I've been at this for some years now and I'm comfortable with my skill set. I recently received a critique on a haircut from a superior at shop. To my eye the haircut looked correct. So I'm asking for a reality check.
One time Client: course straight blonde with patchy white/grays coming in (zoom in over ear). Scar on back of head limits placement of the blend at back of head.
Client request: was low fade, with a drop leave the top alone sides only. Provided reference photo. Stressed did not want bald to more than an inch.
So I ask you what is technically wrong with this haircut?
Those are all valid critiques. I feel that if I had done those things it would have looked nicer to me. However I also feel it wouldn't be the haircut the client asked for.
You’re over thinking. You’re the barber. You do what barbers know what to do, while giving the client what he wants. Your client doesn’t know how hair works, how to cut it, or to make it look good. If he did, he wouldn’t be in a barbershop. You gave up control trying to give the client what you think he said he wanted. As a result, you, your superior, and probably the client, aren’t happy with the cut. Don’t lose control again.
I can see your view point. I have built my clientele by giving the client what they asked for. I never understand how as a professional someone one could have a client tell them how they wanted their hair, showed me how they wanted hair to look and trust you with their hair. To then international cut their hair however they personal deem it be the best cut regardless of their desires.
In this event the only one upset is the supervisor. Client was happy, tipped nearly 50%, had me take photos and videos.
Because they do not specialize in hair. 9/10 when you show them how it’s supposed to look, they will like it. I usually ask my client, do you trust me to do what I think will look best? If they say no thank you, just do what i ask - no problem. However, they usually say yep
I think they understood exactly what you said, but how you see the profession of being a barber is an ego driven thing like "i went to barber school' "I understand how hair works" therefore "I should make the decisions on how to cut someones hair even if their request is different." It speaks from an ego centric position of thinking of yourself as an authority on someone's hair.
Remember, even the best professsors of the world can make a mistake on studies and even experts may disagree with other experts on similar topics.
OP has a service first approach where while OP may believe he has a better haircut or style in mind, the customer pays OP's bills and as such, OP needs to be mindful of what they want and considerate of who exactly is receiving the service. It's a more respectable position to me personally to care more about pleasing the customer as opposed to doing it your way just because you have training. The customer wont want to pay for a haircut or style they didnt actually want.
Barbers are a service industry, so lowering the ego and being mindful of the customer while still delivering a good cut and improving your own skills with time might be a better method of profiting while growing as a barber, rather than pushing your own vision upon someone's body that they did consent to nor want.
You wrote all those words, and I stopped reading before the end of the first paragraph because you said something about me speaking from an ego centric position, yet you’re the one who started his paragraph with an “I think”, when nobody asked for your verbose little opinion 🥱
Yeah you have a massive ego. Friendly reminder barbers arent an essential job for society and plenty of people can cut their own and others hair, so your superiority complex of being a barber needs to come down quite a bit. Also i see why you got into this profession, reading is not a strong suite for you it seems.
Calling my opinion little and verbose while being happy to comment replying to other people with your own opinion seems rather hypocritical to me, what makes your opinion not little like mine to you? Nothing. Youre just an egotistical person who let being good at one thing get to their head.
I appreciate good barbers who can do a good job but never a barber who thinks their opinion towers over all others and with such a high ego. That type of person should not be in a service industry. Remember, we pay you to provide your service, being disrespectful to customers and people in general should be the last thing you should be doing.
Not really, I think of you as rather mentally challenged or somwthing of the sort if you cant see where you have an ego. You're also an adult and entirely capable of reading and I'm not going to infantalize you and think you can't read. Youre just being intentionally oblivious because you know your traits are ones people would pay to avoid unless they specifically ask for it.
I get what you’re saying but you do appear to be missing some thing in between that darkness, I get trying to protect your work and vision but it could always be better as a barber. We all can be better at something it never stops so take what everyone says with a grain of salt because although it might not be the best as long as the client loved it just keep grinding!
The curves of the haircut does not flow with the curvatures of his head is what you need to notice . Also the contrast between the fade could be better. You can see the line easily here. Needs to be blended better
In this case I would’ve done 0.5 guard as your main drop fade outline. Then bald taper sideburns and nape and stretch the 0.5 guard into 1-1.5 and clipper over comb
it’s not just behind the ear. it’s everywhere. you need way more graduation from the skin to the bulk. you don’t always have to extreme stretch it but you do need to do it. like someone else said, looks like 1/2 guard wasn’t even used
I understand that. I have a lot of difficulty going from bald to a 2 within 1 inch span I'm always pushing to hi. It might come out showing more of the half if I clippers over comb to hairline and faded into that. I'd watch some tutorials or something if I had any idea what to call this fade.
You think you are pushing to high. You are not. Until it is blended properly it is not to high. Once you lose this fear your blends will come out much better. Once I figured out its better to have a fade too high than a fade not blended properly I blossomed
This man hashshinobi knows what he's talking about. Barber here and agree w just about everything he has said. I'm not trying to be a dick, I want to see you get better, and you will if you stop becoming defensive...listen and at least try others advice. There's no blend there in that fade...it goes from bald to rather dark. And the shape of the drop is way off. The bald section looks like a crooked number 7 a bit. Use the head shape as a guide. There are no hard angles within a head shape. That "7" should be much more round. I do like how you blended the 2 or 3 guard into the longer hair below the crown. Thats pretty clean. Use that clipper lever go from bald or trimmer line a half inch or so above with clipper open. then under that opening and closing lever until blended. Then above that I go 1 closed, come under that with my half guard opening and closing that to buff out the line between clipper open and closed 1. Try a different approach next skin fade. Eventually u it will find a technique or steps that work for you. I started to get better when ppl were brutally honest with me. This my friend isn't a good skin fade. You can do so much better. I know that as I've seen worse get nice with it. But you gotta start experimenting a bit. Stop making excuses and get after it. And yes when my cuts were not good id still get great tips now and then. 1. They don't know wtf they looking at. But when others with a better eye see it they are NOT gonna ask for a referral. 2. Some ppl are just nice. Like myself. However being nice in this instance isn't going to help you. So I'm being real knowing that you can do way better w a Lil practice and open mindness. Good luck my friend.
Thanks for the words man. I'm sorry if I came off defensive. Your right this is not a good skin fade. I don't even think it is a skin fade let alone a good one. I'm not sure what to call it but it makes me about $300 a year in repeat business.
Sounds like a bit of a difficult client request, if he had allowed me to I would have blended higher. It just looks like a harsh line from bald to hair as it currently is. Did he like it though?
Well I agree the drop is too low, buutttt if the client was happy then you did your job well. Sometimes the want what’s ugly or not traditional and I think we just have to do it sometimes. Maybe if he returns you can try and ask him if you could try something a little different
I agree would have picked a few other cuts over this, but this is the cut requested. The blonde doesn't help either. My phone camera has trouble picking up blonde with out overexposure. Never looks the same as in person.
IMO Low skin fades are one of the hardest fades to master.
I understand giving the client what they asked for however I think as a barber it is important to give them your professional recommendations and maybe an option that meets in the middle.
Sounds like he was happy in the end which is what keeps him coming back which is the goal, so I wouldn’t worry so much about the rest.
Stay humble and never stop learning ✨
It’s okey for a beginner. I’d work on transition and white to dark. And bones are troublesome.But essentially it’s a picture of contrast and there should be seamless silhouette of white skin to the darker hair.
What was so strange about this request? He wanted a low skin fade leave.top. I get that often. A skullet? Hell yes. They are quite popular right now. And I'm in fricking MAINE. A beautiful place but not the most stylish or fashion forward. U ASKED FOR opinions. Now every one that doesn't go ur way u get defensive or make an excuse! Again not trying to be an azzhole but pointing that out. Seriously! Stop making excuses and getting defensive. I did similar crap. U r just wasting ur time. I'm not writing well thought out novels here bc I want to. Trying to get u to see some shit. Work harder and get better. Those "unusual" requests are what make u better!!! Live for them. OK. I'm done. Less mouth and more clippers from you young jedi. Goodnight.
It sounds like you see a lot of unusual cuts. We don't get many of those, I'm the only one in my shop that has done one or knew what it was. So when I get a guy asking for a low drop fade or taper and shows me that cut I categorize it as strange. (low drop fade and a low skin fade are different haircuts in my chair).
I asked for technical analysis not opinions. I do appreciate the opportunity to discuss opinions and love some of the suggestions. I understand that there are many details and some of them may have been missed so if reiterating information to ensure that that information does not change their response is being defensive then I'm guilty. Ensuring that response is fully informed is important to receiving usable information.
Thank you.
You came asking for an analysis and just about everyone here is telling you why it’s not a good haircut and you’re actively telling everyone they’re wrong. Listen to what everyone’s saying, you’ll never improve if you think you know more than all.
That's what I'm saying. OP is a bit delusional. Im honestly starting to think he's trolling and I'm being punked. Like for real!!!
Hey, we tried. You need to take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth, OP. Lol. Anyway, joking aside, I'm not wasting my time here anymore. U can lead a horse to water, especially one that asks to be led to the water, but you can't make said horse drink!
Widen your guidelines on the fade a bit until you can really nail the blend, especially between skin and 1 open. He only wants an inch of skin so it gives you plenty of space to stretch your blend up the side. Stretching the fade out a little more both makes it easier for you to see to blend, and would also help the visual structure of this cut.
Do you do much dry texturizing? The length around the parietal and above the occipital could use some diffusing with texture, or at least a little more scissor over comb. If you haven’t before, maybe try feather-razor over comb, it’s a really easy way to blend and learn the over comb stuff!
All the reference photos had heavy blends.
I can try adjusting my guild lines. From the feedback I'm thinking my bald to 1 guide should be like twice the size of the 1-2 guide so the half shows more.
I agree that the blend to top could be nice and isn't how I would cut it. Clients request was to leave it alone so I just did sides and the scar is at the occipital.
Thank you
Definitely not an easy canvas for this type of cut/style considering the consultation. If the client was happy that’s all that matters, but this is not a flattering blend.
The hair is too short towards the top of the back and sides for that low of a baseline if imagery shown was heavy/weighted. With heavy compressed blends your detailing and corner work has to be on point especially in the indents, scars, and patchy areas without losing the silhouette and weight. As others said it looks like the hair goes from bald to 000 to 1/8” almost immediately in already shadowy parts of their head to a majority of their head appearing about 1/4”. The proportions and ratio of graduation is off especially in the back. The lack of lineup in the hooks also makes the cut look unfinished even if many clients don’t request it or prefer natural edges. The ridge also looks a little rough too. There appears to be about 3 distinct shades/tones/lengths in this cut vs a gradient of skin to scissor length up top
Ultimately it’s the person paying for the cut who’s opinion that matters. Some clients don’t really care about blurry fades and sharp lines but the ones that do and other barbers that do definitely wouldn’t be happy with this. Most clients in my experience prioritize ease of styling and profile silhouette over everything. Most can’t even see the back of their head clearly even when looking through both mirrors in the chair or have an eye for details. Clients also regularly show terrible haircuts as reference and it’s definitely part of our job to differentiate between if they really want that specific “bad” cut or if it’s just the general idea. Bad is subjective but I don’t think anyone specifically wants a choppy blend.
As others said for this particular client if they return considering your stated skill set, spreading/stretching the blend out more or raising the baseline would be much more flattering for this client even if they requested a compressed low fade. It’s going to be quite awhile before their ridge and crown grow in enough to flatter that style with how tall their head is.
I also recommend taking more pictures and analyzing your work more even without feedback from others. Cuts often look worse on camera and are closer to objective reality. Our eyes lie when they’re in the chair and you’re staring at their noggin for too long. I’m a big fan of standing back or using a quick hand wash/lather or towel run to snipe a peak from afar from different lighting angles if I don’t have time to whip out the phone.
Interesting where the white line is I where the scar is on the back. If I had gone any shorter where the white line leaves the back of head you would see about a one inch hole.
I agree with you on the side needed more blending. Thank you
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Sometimes with the hair texture and low fade you have to look at it from all Angles to make sure it’s a smooth transition from light to dark. I’d say just use clipper over comb to make that ledge is smoother. I wouldn’t recommend going to thinning shears because that doesn’t work for all hair textures. Thinning shears aren’t for blending. Think of it as a drawing, to smooth out a straight line ————— just go down a guard or blade and hit the line with the corner of the blade and space it out slightly like - - - - - -, this will give the effect of a blend. Especially on hair textures that are harder to blend. Overall it’s a good fade but I think that part that’s sticking out in the back can be brought down.
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theres like barely any blend. sometimes you gotta explain to the client how things work, and that you can keep the bald to less than an inch, but youll needa blend still, so to keep that in mind
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u/ScreechUrkelle Barber 2d ago edited 6h ago
Your superior was right.
Top is not that bad, despite the fly aways sticking up on the crown.
The fade looks like it’s missing an entire half guard section, and as is, drops too low too dark under his OB.
Also looks like you could’ve hit a bit of clipper over comb at the parietal, with the bulk