I am particular about the tool of my craft, “the shears”.

I don’t necessarily own a lot of them, but I do try to keep four on hand. Three of which I use regularly. One is usually rotated out to be sharpened. 

I don’t use my thinning shears often, instead I have a pair for wet cuts, and a pair for dry cuts, both of which are the same exact shear. 

Basically, I own three of the same pairs of shears and one thinning shear, and nothing else. The feature I am particular about is the sensation of each hair as it passes through the blades. I stick to one type of shear in order to keep the consistency of this sensation. 

The one problem I have run into in America is the sharpening of my shears. Different shear sharpeners have different methods. I often hear of sending your shears out to be sharpened, only to have them sharpened in a way that’s unrecognizable from its original form. Which defeats the purpose of being particular about one type of shear. Shears made for hair professionals have a specific design. Different materials are used depending on the parts, the shape of the grip, the type of bearing, angles and twists of the blades, are all specific to hair shears. The only place that understands the particulars of these designs is the company that made the shears - the craftsmen at that factory are the only ones who can maintain the shears in as close a condition as possible to when they were sold. Which is why I always send my shears back to the original MIZUTANI manufacturing facility in Japan. It crosses the ocean and back, so it can easily take up to a month and a half to return. It comes back practically brand new, and maintains its sharpness even after cutting the hairs of 300 clients a month. Even after sharpening, the blade hardly decreases in size. The performance and stability of tools are the lifeblood of my career as a craftsman, so this is something I will continue to be particular about.