That old barber who told me to stop using clipper guards for fading was right, I hate admitting it

Six months ago a guy named Rico at the shop down the street watched me do a fade and said I was wasting my time with guards and should learn freehand. I thought he was just being a gatekeeping old head who didn't want to adapt. But after my third client complained about a line I couldn't blend out with a 2 guard, I finally tried his method on a practice head. Three fades later and I'm never touching a guard for anything above a 1 again, the blend is way smoother and I spend half the time cleaning up. He was specific too, told me to keep my wrist loose and use the corner of the blade, not the flat part. Has anyone else had a old timer give you advice that took months to actually listen to, and then you felt stupid for waiting so long?

2 comments

2 Comments

ericj451mo ago

Guy at the old shop told me the same thing six years ago.

miles_young591mo ago

My brother's been cutting hair for 15 years and he told me the same thing about freehand fading, took me a whole year to finally try it. I hear you @ericj45, people have been saying this forever but I still think it depends on the head shape and what you're comfortable with. At the end of the day it's just hair, you know, it's not like we're performing surgery.