Quality cut manicure is impossible without nail clippers. With their help, burrs are carefully removed, dry skin on the side rollers is removed, and the cuticle is trimmed. The speed of work and the long-term effect of manicure depend on the quality of this tool. There are many models of tweezers on sale, which, at first glance, differ only in price.
Although brand-name products are actually more expensive than household manicure tools, it's easy to make a mistake when choosing the right accessories. It is better to choose a well-known brand. As a rule, a well-known company will not save on the quality of steel. Its products undergo mandatory control and receive reliable packaging that protects during transportation and storage.
The structure of nail clippers
Tweezers are two metal parts with handles and cutting edges. They are fastened with a screw and provided with a spring to adjust the compression of the blades. This is where the similarities between professional and home tools end.
For a month of intensive work of the tweezer bladescosting two hundred rubles lose their former sharpness, and the spring breaks. And this is at best. They can rust and stop shrinking, they can break off the corner of the blade. The appearance of such a tool will be lost.
Professional tweezers are made from high quality steel, so they won't rust. The cutting edges also last a long time. Springs, in addition to being stronger, can be of such varieties that do not require replacement. This is a spiral, for example. If the spring looks like a metal strip, it is fastened with a screw and can be easily replaced in case of breakage.
Two types of tweezers
In special stores for beauty salons, you can find tools from two price segments. These are professional manicure tongs, which are made of medical steel, costing from three to five thousand rubles and cheap tools priced up to five hundred rubles.
It is not uncommon for a good tool to be sold unsharpened. It should be taken to the workshop and sharpened. Cheap tweezers are already sharpened and ready to go. Their price allows you to use them until the blades lose their sharpness, after which they are changed to a new tool. Some manicurists take cheap tweezers to the workshop, and this even brings good results. But after several sharpenings, they become so thin in the working part of the tool that they quickly break - either in the workshop or in the salon.
Review of professional and household brands
There are several brands of quality tweezers thatwill last for many years. This is a Japanese handmade instrument by KAI, costing from five to twelve thousand rubles, depending on the model. They will not dull for a long time, because the KAI brand has been known for quality for more than a hundred years. No less reliable are nail clippers "Staleks" of the Kharkov plant of medical instruments. They are made of high alloy steel and will last a long time.
Yoko's handmade tweezers are made from cob alt steel and are also in demand among professionals. Their price is about a thousand rubles. German cutters "Mozart" are distinguished by long cutting surfaces - 12 mm versus the usual 5 mm. Their price is two thousand rubles. Some companies make nail scissors. They are held like scissors, but their cutting blades are made like those of tweezers. Mertz produces several sizes of these instruments.
Inexpensive household tweezers are made by Singer and Zolinger. Unfortunately, they are the ones most often faked. Therefore, you can buy tools only in trusted stores or at major exhibitions.
Blade size: which is better to choose
Beginners take a tool with small blades, because their hand is not yet full and half-centimeter blades leave wounds on the side rollers. Not all brands produce products with small blades. For example, Singer nail clippers are almost always available with blades five millimeters long. If you need a smaller size, it is better to choose the company "Solinger" - it producessizes 4, 5 and 4 mm.
Professionals are more comfortable working with long blades. When the cuticle is trimmed, the blades are placed vertically in the corners of the nail bed and make very small cuts, so the risk of cutting the cuticle is minimized. Beginners are not yet accustomed to handling the blades, and the heel of the tool grabs the skin without noticing it. They prefer short blades.
When the master works with short blades, he leads the tool with a short step. So it turns out to better control the cut line, changing the direction of movement of the tweezers in time. But a straight beautiful line cannot be done this way; it is achieved by using long blades. That's why professionals use large tweezers.
Differences in springs for tweezers of different models
A lot depends on the spring: will the blades be compressed easily or tight, how long will they last. Manicure tongs, the photo of which is presented below, have a composite spring of two metal strips with fasteners at the ends for connection during operation. When buying such a model, it is important to check how the halves of the spring close. They may not match when working if the strips are bent or defective.
If the spring is made in the form of a single strip, it is more likely to break prematurely. These are usually completed with inexpensive household models. Their metal does not withstand a lot of compression-expansion.
It is much better to get tweezers with a coil spring that is removable. When buying such a model, they select those that are convenienthold in hand without effort - if the spring is too tight, the hand will tire.
Sterilization is a test for the instrument
Regular sterilization of instruments ensures safety when performing a manicure. Professionals use a dry oven that generates a fairly high temperature. Manicure tongs are pre-washed from skin particles, wiped from moisture and placed in a disinfectant solution. After the prescribed exposure time, you must definitely rinse them. The dry instrument is placed in a paper bag.
Beginners don't always understand the importance of sterilization. But even if they decide not to ignore this step, they get a glasperlenic ball sterilizer. It works by heating small glass beads. The temperature can reach 180 degrees in the lower layers. If the tweezers are left in the sterilizer for too long, they will become so hot that they can bend on impact.
Poor-quality instruments rust when treated with disinfectant solutions. Parts of the tweezers that are not completely washed after the solution are covered with brown soot when immersed in a sterilizer. This makes them dull faster.
Sharpening nail clippers
Tweezers are very delicate tools. They should be sharpened with diamond wheels, which can only be guaranteed by a special workshop. At the plant, workers who sharpen manicure or medical instruments undergo special training. The angle at which the master will hold the cutter is important. Excessive pressure will result in the formation of too thinsurface, and the blades will decrease in length, changing their size.
If sharpening tweezers is unprofessional, then microscopic notches remain on them. They do not affect the quality of kitchen knives or scissors, but they cause injury to the thin skin of the cuticle. No one would probably want a surgeon to perform a strip operation with a blunt or rusty scalpel. So why should standards be lowered for manicure tools?
With no idea about the complexity of the design of manicure blades, people believe that you can sharpen tweezers in the same way as ordinary household appliances. But at the same time, the exact angle at which this should be done is not respected. Tweezers are designed so that their cut differs from the cut of scissors. Scissors have a flat cut, and tweezers have a corner. Even if you manage to sharpen the edges of the tool, it will crumple the cuticle. The peel will not be cut off, but come off.
All the recommendations of the so-called experts on how to sharpen nail clippers at home are not good. Professional tools will ruin it, and household ones can also break.
How to choose tweezers in the store
In order to choose the best tweezers from the proposed range, several tests should be performed. The first is for balance: the tweezers in the closed position are taken by one handle and slightly shaken. They shouldn't be revealed. If they open up under this influence, they put such a tool aside, it will not be needed.
The next test is the flatness of the blades in both horizontal and verticalprojections. A finger is run along the edge of the closed blades, checking for protrusions. The clearance of the blades should go away when the handles are squeezed.
The third test is the riveting test: the handles are moved in opposite directions. There should be no clicks. How to choose good nail clippers - professional or household - the specialist tells in the video.
Checking blade sharpness
When purchasing tweezers, they are checked for sharpness of sharpening. For the test, they take a plastic bag “T-shirt”, place one layer between the blades and slightly reduce the handles. The package is pulled forward. Do this several times to make sure you get a clean, straight cut.
Then, after the same movement of the tool, the package is pulled to the side. This checks for the presence or absence of notches on the blades. If not professionally sharpened, they will leave marks.
Pro Reviews
Every manicurist has a favorite brand of tools. The school where they received their diploma may have made such instruments to order to the standards of a particular student. There are women with small hands who find it difficult to use standard tools.
The most reliable professionals call products of the brand "Mozart" with blades of twelve millimeters. These nail clippers are said to last for decades. When the double spring fails, a suitable length of PVC cable is put on the handles.
For beginners, working craftsmen recommend purchasing Zolinger products - they have the mostan attractive combination of price and quality, while a wide variety of models of all sizes. These tweezers withstand multiple sterilizations.
How to store tweezers
In the salon, the instruments are stored in the chamber of the ultraviolet sterilizer. Such equipment is used by hairdressers, cosmetologists and manicurists. If sterilization treatment is carried out in a dry-heat cabinet, the instruments are stored in kraft bags.
At home, you can store tools in a case if they are intended for individual use. But it is better to sterilize them in the oven, after placing them in a kraft bag. This maintains sterility for a long time, which is important when working with clients.
The tool cannot be dropped, as it cannot be repaired afterwards. It should not be allowed to store tweezers in a case without first fixing, because with constant contact with other metal tools (scraper and pusher), they are at risk of riveting displacement, unfastening of fasteners, deformation, chipping of protective coating and other defects. If the instrument is stored in such conditions, it will be difficult to work even with the best forceps. The manicure will be of poor quality due to blunt blades and their incomplete fit.
Conclusion
A handy tool to work with. Manicure tongs should be selected according to the size of the hand and cutting edges. It is better to spend time looking for suitable tweezers than to suffer much longer from the fact that your wrist gets tired and the blades do not cut, but pull the skin. If pickychoose a tool, then you will get a reliable assistant.