Clippers crapped out on me in the middle of a zero fade yesterday

I was halfway through a skin fade on a regular in my chair at Sol's Barbershop in Austin. Everything was going smooth until my Wahl Magic Clips just stopped dead. No warning, no weird noise, just silence. I had to finish the fade with my backup seniors which are way heavier and not what I'm used to. The line came out a little choppy near the temple, and I had to blend it with shears which took forever. Client was cool about it, said he couldn't tell, but I knew it wasn't my best work. I spent 20 minutes after he left taking the clippers apart, found a clump of hair stuck in the motor housing. Has anyone else had a clipper die mid cut like that? What do you do when your main tool fails with a client in the chair?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.aaron21h agoTop Commenter

Man that exact same thing happened to me with my Magic Clips last year, hair got jammed in the motor right when I was doing a lineup. I now blow out my clippers with compressed air between every client, saves me from that panic every time. Do you clean yours daily or just when they act up?

jamie7947h ago

Oh come on man, I gotta push back on that "every client" thing. That sounds like overkill to me. I've been using the same pair of Magic Clips for almost two years now and I only clean them when they start sounding rough or skipping. Like maybe once every couple weeks if I'm being honest. Blowing them out between every single client would just waste time and that air isn't free either. Plus if you're doing it that often you're probably knocking the blade alignment out of whack more than you realize. I'd rather just oil them good once a week and let them do their thing.

elizabeth_ramirez7h ago

Ugh, is it really that serious though? I mean, a little hair jam is annoying but not the end of the world, and a quick rinse under hot water usually clears it out. Honestly, blowing out clippers between every single client sounds like a hassle for something that happens maybe once a month.