Why do Shears Fold Hair? Shears Not Cutting.

16th November 2022

Written by: Jessie Jaggers

Reasons Why Do Shears Fold Hair

There are a few reasons shears will fold hair. Let’s go over those…

Dull and Nicked Shears Fold Hair

The first is, they’re dull. Just get them sharpened and they’ll work just fine. The other are nicks in the blade. They’ve been dropped or you’ve cut through something you shouldn’t, and you get little nicks in them. You can kind of feel them in there too.

That’ll cause it to fold hair. I recommend just putting a rubber band around them and set them aside until you can get to your sharpener.

Loose Shears Fold Hair

The next one is tension. If you open your shear up and it just slams shut - there’s not enough tension and the blades are being pushed apart when you’re trying to scissor instead of cutting hair, they’re just folding it. 

You want to open your shear and have it drop but you don’t want the slam always set. You want a little bit of gap in there when it closes. That’s the perfect tension for these shears.

Misaligned Shears Fold Hair

Another you don’t see quite often but does happen as a misalignment issue or as we sharpeners call it - they’re being out of the set. Maybe they got dropped, stepped on, or got kicked around; it causes the blades not to work properly against one another. 

That’s something the sharpener should be able to take care of. That will cause hair to fold.

GEM 9 Inch Straight Shear

How can Sharp Edges help me?

If you're having trouble with your shears and they're not cutting properly, head to our Shear Sharpening Services page and fill out the form and we'll be more than happy to help you get back to what you do best in no time.