What is the Best Way to Keep My Shears Sharp?

1. CLEAN: Keep your shears clean! At the end of the day, take a soft towel and wipe the blades inside to remove all hair and products from the day.
2. OIL: Every week or so, use the oil pen (or clipper oil) to put a drop of oil behind the pivot in the half-moon area. Then also run some oil down the inside of the cleaned blade. Turn the shear over and put a drop on the screw as well.
3. TENSION: Check the tension of your shear. Now that your shear has been cleaned and oiled, you may need to adjust the tension. Hold the shear in your left hand with the blades pointed up, with the thumb blade facing away from you. Lift the thumb handle (or give it a flick) and let it drop back into place. If it falls closed all the way, your tension needs to be tightened up a bit. The perfect tension setting will have the blade falling to half-way closed.
1. If your shear has a thumb-adjusted nut, give it a turn or couple of clicks and test it again until the tension is right.
2. If your shear has a flat screw slot, find a screw driver or tool that came with your shear. Set the shears on a towel with blades closed. Tighten the screw with small adjustments. As described above, keep checking the tension in between adjustments until the tension is right.

NOTE: Keeping your THINNING or TEXTURIZING shears adjusted is extremely important because of the teeth on one blade and a sharp solid edge on the other blade. When thinning, texturizing, or notching shears get loose, the tooth blade can nick the solid blade. Sometimes the result is fatal and the shear won’t work until it is sent in for repair.