Today we will go through the very best way you can care and clean your barber tools. You can be the best barber with the best tools in the world, but if you don't know how to properly care, clean and disinfect those tools then that comes hand in hand with being the best.
Naturally we favor your barbering scissors as your most important tool, over other tools. So you will find we will offer our best advice on how to best take care of your barber scissors, because well.. we know our stuff on scissors!
In this blog we will teach or even just remind you how often you should clean your tools, how to clean them properly, why it's so important to clean your tools, things to avoid doing when cleaning your scissors, and so much more.
How often one should clean their tools depends on the tool itself and we also have to think about spot cleaning, disinfecting a tool or deep cleaning a tool as well.
Generally spot cleaning would be wiping down your tools in between every client. Spot cleaning can be rinsing your tools (if possible) with water or spraying sanitiser over them. A spot clean will never be a deep clean and should never be the only cleaning you do with your tools but it should be done in between every client. Remember to always wipe off any water residue from your scissors and have them completely dry at all times.
A deep cleaning is a more of a thorough job and can be done either daily with your scissors and combs or weekly with your clippers and other hair tools. A deep clean would be to use your cleaning brush and isopropyl alcohol to delicately brush your scissors to remove any hair, dirt and left over product off the steel.
Nobody wants to see dirty stations or tools before they sit down for a haircut. So if you need to just use common sense with this one and clean your tools even more often or less then that is fine too.Just remember proper hygiene, and cleanliness with your tools throughout the day is important.
To make things easier for you we have included below our step by step process of the way we feel is the best way to clean those professionals with a barber shop or hairdressing scissors.
"KNOWLEDGE IS POWER" ..
When it comes to understanding the importance of cleaning your tools regularly and properly. If you value the dollars you have spent on your tools and want to see what you have purchased last through the ages, then the first step is to take care of them and clean your tools to protect your investment.
Certain types of products can cause the steel to corrode or rust over time, if they are not properly cleaned or wiped down regularly. Even a simple wipe while you're not using your scissors would go a long way if there is water on them. Water is the main cause of rust as you would know, and rust and corrosion have a nasty way of rearing its ugly head over time if you are not carefully cleaning those scissors.
By taking care of all the debris off of your investment with regular cleaning then you are vastly extending the lifespan of your scissors.
Also using scissor oil to use at the end of a clean is always important because scissor oil is made up of the right ingredients to care for your scissors to also prevent any damage or corrosion.
Clean hair clippers and clean hair scissors will cut and perform better for you. That excess hair never does anything for anybody.
Firstly we recommend that you should always find a professional sharpening service for your hair cutting scissors and barbering tools that is located in your area.
You should never try to sharpen your clippers or hair cutting scissors yourself or pull apart your clippers to clean them yourself either (leave it to the professionals).
You should be aiming to book in for a professional sharpening at least 1-2 times a year to maintain the razor sharp edge on your hair cutting scissors. It's a common misconception that some expensive hair cutting scissors will stay sharper for longer (which can be true) or not need sharpening at all, we know that all scissors should be maintained and sharpened regularly.
A professional hair scissors sharpener and a professional clipper blades sharpener should also be able to take apart your scissors and hair clippers to remove any dirt or hair that could be stuck inside the hair clipper or stuck in hard to get to areas on your hair scissors.
Your tools should be sterilized between each client.
They can be sanitized with cleaning alcohol clipper spray. After you have wiped cleaning alcohol or sprayed the alcohol on the clipper blade or hair scissors, it's always important to wipe and rinse off any debris from the metal to prevent corrosion.
It's important to check your scissor tension because if your scissor tension is too tight then it can pull on the clients hair and can give you hand fatigue or even RSI related injuries. If the tension is too loose it can cause the hair to bend between scissors blades.
Protecting and caring for your tools is always as important as investing in good quality tools to see you through your barbering and hairdressing career. Why invest all this money to then have your tools break, rust or fail on you because you failed to take care of them.
Now I'm sure if you have made it to the end of this article that you are invested in taking care of your tools, and that we can 100% vibe with.
Happy Cutting!