| Technology is much more than a manner of accomplishing a task using technical methods or knowledge … for RazorCUTz, technology is assuring your future is safe from the injurious poor performance shears saturating the market and, that are infamous for causing hand, wrist and arm injuries and adding burdensome and avoidable medical costs to over 40% of the world’s hair care professionals. RazorCUTz state-of-the-art technologies guarantee they will remain sharp much longer, resist over 99.3% of nicks and eliminate 100% of all hair damage … all, while being the most comfortable, controllable and accurate shears you have ever used. |
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| Hair care professionals use shears more frequently and for longer periods than professionals in any other area. It’s this long-term repetitive use combined with the many unique hand, wrist and arm position needed to point, blunt and slide cut that makes shear use so demanding. As a result, over 40% of hair care professionals are currently suffering career threatening hand, wrist and arm injuries. Of these 40%, one in five are forced to give up their careers each year due to medical bills, pain or lost range of motion. Clinically significant fatigue (requiring prescription medications, injections) occurring between fingers and shoulder will affect one out of every two hair care professionals at some point during their careers. In 1994 a group of platform stylists, industry executives, school and spa owners joined forces to fund a study on shears, one intended to identify why they are so injurious. Conducted in conjunction with one of the world’s leading medical universities and engineering universities, the results were definitive and uncompromising. Up to 11 defined incompatibilities existing between the hand and shears were proven to be the causes of hard (bone) and soft (tendon, ligament and muscle) tissues becoming symptomatic (develop injuries). These injuries begin with first use and are progressive … there is no free ride, those using shears are injuring their thumb’s MCP joint and the IP joints of select fingers. The studies also determined theuse of shears having even one of the incompatibilities could lead to career threatening injuries, often leading to incurable arthritis and some require surgery. A detailed list of these 11 incompatibilities were developed and matched against the exact tissues and systems they affected (see excerpts from regulatory/clinical study documents below). Insurance records, physician files and other sources were used to determine a ranking of which incompatibilities were the most injurious. From these studies emerged a detailed understanding as to why shears cause such extensive damage and how they can be made safe. Incorrect hand fit, thumb motion profiles/forces and thumb hyper-flexion were the top three most injurious items, followed by Ulna 3 issues and finger alignment being next. This means any shear design that hopes to eliminate these issues must correctly fit the hand, finger and thumb … no one size fits all solution could possibly be safe. It would also need to maintain finger alignment, provide support for the pinky and have a specifically defined pivot action between thumb and hand (allows pollicis, FDS & FDP interactions to occur without tissue stress). |
The 11 Biomechanical Flaws (Illustrated) |
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| A group of board certified orthopedic hand surgeons, biomedical engineers, nurses, occupational therapists, hair care professionals and other technologists were assembled to design and develop a line of non-injurious shears ― RazorCUTz Shears (AT/M Models). The effort required more than 5 years of research & development, over $6 million dollars and exhaustive field and clinical testing to bring to market. Over 40,000 hair care professionals were selected across Europe and North America to be the field and clinical testing pools. Field testing required more than 3 years with clinical testing requiring an additional 2 years. In addition to a new shear design, a new manufacturing process was needed. The forging/casting processes in use would not permit manufacturing shears in sizes, especially the over 1200 hand, finger and thumb sizes that were needed. The result was L-ROG (laser & robotic grinding); a process where the shear designs reside in digital format in the L-ROG manufacturing system. With L-ROG, a sheet of steel is laser cut with the requested designs, sizes and models. The laser cut shear blanks are then robotically processed. Finally, skilled artisans carefully finish and examine each shear to ensure a perfect fit. Each RazorCUTz blade is then individually hand sharpened (no motors, grind wheels or motorized belts are used) with EdgeDART edges. The RazorCUTz shear is then assembled and calibrated (blade pressure), put through an extensive final inspection and prepared for shipment. All RazorCUTz shears are cut tested using real human hair and have their EdgeDART edges inspected and measured for sharpness by microscope (over 2,000X magnification). |
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Shearing, unlike cutting, is a mechanical squeezing action, where two blades slide against each other, closing along an angle. As the blades close, anything caught between the blade’s shearing edges is squeezed until it is sheared apart.
High speed microscope image (corrected for blur) of hair being sheared (left) and cut (right).
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 RazorCUTz state-of-the-art L-ROG Billet manufacturing process uses digital models to guide the lasers and robots in making each shear. The nature of L-ROG allows the making of individualized shears for the same costs as making the same shear repetitively. Shears made via the forging or casting processes require costly dies and molds, respectively, making it prohibitively expensive to make shears in all but a few sizes. With dies and molds costing over $50,000US each and a different one required for each blade length and blade, a new process had to be invented if shears were to be offered in sizes.
Creating these digital models is accomplished in a number of ways; engineering design, VolarMEDlox Biometric scans, and artificial intelligence generation (AIG). Engineering design involves one of our shear engineers creating a new design in L-ROG’s system. AIG is done by L-ROG’s massive living adaptive reasoning algorithms. These living algorithms grow intelligence and knowledge by capturing and analyzing the variances between each different model. Each time a new VolarMEDlox scan enters the L-ROG system a series of analytical statistics are evaluated and optimized. This information contributes to automatically “defining” the perfect shear, within the L-ROG system. This intelligence allows L-ROG to configure and make the “perfect optimized shear” for that particular time. Every RazorCUTz shear L-ROG makes is stored and available for immediate recall. This allows replacement blades and/or exact replicas to be made at any time, even decades later.  L-ROG also benefits from the global medical treatment received by hair care professionals. As physicians code injuries, treatments and patient histologies into the insurance pool computers, L-ROG skims this information, searching for patterns associated with the market’s different shears. L-ROG knows, for example, that hair care professionals experiencing a certain set of symptoms while using a particular shear brand and model is statistically more likely to be suffering a particular injury set and will require a predictable treatment regiment. This information can then be used to suggest different configuration options for their RazorCUTz shear, helping minimize the pain and making working with the injury easier and more healthy. L-ROG is also gaining intellengence on how specific RazorCUTz configurations affect healing (i.e. using a -23 degree tilt on thumb pivot as opposed to the standard -32 degree, or positioning the thumb 0.23 inches closer to the shear’s pivot).VolarMEDlox also benefits RazorCUTz customers by evaluating motion profiles detected during their scan. If the customer is suffering symptoms of say “Gate Keeper’s Thumb” or MCP joint damage to their thumb (both symptoms of shear related injuries), L-ROG may detect this and recommend a physician evaluation, possibly preventing progression to arthritis. L-ROG and VolarMEDlox are not medical diagnostic tools and cannot be used for medical diagnosis and/or treatment. They are only pattern recognition and statistical evaluation tools that are used to control manufacturing of the most advanced shear technologies ever brought to market. Visit a RazorCUTz or BladeLAB tradeshow booth or the RazorCUTz factory located near Atlanta, Georgia, for your VolarMEDlox scan and to purchase a RazorCUTz shear customized and made specifically for you! |
| Modern society is tuned to be a rounding force, providing a seemingly measured balance between responsibility and obligation. This rounding force is often in the form of regulatory oversight. Regulatory oversight helps protect those who can be innocently harmed by irresponsibility and greed as well as to provide a reasonably sound method for establishing performance benchmarks and establishing efficacy. Choosing when to apply regulatory oversight is often driven by the sharp realities of medical costs, injuries and civil duty. Shears, the cosmetology vertical and beauty industry as a whole are one of those areas where regulatory oversight is fast becoming a necessity. Currently, more than 40% of all hair care professionals are suffering varying levels of career threatening hand, wrist and arm injuries with medical costs soaring. The development and success of RazorCUTz has shown that shears can be designed without even one of the 11 biomechanical incompatibilities, and making shears that fit and are healthy is more than possible … it is being done. Since the introduction of RazorCUTz orthotic shear designs, a flood of shear branders/marketers are making false claims that their shears will eliminate or minimize the effects of carpal tunnel and other injuries. This marketing fog has led to many innocent hair care professionals, who are trying to purchase protection, actually purchasing a “poison pill” shear. Kagawa and RazorCUTz are working with regulatory agencies (FDA, USPharm, etc), tradeshow promoters/organizers, educators, schools and others to bring awareness to the dangers posed by these “poison pill” shears and those willing to forfeit ethics for a few dollars. FDA registration, approval and clinical certification are your guarantees RazorCUTz are much more than the shears being offered by everyone else … they are the highest performance shears on the market, and they are the only shears ever proven to eliminate 100% of the shear related hand, wrist and arm injuries that all other shear are proven to cause. Of course, these claims are bold and some can even take years to verify, so we choose not to wait … we went ahead and invested the time and resources to prove our testing results are more than claims … they are facts. 
There are shears that cost more, but there are none that can deliver more … regardless of price paid. Note: Only AT/M Models within the RazorCUTz line are FDA Registered, Approved and Clinically Certified |
No one would wear shoes that hurt their feet or pants that won’t close. Who would wear eye wear that creates eye pain or use soap that burns their skin? No one, of course. So, why would any hair care professional use shears that are proven to cause pain & fatigue and that are also proven to cause career threatening hand, wrist and arm injuries? Our market research indicates there are only three reasons;
What is VolarMEDlox? VolarMEDlox is a non-contact scanning process designed to analyze the size and movement characteristics of the joints and tissues in your hand, wrist and arm. This information is then used by the L-ROG manufacturing system to laser cut and robotically grind a shear that will work in perfect harmony with your hand, wrist and arm. VolarMEDlox automatically determines where your thumb must be in relation to your palm and fingers so it will move in a way that will not cause the MCP joint to suffer stress. VolarMEDlox also determines where your hand must be in reference to your shear’s pivot point, this protects your ulna 3 digits (middle, ring & pinky fingers) and distal bifibrication of your FDP tendon from causing carpal tunnel syndrome. VolarMEDlox also analyses your static and dynamic hand/wrist region. This data is then used by the L-ROG system to determine finger, palm and thumb positions necessary to prevent subluxation of the finger IP/MP joints and stress in the innerosseous’s, lumbricales and pollicis systems ... these are stresses caused by all other shears and conditions responsible for most, if not all, cited injuries.  VolarMEDlox provides additional data packets necessary for assuring your RazorCUTz–AT/M model shear fits and functions like a glove. The diagram to the right shows how VolarMEDlox uses ranges and zones to position the thumb, fingers and hand in a matrix of possible positions. Since everyone’s hand, fingers and thumb are unique, their shear must be uniquely the same if it is going to work correctly. Hair care professionals, surgeons, professional pet groomers and others using shears for extended and accumulative periods of time should certainly consider a VolarMEDlox scan if protection, comfort and control are important. VolarMEDlox is also being applied to golfers, baseball players (glove fitting) and even musicians (customized flutes, clarinets, etc). To learn just how valuable VolarMEDlox can be to the health and safety of your hand, wrist and arm you need look no farther than incident rates of carpal tunnel and thumb injuries. Not a single case of shear related (resulting from one of the 11 incompatibilities cited) hand, wrist or arm injury has been reported or confirmed in the five plus years RazorCUTz–AT/M model shears have been in testing or general use. How Can I Get A VolarMEDlox Scan? The VolarMEDlox will be visiting upcoming major trade shows in the BladeLAB and RazorCUTz booths. You can also visit the BladeLAB center or look for dates the VolarMEDlox scanner will visit your city. Sizing for RazorCUTz shears can also be done by using the “Sizing Guide”. Note: While the Sizing Guide is not as complete as a scan, it does provide but does sufficient information for the VolarMEDlox system to determine an optimal fit. |
| Click Here to view the full Product Information Insert, enclosed with every RazorCUTz shear. |
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