Q: How can you tell the difference between LEFT-handed scissors and right-handed scissors??

Take a look at the scissors below.  The pair on the left are GENUINE left-handed scissors and the pair on the right are right-handed.

Notice how they are a MIRROR image of each other.

The easiest way I have found to quickly see whether the scissors I am looking at are genuinely left-handed or not is to hold them in both hands in front of me - as in the pictures above.  My left hand will be holding the handle on the left side and my right hand will be holding the handle on the right hand side.  Then a quick glance at the blades is all that is needed.  

If the blade in my LEFT hand is sitting ON TOP of the other blade, then they are genuine left-handed scissors and they will cut perfectly for me!  If the blade in my left hand goes underneath the other blade - they are right handed scissors and they won’t work well for me regardless of what the blurb on the packaging might say about them supposedly being suitable for everyone ra ra ra …….!!!  

Q:  Why is it essential to give a left-handed child GENUINE left-handed scissors?? 

When young children first start to cut out shapes with scissors it is a big step - and a frustrating step if you can't do it and everyone else can! A left-handed child using right-handed scissors will find that they cannot see the line they are trying to cut along and the paper tends to bend between the blades rather than being cut cleanly. 

The blades of left-handed scissors are set so that, whichever way up they are held, the left blade is always uppermost, that is, it is ALWAYS ON TOP. The blades are also biased so that the cutting action of the left hand pushes the blades together, giving a smooth, clean cut as well as a clear view of the cutting line for the left-hander.

Providing your left-handed child with genuine left-handed scissors at an early age will save your child from losing confidence and self esteem - the natural progression of things arising from feeling useless and clumsy compared to their right-handed friends.  The tragedy is that so many of these negative outcomes and tears of frustration can so easily be avoided!

Comments from parents….

Specifically about the left-handed scissors included in the “Little Lefty Set”….

"Thomas is 5 tomorrow...At playcentre whenever he was at the collage table he began asking for the green scissors (left handed), when someone gave him the other scissors he would tell them he was left handed and could only use the green ones, which is great.

He is starting school next week and I was worried he would be made to use the other scissors but I think he is very proud that he is left handed and gets to use scissors that are just for him. I am no longer worried because I know he will ask for the correct scissors. He uses your lefty set we bought all the time.  Thanks for everything."

"I received the scissors at the weekend, and now have a very happy 3 year old who loves cutting!!  Thanks heaps!"

Beware of unscrupulous marketers!!!

Please be aware that some unscrupulous marketers and manufacturers of scissors actually print on their packaging that their scissors are suitable for use by both left-handers and right-handers - they say these are “dual” or universal scissors that anyone can use!   Sure...….anyone can use them, but they 

cannot use them equally well !!!

When manufacturers and marketers make this claim, all they have actually done is shape the handles of the scissors so that they feel comfortable for both right-handers and left-handers!  If you see these so-called “dual scissors” in the shops, take a close look at them and don’t be taken in by this marketing ploy!  You will see that the blades are set for right-handers!!  Compare them with the scissors at the top of this page and you’ll know straight away that they are in fact right-handed scissors!! 

It is technically IMPOSSIBLE to make a pair of scissors that work equally well for both lefties and righties because there would have to be a way to  REVERSE the blades! 

Because these manufacturers have managed to cause a fair amount of confusion in the market place, we consistently refer to the scissors in our range as genuine left-handed scissors! 

By “genuine left-handed scissors” we mean that:

• not only are the handles specifically moulded to suit and be comfortable for the left-hander

• but the blades have been reversed and

• the blades are biased to complement the left-hand cutting motion.

• The left-hander does not have to jamb his thumb knuckle into the handle as a means of squeezing the blades together to get them to cut! 

• For the left-hander, they cut perfectly without any effort at all! 

• And because the blades have been reversed, the left-hander can see the cutting line clearly!  

genuine

left-handed scissors

not the fake ones that don’t work

for us lefties!!