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Section 4: Selecting Your Perfect Handle

By now if you’ve been following this guide correctly you should have
decided on the edge sytle and material of your blade, leaving you ready
to make the next big decision — your scissor handle.

When choosing the handle type of your scissors there are a two things
that you will need to consider:

• Overall Hand Position
• Thumb Interface

It is important that you find a combination of the two attributes above
that will provide you with maximum comfort, maximum ease of use
and most importantly maximum effectiveness. Below is a brief guide
explaining the basics of the most common scissor handle characteristics
in the industry to date:

Handle Position
The first and most important decision you will have to make regarding your
scissor handle is its position and style, the most common of which are below:

Symmetric Handle or Opposing Grip

This style of handle is the oldest and least ergonomic and features
handles of the same length that are symmetrical to the center screw.
These shears force a stylist to raise their elbow to a horizontal position
for many techniques. They might be suited for those who cut with the
thumb and middle finger. They are however the most likely style to
cause RSI (Repetitive Stain Injury) and CTS (Carpel Tunnel Syndrome).

Offset Handle

An offset handle pair of shears feature a short thumb handle and a
longer finger handle. They were the first attempt to make shears more
comfortable and healthy for hairstylists. By having a shorter thumb
handle, they put less stress on the thumb tendon and therefore can help
reduce the risk of CTS. They still however, require a raised elbow
position for many techniques.

Crane Handle

The crane handle is also offset but it has one significant difference. If
you hold the blades of crane shear horizontally, the handle will angle
downward instead of being centered on the blades. This dramatically
improves the ergonomics because it relieves and prevents stress on
the thumb, arm and shoulder by allowing the hairdresser to cut with
their elbow in a lower position. The same angle of the handle also
moves the stylists hand away from the body when cutting on the skin
allowing for a freer more open cut. For most stylists, a crane handle
shear is recommended to relieve stress and minimize risk of RSI.

Extended Crane or Neutral Grip

This describes recently designed shears where the thumb handle is
much shorter and the thumb hole is farther offset from the finger hole.
In the case of Neutral Grip shears the thumb hole is actually in a neutral
position for the thumb, across from the index finger position like a
resting hand. The hand remains in a open configuration minimizing
stress on the tendons of the hand. These designs can go a long way to
reducing the risk of RSI.

Handle Thumb Treatments
Now you’ve chosen your handle its time to decide which thumb treatment
will be right for you and your style of cutting. Since your thumb is doing
most of the work of cutting, a lot of thought has gone into designs to
make the thumb more comfortable and reduce the work the thumb has
to do.

Standard Flat Thumb

Standard flat thumb ring has been around for many years. Sometimes lefties who use right handed shears will prefer a flat thumb because they can use it in the left hand easily. If on the other hand they are using true left handed shears they is no need to be forced to use the standard thumb ring. This style affords no special ergo- nomic benefit.

This style of thumb grip has an indentation cut out at the back of the ring. It also allows the side of the thumb to be used to open the shear, affording the option of lowering the elbow when cutting the length.

Shears designed with an anatomic thumb grip allow for even greater radial movement which translates into more freedom of motion for the stylist. It also allows the side of the thumb to be used to open the shear to lower the elbow when cutting the length.

This style of thumb grip is a recent innovative advancement to the hair industry. When properly used, a rotating thumb handle will allow an entire cut to be done with the elbow down. At the same time, the open grip keeps the hand relaxed as it would be in the above mentioned extended and neutral grips. Rotating handles have been shown to reduce repetitive stress injuries and are even recommended by doctors and hand therapists.

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