I’m left-handed and growing up, in school, there were never enough left handed scissors between myself and the maybe two other lefties in my class so I would often need to use right-handed scissors. But they would either not cut paper at all or kind of tear the paper, forcing me to switch to my right hand to get the scissors to cut smoothly.
Just yesterday I needed to trim a label and no matter how I angled the scissors, they would not cut the paper but they immediately did once I switched to my right hand. Thus, how do scissors “know” which hand you’re holding them in?
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Try the scissors in both hands, opening them and closing them. Pay close attention to the blades: you will see that, in the right hand, the closing pressure pushes the two edges together.
Now, study the shape of the handles. You’ll see that there’s a bevel, or curvature, that makes this happen – but only in the right hand.
Tip: when you’re buying scissors, look at those handles. Those that are symmetrical will suit you better. Or shop professionally, with vendors who cater to the hair stylist or seamstress markets: you’ll find left-handed scissors. They will be expensive.
(Life-long lefty, here. I just use scissors in my right hand.)
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