Had a chat with an old barber that made me rethink my fade technique

Met this guy named Sal at a shop in Boston last week while I was grabbing supplies. He said my fades looked good but my blend lines were too harsh because I wasn't softening the transition area enough. I tried his trick of going one guard size up for the middle section and it cleaned up my work way better. Anybody else gotten a random tip from a stranger that actually worked?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_gray2mo ago

Sal had me for a second when he said that because I always thought going up a guard would make the fade look worse, not better. Tried it on a guy last Thursday with a 2 on the bottom and a 3 in the middle before the 4 on top, and the blend was way smoother than when I used to just jump from 2 to 4. I still keep a little half guard action in there too, but his trick definitely changed how I think about sectioning the fade.

jade6182mo agoMost Upvoted

You've got a point that the 3 in between makes it blend nicer, but to me that extra step is buying time when you could just use the half guard to knock the harsh line down. I tried the same thing Sal said a while back and ended up with more of a stacked look than a smooth gradient, especially on thicker hair. Going guard to guard without any clipper-over-comb or detail work between just doesn't hit the same in my hands.

vera_roberts14d ago

Yeah but @the_gray, did you hit it with any clipper-over-comb after that 3 guard or just call it done? I'm curious if you had to clean up the fade line at all or if that middle guard really took care of it on its own.