How to Give Taper Fades With Hair Clippers

As you clip, periodically comb the hair back into place to make sure you are cutting it evenly and blending it thoroughly.

The taper fade haircut falls between a Caesar and a "high and tight" military trim in terms of style and hair length. The cut is called a "fade" because different lengths of hair are blended together to create an illusion that the hair is fading away down the head as it gets shorter and shorter. It is called a "taper" because the hairline is shaped into a modified V-shape at the nape of the neck instead of being blunt-cut.

Things You'll Need

• Comb
• Hair clipper
• 5/16-inch guard
• 3/16-inch guard
• 1/16-inch guard

Instructions

1. Clip the hair on the back of the head, using an upward motion and with no guard attached to the clippers, until roughly the bottom 2 inches from the nape of the neck up is clipped.

2. Attach the 5/16-inch guard to the clippers. Clip the rest of the hair on the back of the head, moving upward from the nape to the crown. Remove the 5/16-inch guard.

3. Attach the 3/16-inch guard to the clippers. Clip the hair up from the nape of the neck, working in an upward motion, until you have clipped the hair to roughly the same level as the top of the ears. Shift the clipper's lever one notch in and re-clip the area you just clipped, this time in a downward motion. This will blend the hair and minimize the look of any "lines of demarcation" dividing different lengths of hair. Remove the 3/16-inch guard.

4. Attach the 1/16-inch guard to the clippers. Clip the hair, using an upward motion, up from the nape of the neck. Stay below the area where you clipped with the 3/16-inch guard. Smooth out the different lengths of hair by reworking that area in a downward motion. Remove the 1/16-inch guard.

5. Bend the subject's ear toward his face using your thumb and use the guard-less clippers to shave the hairline where it draws behind the ear and to the nape of the neck into a straight line. Hold the clippers so that they are perpendicular to the line you want to create. Do not draw the clippers down parallel to the hairline, but rather shape the hairline by moving upward from the neck toward the hair, small section by small section. Repeat the hairline shaping on the other side of the subject's head, behind the other ear. Check to make sure that each side of the hairline below the ears looks like a mirror image of the other. Shape the hairline above the ear and up to the temple in the same way, on either side of the head.

6. Attach the 3/16-inch guard to the clippers. Clip the client's hair, using an upward motion, from the temples toward the top of his head. Where you stop depends on how short the client wants the hair at the top of his head. You may clip all of the hair at the top of the head, if he wants it that short, or you may attach a new guard and clip it to a different length.

7. Take off the 3/16-inch guard and attach the 1/16-inch guard in its place. Blend the "line of demarcation," clipping the hair the hairline above the ear and back toward the side of the head. Clip the hair roughly 1 inch from the temple toward the back of the head. Use an upward motion first, then rework the area using a downward motion to blend it further.

8. Remove the 1/16-inch guard and re-blend (using first an upward and then a downward motion) at the area where you shaped the hairline above the ear, moving only 1/2 inch or less up into the hair. Shift the clipper's lever as necessary to get as close to the subject's scalp as possible when blending the cut along the hairline above the ear.

Tips & Warnings

• It is not advisable to try to cut a taper fade on yourself; find an experienced stylist to do it for you.

References

• YouTube.com: Faded Neck Taper/Temple Fade Tutorial