Written by Ev Luna-Rose
03 October 2018
Who doesn’t? With fades still ruling the roost in most barbershops, having a look that is the same as everyone else’s but stands out by merit is what you want! So, if you want that perfect fade you better know what you’re asking for…
HEIGHT OF FADE
High, mid and low fades: this describes how high you want your fade to start. High is generally from the temples and straight around, low is around 1cm above your hair line and mid does what it says on the tin, somewhere between!
LENGTH OF FADE
These tell you how short we are going to go at the bottom of your fade.
SKIN FADE
Taking your hair as short as we can with the clippers, down to a Grade 0.
BALD FADE
Using foils to take it even shorter to a Grade 00000 for a baby smooth finish.
RAZOR FADE
Using the good old-fashioned razor which sits between the bald and skin fade.
GRADE _
Going from one selected grade to another, usually accompanied with a taper for longevity.
STYLES OF FADE
There are so many styles of fades, so if you ask for a fade, we as barbers imagine a ‘taper fade’, but here are a few others just in case!
TAPER FADE
Fading your hair cut into your neckline and sideburns to it grows out nicely.
UNDERCUT FADE
Using disconnection and fading it up to that line.
BURST FACE
Adding circular patterns of fading from the hair line.
TEMP FADE
Keeping weight at the top of your haircut and just tapering out your sideburns.
So, for your next haircut be sure to sound like a pro and ask for a “High bald undercut fade” to have you and your barber on exactly the same page. However, to truly get “that” Instagram fade, it’s sad to say that a lot of the time, you can’t always believe what you see on the internet. By that I mean, PHOTOSHOP. Unfortunately, this is one of the biggest words that plagues the barber hashtag. I’m by no means saying that every fade you see online is edited but sadly, too many of them are. So be aware that if you’re wanting computer generated fade, you will get it when you see the barber’s insta but not when you leave the shop!
Hairy Blogmothers 