If you follow these simple instructions carefully, you will protect the integrity of your blades and should expect your scissors to last for a number of years.

1. These scissors are manually oiled before being packed and so you may see what appears to be water on the blades and screw nut, but this is not the case. What you see is high quality clear, thin viscous oil.  This is perfectly normal.  Please wipe off excess oil before first time use.
2. When resting your scissors, never place them down on a flat surface with the blades open.  If any objects happen to be in contact with them or if you drop them on a hard surface, you may damage the blades.  This may affect cutting performance.  Place them on a soft surface such as a cloth towel with the blades closed.
3. Never use your scissors to cut paper, cloth or any other material.
4. After every haircut, always wipe off any hair, water or chemicals remaining on the blades with a soft non-abrasive damp cloth. Then dry with a soft dry cloth and close them.  We recommend cleaning alcohol to clean chemicals and residue of sticky hair spray off the blades. You can also use a sheet of clean leather/chamois.
5. Every day or at least every other day, use a good quality scissors oil to lightly lubricate the inner blades and the inside of the screw area. Japanese Tsubaki Oil is the best lubricant and protector to use. Clipper oil should be avoided.
6. Every month run the back of your thumbnail along the edge of the blade to check for nicks.  This will indicate if your scissors need sharpening or not.
7. Blade tension - If there are no nicks on the blades, the sharpness is still there and your scissors are not performing efficiently, then your blades might be too loose. Hold the bottom handle of your scissors horizontally at a right-angle.  Now, lift up the top handle and let it drop.  If it drops very loosely towards fully closed, then it needs re-adjusting.  Just tighten the adjustment screw on the scissors with the tension key until you here a 'click' or turn the dial (if the sissors have one) manually with your fingers until you obtain the desired tension for the scissors. The correct amount of tension for the scissors is the angle between 2 pieces of scissor at about 30 degrees, when you hang one scissor blade and let the other one fall relying on its own gravity. Although, you may wish to use your own required tension, whatever works best for you. Don't tighten too much, otherwise, your blades will wear out sooner. See educational video above.
8. Every 6 months to a year have the scissors serviced from a professional scissors sharpener. Be sure to have it sharpened according to special Convex design.  If possible get the scissors serviced from a sharpener who is trained in traditional Japanese hand sharpening with whetstone.