An adjustable taper lever is a functional component found on many hair cutting tools that allows for fine-tuning the cutting length without changing the guide comb. It provides flexibility in achieving different cutting closeness.
Understanding the Adjustable Taper Lever
As highlighted in the provided reference, the primary role of the taper lever is to "change the closeness of your cut between guide comb lengths". This means you can make subtle adjustments to the cutting length that are finer than the standard steps between different guide comb sizes.
How it Works
The lever typically operates on a simple mechanism:
- Moving the lever up results in the shortest possible cut achievable with that specific guide comb setting (or without a guide comb).
- Moving the lever down results in a longer cut, incrementally increasing the distance between the blades and the skin/hair surface, still within the range allowed by the lever's movement and the selected guide comb.
This adjustable range allows for seamless blending between different lengths or achieving a precise cut that falls between standard guide comb measurements.
Practical Benefit: Freeing Jammed Blades
Beyond adjusting cut length, the taper lever offers a practical maintenance function. According to the reference:
If your blades ever become jammed with hair, simply move the lever up and down several times. This action will help free the blades.
This rapid back-and-forth movement can dislodge accumulated hair and debris that might be preventing the blades from moving freely, helping to maintain the tool's performance.
