I heard a younger barber say clipper oil is optional and I had to stop what I was doing

Last week I was in a shop over in Cleveland waiting for a chair and this guy maybe 25 years old was telling his customer he only oils his clippers once a month. I almost dropped my coffee. I have been cutting hair for 22 years and I oil my blades before every single client. He said he never noticed a difference. But I have seen blades get hot and start pulling hair after just a week of skipping oil. That customer left with some redness on his neck too. Am I being too old school about this or do other barbers here oil every time like me?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylorcarr6d ago

My dad taught me to oil his clippers back in 1998 and I've never once thought about skipping it. It reminds me of how people treat their cars now too, like you can just run them forever without changing the oil and somehow it'll be fine. I see it with lawn mowers, with kitchen knives, with basically anything that has moving parts. People want things to last but they don't want to do the five minutes of upkeep that makes them last. Your mileage may vary but I think there is something about younger folks growing up in a throwaway culture where everything gets replaced instead of maintained.

elliotc106d ago

Man that hits home, I see the same thing with my students and their phones.