3 questions about thinning and texture shears
As a hairstylist, one of the most important aspects of your job will be knowing what kind of hair shears are appropriate for the clients that walk into your salon. Knowing the differences between a thinning shear and a texture shear, for example, will allow you to make the right call when trimming a customer’s locks. If you are just starting out, it helps to familiarize yourself with all of the tools you will be working with on a regular basis.
Here are a few questions about thinning and texture shears:
What is a thinning shear? A thinning shear is a shear that has narrow teeth and narrow spaces between the teeth. Usually they will have between 30 and 40 teeth. The fact that they cut such small pieces of hair and leave such small pieces uncut make the difference invisible to the eye. This is why they are often called blending shears as well. Clients don’t want their hair thinned in many cases, but they are happy to have it blended. Don’t be confused by people that will talk about what percentage of hair a texture or thinning shear will remove. If you think about it, the percentage the shear removes has more to do with the thickness of the section than the pattern of the teeth.
On a very fine section, a thinning shear might remove 50 percent of the hair, but on a thicker section the same shear might only take 20 or 25 percent because the excess hair falls between the teeth. A texture shear might remove the same percentage but give you a much different effect. So talking percentage is really not helpful. Thinning or blending shears remove weight and blend hair and they do it without creating volume. Texture shears on the other hand create separation and visible texture which can also create volume. So it is much more helpful to talk about the pattern and function of the teeth than what percentage they remove.
Why do they sometimes leave a line in the section? This is because most thinning shears have a V at the tip of the teeth that will hold a certain amount of hair on each tooth. The straight blade then closes on the teeth and cuts the hair that is held by each tooth. This can sometimes create essentially a dotted line in the section. Also, the sharp straight blade can tug or drag on the uncut hair as you pull the shear away. SENSEI has new seamless blenders that do not make any lines. They also work in such a way that they will never tug or pull at the hair as you draw them away from the section.
What is the difference between thinning and texture shears? A texture shear will have wider teeth and wider spaces between the teeth. The larger pieces of cut and uncut hair will show up to the eye as texture in the hair. The problem is many texture shears cut notches or ‘castle walls’ into the hair. Once again SENSEI has a solution. SENSEI makes Point Cut™ Textureshears that give you the natural look of point cut texture without the time and effort of point cutting. No notches, no ‘castle walls’, just natural texture that clients say grows out better than a randomly point cut haircut.
If you are in the market for new beauty shears for your salon, be sure to shop with Sensei Shears today! Check out the rest of our website to learn more about the high-quality products that we offer.
