Thinning Shears for Hairstylists

Have you ever found it difficult or intimidating to use thinning shears on your clients hair? Did you even know it was possible to use thinning shears ONLY on a whole haircut? There are only a few stylists in the world who are able to do this, and Paulo Candido from Shear Genius Season 2 is one of those lucky few. It’s a lot simpler than you think, let me explain…

It might be difficult to phatom now, but one of the biggest problems stylists have when using thinning shears is that they use them too often throughout the haircut. If you look closely at the shears, they have teeth instead of blades. The purpose of thinning shears is to “thin” out a section of the hair that is thick, without altering the actual hairstyle.

Top stylist, Paulo Candido from Shear Genius, Season 2 works with 3 kinds of thinning shears, which are also referred to as texturing shears:

1. Notching scissors with a channel type blade, which are a 35T Texturizing Shear that produce a chunky texture.

2. Wide tooth 40T Thinning Shear that produce a velvety effect.

3. A Dual Purpose 14T Thinning Shear which notches and thins at the same time, and is essentially a combination of the first two. This shear adds texture and reduces length simultaneously.

Paulo calls this his time saver shear in his Ego Mechanix Salon, as it allows him to do the whole haircut with just these.

The Halo Technique is essentially a wide band to the top of the head, and that creates a guideline for the whole haircut. Paulo uses a Beta Blade thinning shear which combines both weaving and texturizing blades into one.

To achieve that perfect Halo Technique in the video, its very important as we start that we have very clean sections. These sections are not small by any means, they are usually about 1″ wide. Next you split the hair in half across the center from ear to ear, and divide that into three sections in the front. The point is not to remove a lot of length, but rather to texturize it and breaks things up and get rid of the thickness instead.

Next he works with the rear of the head, starting in the middle section. He refers to these 3 sections in the rear, as if one were to peal an orange into wedgdes. As the wedges come together, the effect is a round shape. He divides each side of the head into *crescents* and goes to work. The exception is the top section or the flat of the crown. Generally people want a lot more volume in that section, and keeping this piece longer allows the overall curvature of the haircut to flow nicely towards the rear of the head and create more volume. To achieve this, pull the top part straight up and create a texture by positioning your thinning shears in a brick laying fashion. Brick laying is the even distribution of texture. Using this method, move on to the next middle part below and use the first part as a guide to establish the length and create texture at the same time. Do this for the other *crescent* and get both sections of the head.

Lastly we work down through the nape area. By retaining the length behind the ears and removing the bottom section out, not only will it allow to have more stregth in that area, but it will give the haircut a more a structured shape. To remove the very bottom start by establishing the length. Use your comb and position it by placing it naturally at the nape instead of combing downward and directing the hair, then put the blade right underneath the comb and create a little bit of texture. Rock that blade side to side and create more of a broken up softer edge so that you have more control. Its very important that you place that comb naturally instead of pulling the hair down, as when you pull it, the hair wants to go one way. But when you release it from the comb, it splits and goes the other way. The end result is a nice and soft yet broken up haircut.

Paulo points out something very important that a lot of people mess up when using these texturizing shears. You only want to be creating texture on about an inch or so of the ends of the hair, and no go too far deep into the interior of the hair. What ends up happening is that it ends up weaking the structure of where the ends want to go.

Stylists should learn to manage and use these shears after using them extensively on their clients and figure out exactly how they work and what they do for the client and the hair texture as well. The basic need at the end of the visit, is that the client usually wants a lot of volume in their haircut. Paulo Candido says, that he uses texturizing shears on *every* haircut. Now that’s Shear Genius!

To learn more about the best thinning shears for your hairstyling needs, check out the ScissorBoy Store website.

Visit Paulo Candido at the Ego Mechanix Salon in San Jose, California.

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