by Jun Oh January 28, 2022 8 min read
A dull pair of hair scissors can be frustrating and can also lead to poor haircuts. In order to keep your hair scissors sharp, you will need to sharpen them regularly.
There are many ways to do this, but we will discuss the 10 best methods in this article:
Professional barbers and hairstylists use these methods to keep their hair scissors sharp at all times. So, whether you are a professional or just someone who likes to cut their own hair at home, read on for the best ways to sharpen hair scissors!
In this article, we are going to discuss the 10 different ways you can sharpen your hair scissors.
You can also read similar articles on maintaining your hairdressing shears here:
If your hair scissors are really dull, the best way to sharpen them is to take them to a professional sharpening service.
This is the most accurate and precise way to get your hair scissors sharp again. A professional sharpener will use special tools and techniques to get your hair scissors razor-sharp again.
Paying for a service like this will save you the time and effort to sharpen hair scissors and ensure that your shears have their blades honed by professional sharpening tools.
The main reasons why you should use a professional sharpening service are:
Whether you are looking to ultimately sharpen the cutting edge of your hair cutting shears, or perform a light sharpening, always consider a professional service to protect your investment.
However, if you have a cheap pair of hair scissors, you can follow the below methods to practice sharpening scissors at home!
If you have some basic sharpening skills, you can sharpen your hair scissors with a whetstone. This is a type of stone that is used to sharpen hair cutting & thinning shears and other blades. It can be purchased from most hardware stores or online.
The steps to use sharpening stones to hone your hair shear blades include:
Even if you are sharpening just one blade on your scissors, the process requires patience and a keen eye to ensure you don't leave any scratch marks or cause damage to the cutting edge.
If you don't want to sharpen your hair scissors yourself, you can always buy a professional hair sharpening tool.
These tools are available online on sites like Amazon, and they are simple to use and will quickly sharpen your hair scissors.
Professional hair scissor sharpening tools can sharpen scissors with just a few swipes, but these typically cost upwards of USD $500.
You might enjoy the sharpening process so much that you don't cut hair and start sharpening hair scissors full-time.
If you only need to sharpen your scissors at home or as a once-off, we have easy solutions with everyday items.
Another way to sharpen your hair scissors is by using glass or aluminum. This method is a bit more complex than the others, but it works.
You can use glass, and the best type would be the mason jar method. These have thicker glass sides that are perfect for when you need to sharpen scissors quickly.
Here are the steps:
As we go further down the list of methods to sharpen hair scissors, you may find that they become less common, as you might need to take a visit to the local hardware store to pick up items necessary to complete the job.
If you need to sharpen your hair scissors quickly and don't have any other tools available, you can use alcohol.
This method isn't as popular as you require rubbing alcohol, and you might not have this readily available.
This is a method that barbers and hairstylists often use to sharpen their hair scissors quickly. Here are the steps:
If you need to sharpen hair scissors but don't have anything else available, you can use sandpaper. This is not as precise as other methods, but it will work in a pinch.
Using sandpaper to sharpen hairdressing scissors may leave scratch marks on the blade.
Unlike professional sharpening tools, sandpaper isn't specifically designed to sharpen scissor blades, so skip this step if you want to avoid scratch marks.
Here are the steps to sharpen scissors with a strip of sandpaper:
If you have a knife sharpener, you can use it to sharpen your hair scissors, and this precise method will give your hair scissors a sharp edge.
The angle of the knife sharpening tool is as precise as hair scissor sharpening tools, so we recommend avoiding this method if your shears are expensive.
Here are the steps to use a knife sharpener on hair scissors:
Knife sharpening tools are specially designed to sharpen edges to tear and cut through meat, vegetables, and other materials. This is why you won't see anyone sharpening professional hair-cutting tools with this method.
Close the scissors and take the pin away from the blades until the scissors are closing. Avoid using a great deal of pressure to shut the scissors, but let you let the sewing pin perform the sharpening. After that, repeat the process again until the blades are flat and have a sharp edge.
What is a file for sharpening? A file is a tool that has rough surfaces on each side, and these surfaces will help sharpen the blades of your hair scissors.
If all else fails, then you can use a sharpening file for breathing some life back in your hair shears.
It is best to choose the length of a medium-sized file when sharpening your scissors.
The reason is that the tools are tiny and do not require the largest file size for sharpening them. A file between 8 and 12 inches is suggested.
The bolt that connects the scissor knives. This way, you can sharpen each scissor blade one time at a time. You will also be more flexible while sharpening your blades.
Use one hand while holding use the file in the opposite hand. Drag the blades of the scissors starting from the bottom on the blade to are at the point. Repeat this 5-10 times. Repeat this action with the second blade.
If all else fails, and you have reached method number ten, then it might be time to buy a new pair of hair scissors.
There are many different ways to sharpen scissors, but the extreme sharpness makes hair shear blades unique. This can be a double-edged sword, pun intended, as the ultra-sharp blades effortlessly cut through hair, but when they become dull, it is expensive to sharpen.
If your pair of hair scissors are expensive, we recommend using a sharpening service with the tools to protect your investment.
You may be able to use everyday sharpeners once or twice, but they could then permanently damage the blades. So be careful when deciding which sharpening method is best for you! Thank you for reading this article!
You can also read more about how to sharpen your hair scissors here (references):
Jun is a professional journalist for barbers and hairdressers. She is a huge fan for high-end hair scissors. His top brands to review include Kamisori, Jaguar Scissors and Joewell. She instructs and educates people about cutting hair, haircuts and barbering across America, Canada and the UK. USA, UK, Australia and Canada.
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