Perfect Your Fades with These Barber Clipper Tips & Tricks

The fade haircut has always been a popular choice amongst men all over the world, as a stylish look that signals serious business. However, the versatility of the fade in creating all sorts of different hairstyles further fuelled its rise to fame, with great-looking fades having now become the hallmark of pristine barbering skills today. 

In essence, fading is a crucial barbering technique that allows you to create a transition of lengths and colours on the back and sides of the hair with your professional clippers, making it the perfect barber shop tool for creating looks that are both stylish and polished. While tricky to master, adroit fading can help give hair a natural, blended look that can be customized to each individual client. It is also a great way to add texture and volume to thinner hair. 

Altogether, the benefits of perfecting your fades are aplenty, but how can professional barbers in Singapore go about improving their low, mid and high fades? Well, here are some tips and tricks you can follow for enhanced results when using your hair clippers to perform fades:

Determining Fade Line Before Starting

The first thing you should do before starting any haircut that requires fading is to determine exactly where the fade line will be, as it will ultimately dictate how sharp or blended the transition between the different hair lengths end up. 

To find the right fade line, use your fingers to feel for the natural curve at the base of the head behind the ear — this is your client’s natural hairline. Then, take into consideration if it’s a low, mid or high fade your client wants for their hairstyle. Low fades often measure as one finger width from the natural hairline, whereas mid and high fades measure as two and three finger widths from said hairline. 

Once you’ve located the right spot, use a cutting comb to make a horizontal part at this point to act as a guide for you when you’re performing your fades with your barber clippers. You can also use a closed-clipper blade or the T-wide blade on your Wahl Detailer Li  to help delineate demarcation lines in the hair.

Controlling Clipper Blend When Fading

As a professional barber, you should always aim to maintain control over your clipper blades when performing fades — this will help you create more consistent and polished results that customers can be happy with. 

When going against the grain, use shorter strokes and apply less pressure, while using longer strokes with more pressure when going with the grain. This will help you avoid any accidental nicks or cuts, especially around sensitive areas like the hairline. 

Another way to control your clipper blend is to always start your fades from the back of the head before working your way forward. Not only will this help you avoid unnecessary mistakes, but it will also make it easier for you to blend in the different lengths of hair as you go along performing your fades with your barber clippers. 

Patiently Scale Down Guide Combs

As a general rule of thumb, it’s always best to start fading with a longer guide comb on your hair clippers first, before working your way down to shorter guides. After all, it is much easier to take away length from hair than it is to add it back on. 

A good way to start your fades is by using a #4 or #5 guide comb to cut the hair at the back of the head down to the desired length. Once you’ve done that, you can then move on to using a #3 or #4 guide on your barber clippers to blend in the longer hair with the shorter hair at the sides. Finally, use a #½ guard to slowly transition from skin to hair where required. 

Of course, you want to consider your customer’s desired hair length when following the above instructions, and swap out the guide combs of your professional clippers accordingly. 

Finding a Fading Method That Suits You

When it comes to fading hair, there are three main methods professional barbers typically use — top-down, bottom-up and middle-out. Which technique you ultimately choose should boil down to personal preference, though some methods may work better than others depending on the hairstyle you’re trying to achieve. 

The top-down method involves starting the fade at the top of the head and working your way down, while the bottom-up method has you starting at the bottom of the head and working your way up. As for the middle-out method, this involves starting the fade in the middle of the head and working outward with your barber clippers towards the top and bottom. 

Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing a fading method — it all comes down to what you’re most comfortable with and what will give you the best results. Experiment with all three methods and see which feels the most comfortable and yields better results.

Using the Right Barber Clippers for Fading

Finally, having the right barber shop tools for the job will make performing the perfect fades a whole lot easier. In other words, investing in a good pair of professional barber clippers is an absolute must if you want to create consistent, clean fades. 

One of the best hair clippers in this regard is the 5-Star Senior Cordless from Wahl, which is not only fitted with a precision fade blade that is perfect for fading, but also allows for true zero-overlap adjustment for when you need to perform skin fades. The Legend Cordless Hair Clipper is also a useful professional tool that can help you achieve seamless blends when doing softline fading. 

Shop Wahl for the World’s Best Barber Clippers & More

Whether it’s a set of professional barber clippers for fading or hair trimmers that allow for intricate hair tattoos and detail designing, we at Wahl have got you covered.

At Wahl Singapore, we leverage over a hundred years of experience and expertise to bring you the latest innovations in barbering technology. Shop Wahl today for the world’s best barber clippers and more, or visit our blog for more barbering news, tips and tricks.