Tested My New Scissors On a Piece of Toilet Paper...

[Epi71]

Now, I wonder if I ruined them.

Hi, everyone. I haven't posted in a long time but was wondering if I could get some opinions on this.

I recently began to wonder if my old hair scissors were sharp enough and an online search convinced me that testing them on a one-ply piece of tissue would be a good test. Sure enough, they were blunt.

I found this hard to believe since I just bought them a few years ago and only cut my ends about twice a year, if that much. I wondered if the "tissue test" was reliable.

Then I started to wonder if they ever were sharp enough to begin with! What if the new ones I was planning to buy were blunt from the beginning, too?

So, I bought new scissors last night and tested them on a piece of tissue and they sliced right through it, which is great, right? Except now I'm worried that I've ruined them from the start since you aren't supposed to use them on anything other than your hair. *sigh*

What do you think?

[Tisiloves]

They should be fine, as long as you only used them on paper that once. They don't lose an edge that quickly

[furnival]

They'll be fine. Hair is probably tougher than toilet paper. And if you could blunt them by cutting through one sheet of toilet paper, they would be the crappest scissors ever. Just as long as you don't try to cut through sandpaper or metal or glass or anything...

[blondie9912]

Don't worry! They would be pretty awful scissors if one slice through one ply TP ruined them
I've cut fabric with mine (once! Oops) and they're still just as sharp

[PixxieStix]

The new scissors should be just fine. One slice through such a soft material can't hurt them. Enjoy your new super sharp scissors for your trims from now on, and if you're ever worried about the sharpness, do the test again, and don't fear that it will dull them somehow.

[Epi71]

Thank you for your reassurance, everyone. It's so silly to think I might have ruined them, but I'm such a worrywart!

PixxieStix, thank you for mentioning that it will be okay to test them again that way in the future because I was wondering about that, too!

[heidi w.]

I think it's fine. Just don't use them on anything else. That's all, especially paper such as typing paper or construction paper or gift wrap paper, string and stuff like that -- cloth.

Dedicate them to use on the hair.

heidi w.

[Amarante]

Can I be nosy and ask which kind did you get? I'm trying to decide where I should go for my next pair. :/

[Epi71]

Thank you, Heidi W.


Amarante, I'm sorry I didn't see your question earlier. Since I use them so rarely, my goal was to find the least expensive pair of scissors I could that looked and felt well-made. So, I'm not sure how good of a recommendation it will be, though I did use them yesterday and was very happy with how sharp they are. They even sound sharp.

The package says Eclipse Professional Shears by Arius Eickert -- 6.5" (165 mm) long. The length must refer to the overall length from tip to top of the handles, because the blades are much shorter than that. They are considerably shorter than my old pair, which I didn't realize when I bought them, but they work well.

They only cost about $7.50 on sale ($10.50 regularly) at Sally Beauty Supply, so I'm not sure how good they'll be in the long run. I'll certainly be doing the tissue test after every few trims/search-and-destroy sessions to make sure they're sharp.

[trolleypup]

The issue with cutting paper with good scissors is that high quality paper has additives (like clay) to produce a better finish...that will dull the edges...and anything that might have abrasive contaminants (like dust or dirt) are bad, but a bit of tp or thread or the like is unlikely to do significant damage.