Showerthought: I used to spend 20 minutes on a fade with clippers, now I do it in 8 with shears

Back when I started cutting 3 years ago, I'd buzz everything down with clippers and spend forever blending it out. Then I watched this old barber in Chicago named Rico who showed me how to use shears for the transition part instead. Now I just do one pass with the clippers for the bottom, then scissors the rest into the fade. Has anyone else made the switch from all-clipper fades to using shears for the blend?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.daniel11d ago

Man, my first fade attempt with shears was a disaster. I was trying to copy that Rico guy too, and I ended up with this weird patchy mess that looked like a dog chewed on my head. Took me a solid six months of practicing on my brother before I got it down to 10 minutes. Now I can do the whole thing in about 7 or 8 minutes, but I still mess up the back of my own head every time. My girlfriend calls it my "mystery spot.

king.derek11d ago

The "mystery spot" thing is real, @johnson.daniel, it's like every barber has that one blind spot on their own head. Kinda like how nobody can see their own backside in a mirror, we just accept the flaws we can't fix ourselves.