Why Ergonomic Shears Are Essential for Every Hairdresser 

Every stylist should start their scissor shopping by choosing a handle design that allows them to work in a comfortable body position. For a professional who uses shears all day in the salon, not paying attention to ergonomics is a mistake that can cost you your career.

You should understand that ergonomics is essentially the science of fitting tools to the human body. Each day, your hand interfaces with the scissor to perform thousands and thousands of openings and closings of the shear. If that is accomplished in a healthy way, your body can handle it. If you are working with a non-ergonomic shear that causes you to stretch your thumb tendon each time, though, it can cause tendonitis or even carpal tunnel syndrome. For example, a handle that causes you to put your thumb across from your ring finger will cause much more stress to your hand and wrist than one that is offset enough to keep your thumb from traveling that far. A rotating thumb shear opens your hand even more, reducing the thumb travel needed and allowing you to keep your elbow down in all cutting positions. A shear that causes you to raise your elbow to achieve a horizontal cutting line will cause more stress to your neck and shoulder than necessary. This can lead to an issue called thoracic outlet syndrome. That comes from the blood flow to your arm being impeded by holding your elbow up too much. You want to be sure you are getting what is known as a crane handle design or a rotating thumb crane handle. If you get a fixed thumb shear, make sure the thumb ring is either bent or cut away, so you can use the side of your thumb instead of having to fully insert your thumb. SENSEI shears are all ergonomically designed to not only feel comfortable in your hand but also put your body in a healthy posture for all cutting techniques. All SENSEI shears come with a 14-day trial period, so you can be confident you will never be stuck with a shear that you don’t like. Please contact us if you have any questions about our ergonomic shears today.