Hi my name is Anh Co Tran. I’ve been a professional hair artist for 19 years now.

Finding a shear that feels like a natural extension of my fingers is a journey that’s taken 2 years.

If you want the best quality shears, then it's important to understand how they're made. This is because the quality of the raw materials used, manufacturing process, and pride of craftsmanship will determine whether your shears are good or bad.

My team and I researched the characteristics of metals and other raw materials used for the construction of shears. For example, we determined that adding iron to a pair of shears increases the overall lifespan, while steel gives the blades additional strength, and cobalt makes them sharper. We did a lot of testing and put a lot of thought into the development of the formula for the shears because it needs to be absolutely precise even before it's sent to the factory for manufacturing.

For production, I chose a facility in Niigata, Japan. There are shears produced all over the world. But many of them made in other places are mass-produced in a hurry.

What sets this factory in Japan apart from the rest is their labor-intensive process and pride they take in putting forth the best product possible. The region was famous in the Edo period for crafting samurai swords. I think their history and legacy is one of the biggest sources of their pride in craftsmanship and part of what drew me to this particular factory and location. They use a time-consuming tempering and binding process in order to produce the strongest metal. It is heated, pounded, and cooled many times under conditions that reach up to 1,000 degrees celsius in order to generate a metal that can hold the shape of the shears for a long time. This is how you know you're getting a top-quality product that will last. And this is critical when you want to elevate your craft into something more.