How to Oil Your Hairdressing Scissors Properly

Your scissors are a precision instrument with two hardened steel blades meeting at a single bearing point thousands of times a day. Without a film of oil at that pivot, metal grinds on metal, moisture creeps in, and tension drifts. Daily oiling is the single cheapest, fastest habit that protects a $400 to $1500 tool from premature wear.

After 35+ years sharpening and selling professional hairdressing scissors across Australia, I can tell you the shears that come back to me ruined almost always share the same story: they were never oiled properly. This guide is the exact routine I teach every hairdresser who buys a pair from us.

Why Daily Oiling Matters

Hairdressing scissors are not kitchen shears. They are a precision cutting instrument finished to micron tolerances, and the pivot is the most stressed point on the entire tool. Skip oiling and four things start to go wrong, often at the same time.

• Friction wear at the pivot. Every cut rotates the blades against each other. Without lubricant, the bearing surfaces polish, then pit, then loosen. Once the pivot is worn, no amount of tension adjustment will bring the cut back.
• Corrosion. Salons are humid environments. Sweat, water, conditioner residue and colour chemicals all eat into steel. A thin oil film displaces moisture and forms a barrier between the blade and the air.
• Tension drift. A dry pivot grabs and skips, which makes the scissors feel tight one minute and loose the next. You end up over-tightening to compensate, which accelerates wear even faster.
• Reduced longevity. A well-oiled pair of Japanese Hitachi ATS-314 steel scissors will outlast a neglected pair by years. The steel is the same. The maintenance is the difference.

What Type of Oil to Use

This is where most hairdressers go wrong. The bottle matters as much as the routine. Use the wrong fluid and you can damage the very thing you are trying to protect.

Use: Purpose-made scissor oil

Scissor oil (sometimes sold as clipper oil or shear oil) is a light, food-grade or pharmaceutical-grade mineral oil. It is thin enough to flow into the bearing, stable enough not to gum up, and free of additives that could react with skin, hair or salon chemicals. This is what you want. Every reputable scissor brand sells one, and a single 30ml bottle will last most stylists a year.

Acceptable in a pinch: sewing machine oil

Pure sewing machine oil is chemically very similar to scissor oil. If you are travelling and cannot find proper scissor oil, it will get you through a few days. It is not a long-term substitute.

Never use: WD-40

WD-40 is a water dispersant and solvent, not a lubricant. It strips existing oil out of the pivot, evaporates within hours, and leaves the bearing dry and exposed. Spraying WD-40 into a $600 pair of shears is one of the most damaging things you can do to them. The same applies to brake cleaner, contact cleaner and any aerosol degreaser.

Never use: 3-in-1 oil, olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, baby oil

3-in-1 oil contains additives that gum up over time and trap grit inside the pivot. Cooking oils go rancid, oxidise, and form a sticky varnish that physically blocks the bearing. Baby oil contains fragrance and emulsifiers. None of these belong anywhere near a precision Japanese shear.

How Often to Oil Your Scissors

The short answer is every single day you use them. The longer answer depends on what you have been cutting.

• End of every working day. Non-negotiable. One drop, distributed properly, takes 20 seconds.
• After any wet cutting. Water inside the pivot is the fastest route to corrosion. Wipe the blades dry and re-oil immediately.
• After cleaning with alcohol or disinfectant. Alcohol-based barbicide and salon disinfectants strip oil out of the bearing. Always re-oil after sterilising.
• After cutting through colour, bleach or product-heavy hair. Chemical residue is corrosive. Clean and re-oil the same day, not at the end of the week.

If you cut all day, every day, oil twice. Once at lunch, once at close. Your shears will thank you.

Step-by-Step Oiling Process

Follow this exact sequence. The order matters because oiling dirty scissors traps debris inside the pivot and does more harm than good.

1. Clean the blades first. Wipe both blades from pivot to tip with a soft, lint-free cloth (microfibre or chamois). Remove every trace of hair, product and moisture. If the blades are sticky from colour or styling product, use a dedicated scissor cleaning solution or a touch of isopropyl alcohol on the cloth, then dry thoroughly.
2. Open the scissors fully. Hold them open at roughly 90 degrees so the pivot area is exposed and gravity will pull the oil down into the bearing. Do not oil closed scissors — the oil sits on top and never reaches where it is needed.
3. Apply one drop at the pivot. One drop. Not three, not a puddle. Place it directly onto the screw or bearing housing where the two blades meet. On dual bearing flat systems the oil needs to reach the bearing race, so applying it right at the pivot disc is critical.
4. Open and close the scissors slowly. Work the blades open and closed 8 to 10 times. This pulls the oil through the bearing surfaces and distributes a microscopic film along the ride line where the blades meet. You should feel the action smooth out within a few cycles.
5. Wipe the excess. Any oil sitting on the outside of the blade is just there to attract dust and hair clippings. Wipe both blades down with a clean section of the cloth so they are dry to the touch but lubricated internally.
6. Store properly. Place the scissors back in their leather case or case, closed, away from humidity. More on storage below.

Common Oiling Mistakes

Even experienced stylists fall into these traps. Recognise them and your shears will hold their tension and edge for years longer.

• Too much oil. A drowned pivot attracts hair, dust and lint, which forms a paste inside the bearing. One drop is enough. Always.
• Wrong oil. Covered above, but worth repeating: WD-40 and household oils will damage the scissors. Use purpose-made scissor oil only.
• Ignoring the pivot, oiling the blade edge. The cutting edge does not need lubrication — the bearing does. Oil applied along the blade serves no purpose and just attracts debris.
• Oiling without cleaning first. Dirty scissors plus fresh oil equals abrasive grinding paste at the exact point you are trying to protect.
• Forcing oil into a tight pivot. If the action feels gritty even after oiling, the bearing is contaminated and needs to be opened and serviced. Do not just keep adding oil.
• Skipping days because the scissors "feel fine." By the time they feel dry, microscopic wear has already happened. Daily oiling is preventative, not reactive.

Storage After Oiling

How you store the scissors between cuts matters almost as much as the oil itself.

• Use a proper leather case. Leather wicks moisture away from the blade and protects the edge from knocks. Plastic cases trap humidity. Loose in a drawer is the worst option of all.
• Store closed, never open. Open scissors expose the cutting edge to the case lining and any passing knock. Closed scissors protect the edge.
• Tension can stay set for daily use. For long-term storage (a week or more between uses, or shipping the scissors for service), some stylists release tension half a turn to take pressure off the bearing. For everyday salon use, leave the tension where you set it.
• Away from humidity. Do not store shears in the bathroom, the laundry, near a sink, or anywhere with steam. A dry drawer in the cutting station is ideal.
• Never leave scissors in a tool belt overnight. Sweat, hair and product all sit against the blade for 14 hours. Take them out and store them properly every single night.

When Oiling Isn't Enough

Oil is preventative maintenance. It keeps a healthy pair of scissors healthy. It cannot fix a pair that has already gone past the point of daily care. Watch for these signs that you need a deeper service.

• The action feels gritty or sticky even after a clean and re-oil.
• The blades fold or push hair instead of cutting cleanly through it.
• Tension will not hold — you adjust it in the morning and it has drifted by lunch.
• Visible nicks, chips or rust spots on the cutting edge.
• The scissors feel "tired" — you are working harder than you used to for the same cut.

When any of these show up, the scissors need professional sharpening, a pivot service, or both. Most professional shears need a proper sharpen every 6 to 12 months depending on workload — see our professional sharpening schedule for the full breakdown. ShearGenius runs a mobile scissor sharpening service across VIC, SA and TAS, so we come to your salon and service your tools on site.

Daily oiling is the cheapest insurance policy you will ever buy for your most important tool. Spend 20 seconds at the end of every shift, use the right oil, store the scissors properly, and a quality pair of premium Japanese hairdressing scissors built from Hitachi ATS-314 steel will hold their edge and tension for years longer than anything you neglect. When the time comes for a deeper service, we are a phone call away.