The helix is a dominant factor in nature and mechanical evolution. A scissors blade replicates a coil spring that holds a constant angle to a fixed axis.
Lightning Sharp - GeoPerfect
Scissors Sales & Sharpening Service
The stylist who believes it is only the blades sharpness that makes their scissors perform is a challenging customer indeed.
By bringing attention to the three-dimensional contour of a scissors blade, the significance of using our GeoPerfect Sharpening Service will be an enlightenment. The blades geometry originates at the scissors pivot area and completes its arc when it gently touches the tip.
This shape is called a helix, a cylindrical coil replicating a spring that applies an exact resistance to the scissors blade, sustaining a constant angle on a fixed axis. This single motion will be repeated thousands of times throughout the workday.
The contact point, where the scissors’ blades glide along one another, is ultra sharp and is one hundred times smaller than a single hair. (a normal hairs diameter is approximately one hundred microns).
The helix, sometimes called the twist, bend, or arc of the scissors blade determines how perfectly a scissors sharpness can slice through the hair. Even the sharpest of edges may not be able to cut hair well if the scissors geometry is not preserved or when it is ignored by the sharpener.
The helix, which is the decisive measurement of a scissor's quality, is assumed to be polished to NASA spacecraft tolerances. However, some producers lack the expertise to achieve this level of refinement or simply disregard its importance. This diminishes the geometric interaction required for a blades sharpness to perform. By disregarding the most important industry standard other than the steel being used, they make scissors that cut but are susceptible to malfunction.
When a manufacturer produces scissors with improper geometry, and there a many, the cutting process
deteriorates within a few workdays. It is unreasonable to expect the untrained observer to determine whether a scissor is geometrically balanced, as the majority of new scissors feel good and cut well, at least for a while.
Does this sound familiar?
It forces the stylist to compensate for the scissors failures such as bending, pushing, and pulling of the hair. Then, after attempting various tension settings and using thumb pressure to force the scissors to function, typically the stylist is unsuccessful in finding a solution. When a scissor fails the next decision should be to contact the company you trusted and bought it from. However, the local sharpener typically receives the call to repair a competitors product, even when this was not their sale. Why?
​Sharpening the edge without correcting the geometry never resolves this issue. There are scissor brands that are notoriously known for having never produced GeoPerfect scissors, yet they promote them as the best and price them as high quality.
After decades of ignoring resolutions to their products' shortcomings, they have continued to sell scissors.
Celebrity endorsements and showy promotions cannot cloak the reality that the majority of these scissors can never be reconfigured to be GeoPerfect.
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It is in the best interest of any stylist owning scissors with reoccurring failures to return them only to that brands service center for repair. Each brand is solely responsible for service of their product and its reputation.
​GeoPerfect scissors are without doubt more costly to manufacture, yet they are more precise, easy to maintain and retain their sharpness longer.
Lightning Sharp sells only GeoPerfect scissors that are supported with their exclusive Elite Edge. This proprietary service is available only with the purchase of the Lightning Sharp Brands, such as their International and Inazuma Scissors.
Identifying whether or not stylists are adhering to Basic Career Disciplines while using their scissors does expedite the diagnosis of a scissors malfunction. So, expect a few questions on how you use and maintain your scissors. Check out this article: How to talk to a sharpener.