Talked to an old barber in Chicago about blending techniques

I was in Chicago last week visiting my cousin and stopped into this tiny barbershop near Wrigleyville. The guy running it has been cutting hair for 40 years, and he told me I was overworking my blends by using too many guard changes. He said just use the lever and one guard, and move slow. I tried it on my next client back home, and the fade came out cleaner in half the time. Has anyone else found a simple trick that changed how they do fades?

2 comments

2 Comments

paige1667d ago

Noted. Sometimes old school beats new school.

laura_black7d ago

Wait until you try doing a fade with just clipper over comb the whole way? That old barber tip is solid though, I used to overcomplicate my fades with like 5 guards and the lever midway on each one. A buddy showed me you can get a smooth fade by just using one guard and adjusting the lever from closed to open as you go up, no guard changes at all. Now I do that for most of my skin fades and it comes out way more even, plus I'm not fumbling around putting guards on and off every two seconds. Feels like less room for error too when you're not constantly switching tools.