Hot take: stop flipping your clipper blade to test the heat

I kept seeing guys at my shop in Austin touch the back of the blade after a trim to see if it's hot. That tells you nothing about the actual cutting edge temperature. I burned a client's scalp bad last year doing that and felt terrible. Learned from a barber supply rep that you gotta check the blade face with a temperature strip or just feel the clipper head casing instead. Anyone else had a close call with overheating?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera30824d ago

Grabbed a temp gun from Harbor Freight and never looked back.

olivia_allen23d ago

The harbor freight ones work perfectly fine for this, no need to spend more. A real game changer is using the temp gun to also check your spray bottle water temperature between clients. Keeps everything consistent and prevents shocking the blade with cold water.

the_evan24d ago

Yeah that temp gun idea is smart. I keep one of those little IR thermometers in my barber kit now (the cheap ones work fine) and I check the blade face between every few clients. The clipper casing can feel cool but the blade can still be cooking, especially if you're doing a lot of heavy work or the blade tension is a little too tight. I had a close call a few months back where the blade felt warm on the back but the face was reading 140 degrees - caught it just in time.