Author Topic: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?  (Read 12910 times)

scottydog

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What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« on: July 15, 2015, 01:43:00 PM »
My wife has been cutting our family's hair for over 5 years now, but has never been happy with our scissors.  Two of us have copious amounts of hair and my wife's a trooper but always ends up cursing at the scissors because they don't cut easily.

We've talked for years about getting a nice pair of hair-cutting scissors.  Unfortunately I've had a really hard time tracking them down here in Montreal.  My latest lead, a store called Trade Secrets, was a bust. The clerk suggested that it would be very difficult for me to find high quality scissors without a hairdressing license/permit (!?!?) and then suggested that I shop online instead.

For those of you who cut your own hair at home, do you have any scissors that you would recommend?  I'm hoping to find a Buy-It-For-Life pair that we can just sharpen every once in a while.

velocistar237

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2015, 09:25:48 AM »
I have a pair of ~$20 Tweezerman scissors I bought on Amazon. They should be good for a lifetime for someone who cuts hair infrequently. Professional scissors need to be able to handle many cuts a day, but I don't need that. They might take some getting used to if you have large fingers.

Nothing will cut hair well if it's in thick bunches. Make sure your technique is good, too.

Cromacster

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2015, 10:11:30 AM »
I don't know if it applies to scissors but...

I use a trimmer, a Wahl trimmer that is sold as a dog trimmer.  It was cheaper than the comparable trimmer for humans.  In reality it is probably the same trimmer just packaged differently.  Maybe a scissors intended for animals is what you are looking for!

Mrs.LC

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2015, 10:28:16 PM »
Target has a Sally Hansen scissors for $7.59 that does a pretty good job. I use it for final trimming after using a clippers.

the_fella

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2015, 11:02:00 AM »
I'd imagine most stores would have barber's scissors. Family Dollar has them, I believe Kroger does as well. I'd be shocked if Walmart didn't. I have a pair that came with my clippers. I just use the clippers, though. I cut my hair with a #4 (1/2 inch) guard and that takes care of that.

Erica/NWEdible

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2015, 11:04:54 AM »
I got a good pair of "thinning shears" and it's been AWESOME for cutting my own hair. I generally wear my hair short, and the thinning shears make it easy to blend in lots of layers and make the cut look pretty dang professional, if I do say so myself.

scottydog

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2015, 10:59:12 AM »
Thanks for the replies, everyone!  That's a good point about technique, and that any scissors will get stopped if you're collecting too much hair in a single cut.  Technique is a bit of a tricky subject since it's my wife's technique.  As I'm tying this I'm realizing that maybe I should learn how to do it myself. :-)

Our current hair scissors were about as cheap as you can get from one of those ultra discount places in China, and they included a pair of thinning shears.  The thinning shears yank on nearly every cut, but maybe that's technique too.  Maybe we'll try sharpening them, and the scissors, to see if that helps.  I'll also check out some of the other scissors that you have recommended here.

One last thing: when I first searched for this topic in the forum, I couldn't find anything.  When I searched again just now, I found 2 other similar threads.  I haven't found the magic touch for forum searching, but I'll include links to the other two threads for anyone else that stumbles across this one.

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/best-clippersscissors-for-giving-yourself-a-haircut-at-home/

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/do-it-yourself-forum!/hair-cutting-scissors/

TomTX

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2015, 05:47:02 AM »
Wahl clippers. Mow baby, mow!

http://www.amazon.com/Wahl-79300-400-Color-Complete-Haircutting/dp/B000JNQSIQ/


...for the toddler, wife got the $12 hair scissors at Walmart. They work fine.


Jack

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2015, 11:43:38 PM »
The clerk suggested that it would be very difficult for me to find high quality scissors without a hairdressing license/permit (!?!?)

I'm pretty sure that it's not that a permit is required to own the scissors, but rather just that they tend to be sold by business-to-business stores that refuse to sell to random people walking in off the street. My mom used to be friends with a hairdresser and was able to get "salon-brand" shampoo etc. at wholesale by tagging along with her.

It's the same business model that stores like Restaurant Depot use: they don't sell anything "restricted," but they don't let you in unless you run a restaurant.

Also, aside from the fact that it appears to be spam, the single-post account above mine has a point: my mom's hairdresser friend would drop her comb all the time, but made damned sure never to drop the scissors because they were expensive, and having good, sharp scissors was important to achieve a high-quality haircut.

velocistar237

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2015, 07:28:56 AM »
The clerk suggested that it would be very difficult for me to find high quality scissors without a hairdressing license/permit (!?!?)

I'm pretty sure that it's not that a permit is required to own the scissors, but rather just that they tend to be sold by business-to-business stores that refuse to sell to random people walking in off the street.

It's probably also a bit of marketing on the stylist's part. When my wife let me cut her hair a few years ago, we had bad scissors. The results were okay but a bit uneven, so she went to a stylist to get it neatened up. The stylist tried to convince her that we needed $100+ special shears, but the subtext was that she shouldn't let her husband cut her hair, she should come see the stylist.

It's about time to try another cut, and this time with the $20 scissors and some past experience, it should be better. I'm hoping she'll let me cut it several times, bit by bit, so I can get some good practice. I wish we could do one of those layered cuts where you put on a tie and make one cut, but I haven't found a method I like for shorter hair. Maybe she'll go for this one.

joonifloofeefloo

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2018, 09:05:02 AM »
My favourite is a Scotch brand I paid about $20 for. I think they're this one: https://www.scotchbrand.com/3M/en_US/scotch-brand/products/catalog/~/Scotch-Precision-Ultra-Edge-Bent-Titanium-Non-Stick-Scissors/?N=4335+3294529207+3294603177&rt=rud

They're bigger so can lop off my big chunks, but also handle anything smaller. They're just our general household scissors, awesome for everything we've ever needed to cut.

Poundwise

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #12 on: February 27, 2018, 07:23:41 AM »
Henckels. Have been cutting hair with them for a decade, haven't had to sharpen them yet.  Seem to do the job!

CutTheFat

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #13 on: February 27, 2018, 06:15:02 PM »
Tweezerman

Cranky

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #14 on: February 28, 2018, 05:30:07 AM »
I have a pair of KurlKatcher scissors, made in Germany, which were given to me 40+ years ago by a friend's mom who actually was a licensed beautician. I've used them and a pair of clippers ever since to cut dh's hair and trim kids' hair and generally tidy up anybody who asks.

I'd go to Sally Beauty and see what they've got.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #15 on: March 07, 2018, 01:10:01 AM »
Once a needed to replace a hairdressing sheet, to put around DH's shoulders. I couldn't buy that in Norway, not online either, because hairdresser is a protected profession, that you are not supposed to hack as a private person. I had to buy the sheet online in abroadistan.

Recently we have ordered new scissors. A hairdresser once told me that good hairdressing scissors cost about $100 a piece. We bought some on aliexpress, there they also sell a lot of rubbish. But we bought one of the more pricey scissors, $20. We still hope these will have good enough quality for home cutting. We have good experience with buying sewing scissors from China for a reasonable price with good enough quality.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #16 on: March 07, 2018, 01:43:05 AM »
I use the scissors that came with my Wahl clippers, as do a couple of others on here.

kei te pai

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #17 on: March 07, 2018, 02:07:00 AM »
Um, actually I just did a little trim tonight with my best sewing scissors!

ovcn37

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #18 on: January 13, 2022, 07:11:56 AM »
I have been looking for a hair clipper for a long time, but there are a few sites that I can evaluate, and I decided to buy it from amazon.com after your recommendations.
https://barbersupplier.com.au/collections/professional-hair-scissors
http://www.amazon.com/Wahl-79300-400-Color-Complete-Haircutting/dp/B000JNQSIQ/

GuitarStv

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #19 on: January 13, 2022, 07:35:24 AM »
Scissors don't matter as long as they're sharp and cut well.  I've cut my wife's hair with dollar store scissors and had good results.  For men's/boys hair, I've been using a Wahl clipper for more than a decade now and it's still working fine.

SunnyDays

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #20 on: January 13, 2022, 09:31:26 AM »
I bought a pair of Henckels scissors from my hairdresser, who didn't like their particular length, for $50.  She had paid $200.  Many years later, they still work fine, no sharpening needed.

affordablehousing

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Re: What scissors do you recommend for cutting hair at home?
« Reply #21 on: January 13, 2022, 10:14:29 AM »
I asked my neighbors that run a high-end hair salon. They recommended Matsui - https://scissortec.com/collections/hair-shears-kit

They are expensive (around $250), but good. Then again, my neighbors each charge around $155 for a haircut.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!