Blog/News

Any work environment that keeps you on your feet all day takes its toll on the body.  So it’s important to pay attention to good posture, good footwear, and more.  Stylists also experience a great deal of stress on their upper body, commonly leading to neck and shoulder pain.  Did you know that 40% of hairdressers complain of neck pain? A lot of those difficulties come from the hand positions and arm movements involved in blow drying.  Especially when the blow dryer weighs more than 1 pound.  But any repeated motions or time in stressful positions can cause problems.  Symptoms may develop so slowly that you don’t give them the attention they deserve.  But pain, including chronic pain, is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong and things need to change. Hairdressers, Ergonomics and MSD Injury What is ergonomics?  Simply put, it’s the study of work environments for injury prevention. What are MSD injuries?  That’s not so simple.  The abbreviation MSD stands for musculoskeletal disorders.  In addition to muscles and bones, that mouthful also refers to tendon and nerve damage.  You’ve probably heard about musculoskeletal disorders by way of some of the specific conditions. Tendinitis is an inflammation of the […]

Read More

Do you end your day with a few aches?  Have chronic shoulder pain?  Then you need to be taking care of yourself. First off, what is ergonomics? Formally, ergonomics the study of personnel efficiency in work environments.  That’s good for business owners. But these days it’s more commonly used to refer to products and practices that reduce workplace stress and strains.  And that’s good for everybody. Why is it important to everybody? In daily life you spend hours on your feet, bending, and making repetitive motions.  Just as carpal tunnel syndrome has been a problem for office workers using computers, hairdressers experience the same problem from cutting and blow drying.  But we’re actually more prone to chronic neck, back, and shoulder pain.  So it’s important to lower your risk of those problems. Blow dryers are the major culprit for many people, even lightweight ergonomic models with improved grips.  That’s because getting the right angle means awkward hand positions and raising your arm above your head.  Besides being unpleasant those shoulder pains and other aches make you less productive and perhaps tempted to cut corners.  Worse still, they can develop into conditions such as tendinitis and bursitis that require medical treatment […]

Read More

It’s not economics it’s ergonomics!  Formally defined as matching work environments to human factors.  Originally all about efficiency and productivity, today most people think of ergonomics in terms of injury prevention.  For office workers that means appropriate chairs and keyboard heights.  But other professions have their own issues.  Hairdressers often experience chronic shoulder pain from raising their arms above shoulder height.  Fortunately, there are many ways for stylists to lower their risk of serious as well as lesser problems. Exactly what is ergonomics and what injuries does it prevent? Today it’s primary goal is to improve the workplace environment in order to minimize injury and other harm from a person’s regular activities.  That’s especially important when repetitive motions and stressful postures are involved.  There can be sudden injuries, but more often harm accumulates over the years.  The most common problems include carpal tunnel syndrome of the wrist as well as lower back pain. It’s often necessary to consider several factors — body sizes and shapes, bio-mechanics (muscles, levers, and forces), and environmental (lighting, noise, temperature, and so on) — when designing workstations and tools.  Otherwise the risks of MSD (musculoskeletal disorders)  from repetitive motion, heavy tools, or unusual angles can be unacceptably high. Shoulder Strains […]

Read More

I love to cut and style.  But like most hair stylists I usually finished the day with aching arms and shoulders.  It wasn’t from washing and rinsing, or trimming.  It was from awkward body positions holding that heavy hair dryer.  Some days it was bad enough to ruin my evening. That Had to Stop After decades of aches and pains from the stressful body positions of blow drying, it finally dawned on me that rather than suffering through it year after year I should do something about it. I’ve been a hairdresser and salon owner for over 40 years and hadn’t heard of any products or other solutions.  But surely they existed.  So I surveyed blow dryers and the hair styling industry far and wide.  I was surprised to discover that there wasn’t a single solution out there.  Ergonomic dryers seem to only pay attention to the grip. Others Had the Same Problems I also soon discovered that other hairdressers had the same complaints.  Fatigue from having to raise their arms way above eye level.  Stress and downright pain in their wrist, arm, neck, shoulders, and back from difficult positions trying to avoid frizzing.  Or having an unhappy client because they just couldn’t stand […]

Read More

If you’re like most hairdressers you’re experiencing shoulder, back, and neck pain brought on by blow drying’s awkward positions.  That also commonly causes wrist, arm, and elbow pain.  And that can even bring a premature end to your career.  Fortunately Smooth-Air has invented a unique nozzle attachment that converts just about any hair dryer into an ergonomic dryer to put all those aches to rest. It’s Not Just You You know that being a stylist is actually a physically demanding job.  Awkward body positions as you cut and style leads to aching arms along with other pain and fatigue.  But have your realized how much of that comes from hair drying? Hairdressers spend over 500 hours a  year drying clients hair. A professional blow dryer weighs as much as carpenter’s hammer. Using it involves repeatedly raising your arms above eye level. That strains neck, shoulder, and back muscles. It can also irritate tendons in wrists and elbows. No wonder we end up with physical problems.  Experts recommend that all stylists pay attention to ergonomics — the application of medical principles to reduce work stress and injury. The Ergonomic T-360 to the Rescue The T-360 is an ergonomically designed adjustable nozzle […]

Read More