German-style shears have non-honed, beveled blades which are serrated to grip hair. “German-style” and “beveled” are interchangeable terms. Beveled shears produce a crisp cut, are durable and exceptional for dry and taper cutting, pretty good for wet and point cutting, and poor for slide cutting.
Japanese-style shears are honed, convex blades with a very sharp, more delicate edge. “Japanese-style” is synonymous with “convex”. Convex shears produce a softer cut, are exceptional for slide, wet and point cutting, very good for dry cutting, and pretty good for taper cutting.
A convex blade is slightly harder to sharpen and takes more time to finish thus being more expensive.
