Had a talk with an older barber at a shop in Austin last week

I was down in Austin visiting my cousin and stopped into this old school barbershop near South Congress. This guy named Ray, been cutting hair since the 80s, watched me do a fade on a mannequin head and said I was relying too much on my trimmers for the blend. He told me to go back to my shears more, even for the tricky parts, and spend less time chasing lines with the clipper. It hit me because I've been trying to speed through cuts instead of letting the scissors do the work. Has anyone else gotten called out for leaning too hard on electric tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

riverreed1d ago

Did your buddy Ray ever show you how he uses his shears on the tricky spots? A friend of mine had the same wake-up call from an old timer in San Antonio, and he started doing half his fades with just scissors after that. He says it made his blends way smoother and he actually finishes faster now than when he was chasing lines with a clipper.

sandra_anderson21d ago

Honestly read a similar thing in an old barbering book from the 90s that said clippers are for rough work, shears are for the finish. That Ray guy knows his stuff, going back to basics like that always pays off.