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Every professional hairdresser or barber out there knows that to cut hair it's always a good idea to have all the tools necessary which includes all kinds of hairdressing scissors including straight blade, thinning and texturizers. Now straight blade scissors are of course a must have, and texturizers are welcomed but not essential for everyday use whereas thinning scissors on the other hand, are the shears that pair well with your straight blade scissors. It can be super hard and super overwhelming when it comes to knowing which thinning shears are 'the best' and which thinning shears aren't. Lucky for you we know what to look for in professional thinning shears.
If you've read any of our other articles on what to look for when buying shears then you'll know the basics of what to look for in a standard straight blade shear. If you don't then have a read here. When buying thinning shears however, it's a lot of similar things to look for except for sometimes the length of the shear and the blade type. Essentially thinners come in 5.5 inch or 6 inch but most of the time 6 inch. It's very uncommon to come in any other lengths. The same also goes for the blade types, Convex, Semi-convex and beveled can be used for thinners as well you just need to be sure of the one you are choosing.
The absolute main thing to look out for when buying a pair of thinning shears is how many teeth the thinner has. A true thinner can have anywhere from 25 teeth up to 45 teeth. A standard thinner should have roughly 40 teeth spaced out evenly next to each other on the one blade, leaving the other blade to be a straight razor sharp edge, pair that together and Voila! You have the perfect hair thinning scissors.
It's super important to remember thinning shears and texturizing shears will give completely different end results so be sure you know how many teeth are on your thinner. Anything less than 30 can be classified as a texturizer, and anything above 30 teeth is clearly thinner. To put it simply - the greater the gap between the teeth the more hair will fall creating texture, unlike when the teeth are closer together less hair will fall creating the thinning effect. So please hair friends, keep that in mind when making your purchase forthinningshears, not texturizing shears.
In a nutshell? No. As long as the thinning shears are used correctly then they most certainly shouldn't cause any damage. The only way hair thinning scissors would or could cause damage is by overuse the hair thinning scissors themselves being blunt.
As handy and quick it is to remove any unwanted bulk in thick hair with hair thinning scissors they can easily be over used. The teeth on the one blade of the thinning shear all have tiny grooves on the tip of the teeth while the other straight blade has no teeth which creates the thinning technique when opening and closing the hair thinning shears. Thinning shears aren't limited to just professional hair stylists but also professional barber
For example; if you continually cut in the same spot with the thinning shear you will eventually cut away all the hair in that section. Hair thinning shears are designed to cut every second, third, even fourth strand of hair. Unlike using a normal straight bladed shear you do one snip and poof the hair is gone in one cut. So, unless the intention is to cut the hair away with thinner, we recommend using your thinners carefully and evenly.
As mentioned above, over-thinning can be damaging but even worse than over-thinning is using them too close to the root, which can leave your client with those spiky, static looking strands of hair, which can take forever to grow out. This being said; It can also damage the ends of the hair without you realizing by making the ends of the hair super thin, which will leave it looking fragile, wispy and stringy - not strong and consistent looking.
Some people don't realize this but cutting hair with any blunt shears whether its normal shears or thinning shears can cause damage to the hair and pull on it making it very uncomfortable for you client. So we recommend that you keep all your scissors sharpened at least every 6 - 12 months to keep them from going dull and pulling on your clients hair.
So what is the best hair thinning scissors? Look, we could tell you what we think the best thinning shears are, but really there is no right or wrong answer because what we think may be the best, might not actually be the best for you and the haircut you want to use them for. Each stylist and barber has their own individual feel on what they want in a thinning shear, including the small details. For example, how many teeth they have, a removal able finger rest or not, the type of adjustment screw, how easy it is to use and grip, the handle design and of course the color. Now we're not going to tell you what the best hair thinning scissors are. However, we're simply going to point you in the right direction of what we think would be 'the best' professional hair thinning shears are.
The Matsui range can do no wrong and even better that they have the perfect thinner shear. With it's evenly spaced out teeth with grooves on the edge or each tooth on the 5.5 inch rose gold shear. These hair thinning scissors will have your haircuts perfectly evened out with every haircut ensuring not too much hair is being taken each time.
If you're on the hunt for a German made thinner then you're in luck. The Gluck pro thinner has all the qualities a thinner should have. With the perfectly aligned blade and the consistent gaps in between the teeth and each tooth edge having its very visible grooves on the teeth, making sure the thinning action takes place evenly.
Next we have the Yasaka 6 inch thinner. While it's not as common for thinners to come any bigger than a 5.5 inch, it's still likely they can come in another size like 6 inch. These Yasaka thinners have 40 teeth on them, yes we know - it sounds like a lot! But in actual fact, the more teeth on a thinner the less bulk of hair that comes out which make these an absolute must have for blending.
Another 6 inch winner, the Matte Black Matsui Swivel Thinner is not only that little bit bigger but is also swivel. The swivel is commonly known as a straight blade scissor, however, lucky for the swivel users they also come in thinners! The swivel design is used to help reduce the risk of wrist pain and help with any RSI problems that may have occurred.
Lastly we have the JW S2-27 thinning series. The description is in the name! This hair thinning shear isn't like the thinners mentioned above, this thinning shear only has 27 teeth on this pair. Having less teeth gives approximately 25% cutting to thinning ratio, as we mentioned above, the less teeth the more hair fall. So if this is your chosen tool, think wisely and carefully!
