Stainless Steel Standards

<Stainless Steel Standards>

There are 3 main factors to decide the quality of beauty shears.

1. Material 2. Heat Treatment 3. Craftsmanship.

Today, let's talk about stainless steel standards since stainless steel is the most commonly used material for beauty shears. Steel standards might differ by country or have different criteria, but the chemical composition defines it in most cases.

There are international and national standards for each country and company standards for each company. The international standard for steel is not commonly used in the USA, Japan, Korea, and Pakistan. Instead, many mixed specifications are used complicatedly.

1. China

Steel technology was transferred from East Germany to China a long time ago, so the Chinese Steel Standard is fundamentally based on DIN from Germany. Recently, China has made its standards according to the International Standard, such as the GB/T 20878, made in 2007.

The standard numbers below are interchangeable according to GB/T 20878-2007.

• 30CR13 - 420J2
• 68CR17 - 440A
• 108CR17 – 440C

2. Pakistan

Pakistan's steel technology was transferred from the Soviet Union, but its standard management system is similar to Great Britain's.  There is a clear standard for mild steel but no clear standard for stainless steel used for scissors. Overall, the manufacturing and management system for stainless steel is very ambiguous. Finding high-quality stainless steel for making scissors in Pakistan might be challenging.

 3. Korea / Japan

Korean steel companies do not manufacture the proper shape of 440C for making scissors. Therefore, many Korean (except those who import from China) and Japanese factories mostly use steel from Hitachi and Aichi companies. Koreans use a lot of imported steel from China, but not stainless steel since the quality is deficient.

• AISI (American Iron and Steel Institute)
• ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)
• DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung, German Institute for Standardization)
• EN (Euro Norm, European Standard)
• GB 国家标准(China, Guo Jia Biao Zhun, meaning the "National Standards")
• GB/T 国家标准/推荐(China, Guo Jia Biao Zhun／Tuijian, meaning "Recommended Standards," "tuījiàn" means "recommended."
• ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
• JIS (Japan Industrial Standards)
• KS (Korean standards)
• PSQCA(Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority)

<Comparison Table of Stainless Steel Standard by Each Country>

Editor's Note: I have designed and developed numerous scissors. As I operated my factory for a long time, I experienced the manufacturing and selling of many kinds of beauty scissors. I have used many different types of steel as well. For almost 30 years, I have monitored the hairstylists who use my products and others. Coming from my many years of experience in the beauty scissor business, the differences in stainless steel between Hitachi 440/ATS314 and steel from any other company are enormous.

*The above states the ideas of the MICHIKO scissors; others with different opinions may think otherwise.*