mine by cutting a few shed hairs to make sure they don't seem dull, before I start doing a trim (^(oo)^)

[slythwolf]

Well, I know when my scissors aren't the best when I don't cut through fabric with ease, that's my clue.
But you shouldn't be cutting fabric with your hair scissors.

[Lianna]

But you shouldn't be cutting fabric with your hair scissors.


The point to cut only hair with the scissors is to not get dull in the first place, if they're already dull, it doesn't matter what you cut with them, after sharpening, well, it's sharp and suited to cut hair. "One" cut on the fabric just to check if they're really sharp won't harm.

ETA: It's like luxepiggy said, after the scissors push the hair to the side, I make sure it really does need sharpening by cutting a small piece of fabric. My hair is thick and I often get too thick sections and pushes to the side, which wrongly makes me think it needs sharpening.

[Igor]

A stylist friend of mine (yes, she's scissors happy and I won't let her near my hair!) once told me to buy the very best quality scissors for hair that I could afford and to never ever use them for anything else.

I think that is great advice and I can only wish I had listened to that earlier. I can definitely see and feel the difference between my old couple-of-bucks scissor and the new one that I spent 131 $ on. Totally worth it! It even makes me really happy every time I pull it out from its drawer :cheer:

I think it was Lady Godiva who added a warning to keep scissors away from men since they have a way of ending up using your expensive hair-scissor for weird things like opening bottles with them… :p

[alwayssmiling]

If you a tug on your hair as the scissor blades are closing, or if strands seem to be getting pushed sideways before the blades cut them, those are definite indications. Usually I can just tell by the "feel" as they close on the hair. I always test mine by cutting a few shed hairs to make sure they don't seem dull, before I start doing a trim (^(oo)^)

Thank you. I have just collected some hair from my hair brush and tested my scissors on that. They seem to cut very neatly and cleanly. I have had them years and never sharpened them but I think they were pricey when I bought them. Must do regular checks.