Pro-trim tip: I switched from heavy shears to lighter ones and my hand pain vanished in a week

I'd been using the same bulky shears for about 3 years straight, and my right hand was cramping up after every second haircut. Last month, I finally grabbed a pair of Joewell lighterweights after a coworker insisted I try hers. The difference was night and day, I could do a full head of layers without shaking out my hand once. Has anyone else found that switching tool weight helped with wrist or elbow strain?

3 comments

3 Comments

stellaa6912d ago

Maybe check your grip technique too. Lighter shears won't fix bad habits, they just make them easier to ignore.

viola_ward12d ago

Yeah that "bad habits" thing really hit home for me. I had this old pair of shears that weighed like a ton and I got so used to twisting my wrist to compensate. When I finally got lighter ones I kept doing the same twist and it actually made things worse because the shears would just slide off the cut. It took me way too long to unlearn that and start using my whole arm instead of just my wrist. Now I tell people to practice their grip on a pair of cheap scissors before upgrading to anything fancy.

joelt7012d ago

You ever had a friend who just refuses to listen to good advice? My buddy Mike used to swear by these super heavy shears he got at a flea market, figured they were built tough so they had to be good. He'd cut with this awkward sideways flick of his wrist and ended up with a bad case of tendinitis in his elbow from the strain. When I finally convinced him to try my lighter ones, he couldn't even hold them steady because his grip was so messed up from overcompensating. He'd drop them halfway through a cut and get all frustrated. It was a mess until he slowed down and actually watched some videos on proper hand position.