Tweezers serve as a good option for facial hair removal when you want to get rid of a few stray hairs on your upper lips, chin, and sideburns. They also help in shaping and maintaining the shape of the eyebrows.
Furthermore, being one of the 9 Eco-Friendly & Sustainable Hair Removal Options makes tweezers a must-have in your unwanted hair grooming tools. Despite being durable and economical, tweezers can lose their sharpness and become dull.
Consequently, you can not achieve precise results. So, does it mean you have to throw the tweezers and buy a new set?
Well, not really. Today, we bring you a guide on how to sharpen tweezers. So, stay tuned.
Table of Contents:
- Part 1: Do Tweezers Get Dull?
- Part 2: Assessing the Sharpness of Tweezers
- Part 3: 3 Methods to Sharpen Tweezers
- Part 4: How Long do Tweezers Last?
- Part 5: Maintenance and Care for Sharp Tweezers
Part 1: Do Tweezers Get Dull?
Yes, tweezers get dull after a certain time. Even the best tweezers that are mentioned in 10 Best Tweezers for Facial Hair Removal 2023 can become dull as a result of their constant use.
The continuous use of tweezers, just like any other equipment, causes wear and tear on the tips and handles of the tweezer. As a result, the tip loses its sharpness and precision while the handle also loses its grip.
Although tweezers get dull in the long run, some factors might cause their dullness earlier than expected. These factors include improper use with poor tweezing technique, failure of regular maintenance, messy storage, and inadequate cleaning.
So, whenever you feel like your tweezers are breaking the hair strands instead of pulling them out, are failing to grab the hair, and are slipping out of your hands, it is a sign that your tweezers need replacement.
Part 2: Assessing the Sharpness of Tweezers
These tips will help you assess the sharpness of your tweezers.
Signs of Dullness
Once you feel like your tweezers are not working as accurately as they did a few days ago, it is the most obvious sign of dullness. Furthermore, you might experience the following signs,
- Failure to grab the hair strand: This is because of the malalignment of the handles of the tweezer.
- Slipping the tweezers out of your hand: The tweezers slip out of the hands while you are removing the hair once they get dull.
- Breakage of the hair strand: As dull tweezers cannot grip the hair strand firmly, they will break the hair instead of pulling it out of the skin.
- Reduced precision: The ultimate effect of the dullness of the tweezers is reduced or no precision.
Appearance of the Tweezers
Once you are sure that tweezers are dull, you need to know which part of the tweezers is dull. For this, take a magnifying glass and carefully inspect each area of the metallic tweezer. Any area that is flat or dull requires you to work on it. Also, you can do it with the naked eye.
Also, squeeze the tips of the tweezers to check their alignment.
Grip Test
Lastly, a grip test is used after you are done sharpening the tweezers. It helps you to ensure that your tweezer becomes as sharp and as aligned as you want it to be.
For this, grab a hair or thin clothes/piece of paper with the tweezers and exert little force on it. If the pull is firm, your grip test is positive and the tweezers are ready to be used.
Part 3: 3 Methods to Sharpen Tweezers
Coming to the main topic of this article, here are the 3 foolproof methods to sharpen your dull tweezers and save money on buying a new one.
1. Using a Tweezers Sharpening Tool
Along with the tweezers, the market is full of tweezers sharpening tools like AccuSharp Pocket Stone Sharpener with Pouch, and Amazon Basics Whetstone. This method works best for the tweezers with angled tips.
So, get your tweezers sharpening tool or sandpaper and follow the steps on “how to sharpen tweezers at home” given below.
- Close the angled tips of your tweezers together and hold them parallel to the tweezers sharpening tool
- Now, press the tip of the tweezers on the sharpening tool and move your hand in a to-and-fro motion
- Continue this for 3 to 5 motions until you can see that the tip has been sharpened accurately
2. Using a Nail File or Emery Board
If you are wondering “Can you sharpen tweezers? The answer is of course.
The most common and easy method of sharpening tweezers at home is using a nail file or emery board. This is made of a rough surface that can help in reducing the dullness of the different parts of tweezers.
For this, all you need is a double-sided nail file or emery board and your dull tweezers. Nail files are perfect for sharpening the tweezers because of their width, availability, and surface.
Once you have it, here is your step-by-step guide on using a nail file to sharpen tweezers,
- Hold the tweezers in one hand and the nail file in the other
- Now, open the tweezers and move their tips to the sides of the nail file
- Close the tweezers in a way that the tips are gently grabbing the nail file
- Move your hand in a way that the tips of tweezers move on the nail file in a vertical direction
- Keep doing so for a few times until the tweezers are fully sharpened
3. Professional Tweezers Sharpening
If your tweezer set is too expensive to take the risk of sharpening it at home or you are unsure about your skills to sharpen it, you can always opt for professional tweezer sharpening services instead of buying a new product.
For example, Tweezerman provides free tweezer sharpening services to its customers and you can get the best of it.
Part 4: How Long do Tweezers Last?
Tweezers is a hair removal tool that is known to last for many years and at times, the whole lifetime. However, the lifespan of a tweezer mainly depends upon its quality, maintenance, and storage.
A high-quality tweezer can really last for a whole lifetime if you clean it regularly, store it in a safe place, and maintain it as needed. Additionally, even premium tweezers can lose their sharpness after a few weeks of constant use.
In such cases, all you need to do is sharpen the tweezer by yourself or at a professional store every 1 to 1.5 months.
Part 5: Maintenance and Care for Sharp Tweezers
As the secret of a tweezer’s long life depends upon how you care for it, here are the top 4 seamless tips to maintain and care for your sharp tweezers. These tips will not only prevent the tweezers from becoming dull but also enhance their longevity.
1. Clean the Tweezers After Every Use
Keeping your tweezers free from dirt, excess oil, hair, microbes like bacteria, and other impurities is the key to prolonging their use. So, always clean your tweezers with rubbing alcohol and a cotton pad after using it.
Moreover, you can also use any disinfectant for cleaning tweezers. Cleaning it every day might be difficult if you use the tweezers too often. Under such circumstances, you can clean them once a week. If
2. Storage of the Tweezers
Do not throw your in your makeup pouch or bathroom counter randomly. Rather, close their tips with the plastic cap they come with. After that, keep the tweezers in an erect position where the tips face upwards in a jar or cup by your bathroom shelf.
This will prevent the tips from friction and becoming dull.
3. Proper Technique to Use Tweezers
There are several types of tweezers straight, slanted, pointed, and more. Each tweezer has its own function. So, use the tweezers according to their function and be gentle while using them.
Furthermore, do not pull the handles of the tweezers apart or push them in a way that their shape is altered.
4. Regular Maintenance
Tweezers can become dull within 4 to 6 weeks and even sooner in some cases. So, instead of throwing your tweezers out, sharpen them with a nail file regularly and get them sharpened professionally once every few months.
Conclusion
Tweezers are synonymous with convenience, cost-effectiveness, and precise hair removal. They help you get rid of stray hair, ingrown hair, and any hair you want out of your site.
However, they become dull as you use them. Dull tweezers provide painful experiences and unsatisfactory results. Therefore, we have shared the top 3 ways to sharpen the tweezers and maintain their optimal use.
Also, find out Is Plucking Facial Hair Bad? 5 Reasons You Need to Stop.