About 10% of the world is left-handed, but it’s been less than a lifetime since being a lefty lots its stigma. For generations, people saw left-handedness as a problem at best and a sign of the devil at worst. The world has always catered to right-handedness, and few places is that clearer than in the design of scissors.
The way scissors are made creates ease for right-handers and frustration for left-handers—a reality many righties go through life blissfully unaware of. But one woman’s boyfriend’s reaction to getting a pair of left-handed scissors has people delighting in his joy, prompting lefties to share other life-changing left-handed items.
X user @roobsleiser wrote:
“Some things my bf has said since I gave him left-handed scissors for Christmas:
– ‘Come through and watch me cut this!’
– ‘Do you need me to cut something for you?’
– ‘Is this what cutting things has been like for you this whole time?’
– ‘I can cut anything’
I keep hearing him periodically exclaim ‘oh my GOD’ from another room the past few days [and] it’s just him successfully cutting stuff.”
Fellow lefties in the comments could totally relate.
“When my daughter was 5 I asked her kindergarten teacher if I could send in a pair of left-handed scissors for her to use in the classroom. The teacher laughed at me. I sent them anyway and it made a huge difference for my daughter!” shared one parent.
“Left-handed scissors are the BEST! 🔥 Did you know that most accidents are left-handed people getting hurt with tools and implements that were made for right handed people? There should be left handed everything,” added another commenter.
“As a left-handed person, I know exactly what he’s talking about,” wrote another.
Some people were confused about why someone would need left-handed scissors in the first place, especially since many modern scissors say they are “universal” and “suitable” for both right and left-handed people. However, as this Micador scissors brochure explains, universal scissors are only made to be comfortable for lefties in the shape of the handle grips. But the mechanism of which blade goes on top is still the same, so the cutting experience for lefties isn’t the same. In truly left-handed scissors, the blades are reversed, which makes all the difference.
Other left-handed people shared their woes in a right-handed world as well as their favorite left-handed items that dramatically changed their lives for the better.
“If you’re not a lefty, you have NO idea what a pain in the ass the world can be. College was real fun for us (rarely a left-handed desk),” wrote one person.
“I had this with getting an electric can opener from my husband, life changing. Regular turny ones just aren’t for my left-handed brain,” shared another.
“I’ve been to the lefty store last year for the first time year and I literally started to cry. So happy that other kids have access to things made specifically for them! My left hand was beaten in my daycare as a kid when I wanted to eat—they wanted I do it with the right hand. I’m still traumatized… thankfully, at least with writing when my mom got that they were complaining she intervened but because of that I do everything but writing with the right hand. Also broke my left hand as a kid and had to write in school with the right hand- the worst two weeks in my life,” shared another.
“Add left handed notebooks and a left-handed can opener to complete the set,” added another.
“Left-handed measuring cups so I don’t have to turn it to measure, then turn it around again to grab the handle and pour. The newer cups with the markings on the inside at a slant are awesome for lefties though,” shared another.
Here’s to the left-handers who have spent their whole lives in a silent scissor battle. (And if you want to gain favor with a lefty in your life, get them a pair of genuine left-handed scissors. You can find them here.)