Unpopular opinion: Fading with a trimmer before clippers works better for coarse hair

I had a guy come in about 6 months ago, his name was Marcus, hair like steel wool. He told me his last barber always started with the clippers and left lines everywhere. I tried going in with my Andis trimmer first on his neckline and curves, then followed with the clippers, and the blend came out smooth as butter. Took me a little longer but the result was way cleaner. Has anyone else messed around with reversing the order on stubborn hair types?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesley_grant331mo ago

Marcus's steel wool neckline came out perfect with the trimmer-first trick.

uma3061mo ago

yo "perfect" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there wesley lol. steel wool necklines look super clean at first but they always end up looking weird after a couple of days when the hair starts growing back. that sharp line gets all fuzzy and patchy real quick. i think the fade trick works better for most guys unless you're trying to look like a mannequin.

reese_bell1mo ago

Ha! Mannequin is exactly what I was thinking. These steel wool necklines look like someone took a ruler and a sharpie to their neck. It's like they're trying to be a cartoon character. Sure it looks crisp for about 4 hours, but then you wake up the next morning and it looks like a 5 o'clock shadow that got lost in a hedge maze. The fuzz factor goes through the roof real fast. I swear half the guys doing this are just trying to show off their trimmer skills instead of getting a haircut that actually works with their growth pattern. But hey, if Marcus wants to cosplay as a department store mannequin for a day, more power to him.