Rant: Blending shears are a crutch for lazy barbers

I used to lean on my thinning shears for every textured cut, but after a mentor told me 'learn to slice with straight blades or get out of the chair,' I switched to freehand clipper-over-comb about 8 months ago. Who else thinks modern barbers rely too much on tools that hide bad technique?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_spencer3d ago

Man I totally agree with you on this one. I mean, I see so many younger barbers these days who just grab the blending shears the second they hit a line, instead of actually learning how to blend with their clippers. It's like they skip the whole step of understanding grain patterns and how hair naturally falls, and just rely on those shears to fix everything for them. And yeah, you can get away with it for a while, but it always looks softer and more natural when someone knows how to slice with straight blades or dial in their clipper work first. Maybe it's just me but I think if you really want to level up, you gotta struggle through the rough blends and learn from your mistakes instead of masking them with tools. That mentor you had gave you solid advice for real.

simon_coleman3d ago

That "struggle through the rough blends" part really hit home.