When it comes to haircuts, the faded cut is definitely one of those stylish looks that will stay trending for a long time. It’s sleek, modern, and can work on many different hairstyles.
What’s a fade haircut?
A faded haircut is a style of cutting where the sides are cut from shorter to longer as you go higher up on your head. A high fade haircut is a haircut where the fade effect ends at just below the corner of the forehead.
This guide will give you a detailed step by step process on how to do a high fade haircut and will hopefully give you the visual that you need to do this cut right at home.
What you’ll Need
To get the right look, you need the right tools. For a high fade haircut you’ll need a clipper with adjustable guards, a fine toothed comb, a hair trimmer, hair cutting shears, and a handheld mirror. It’ll be really difficult to achieve this look without these tools.
If you’re in a position where you can’t get everything you need then I suggest you get the cut done at a barbershop. You could ask the barber to explain to you how it works as well so can you still learn from the experience.
Why do you need these tools?
Because you’re going to need to be able to cut in layers to achieve a fade and having a clipper with the proper attachments is necessary for that. The trimmer is needed for cutting your hairline and the scissors will be used for snipping the longer parts of your hair. The mirror gives you the ability to accurately cut the back of your head.
If you don’t have them then it’s really not worth butchering your hair when you could just get it done properly by a pro.
Need a high quality clipper and trimmer that will last you for years to come? Check out my posts on the best clippers and the best cordless trimmers.
See my post on the best cordless clippers if you’re not a fan of the cord.
How to cut a Fade Haircut – The High Fade
Step 1 – Prepare your hair for the cut
The first thing to do is comb the top and sides of your hair. While most men are familiar with combing downwards for the sides, a neat tip for the high fade is to comb the top part of your hair sideways.
I recommend using a spray bottle for the top part of your hair before combing. It’s an optional addition but it does help with the next step. If you don’t have a spray bottle, just add some water to further dampen it until the length of the strands become clearer.
Step 2 – Trim the top of your head
A high fade does not necessarily look good with a lot of hair on the top. Some is ok and it may be dependent on the type of hair you have so use your own judgement based on the look you’re going for.
Use our handy pair of scissors and comb. Comb your hair upwards with one slow stroke until your hair is practically standing and being held in place by the comb.
Then, using your scissors, make small cuts to the top of the hair that’s sticking out of the comb. Be sure to take your time with this step.
You can always return to this step after you’ve finished blending the sides to achieve the perfect balance, so there’s no need to make sharp cuts starting out.
Step 3 – Start fading
To create the fade look, you’ll need the clipper and some guard attachments. As I’m sure you already know, the low numbered guards are for cutting your hair short, and the high numbered guards are for keeping some length to your hair.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Basically, we start with the low number guard then slowly increase the size of the guard and “fade” as we go upwards, or vice versa.
Now let’s begin. You can start from the bottom to top or the top to bottom. I prefer starting from the top because mistakes are much easier to control when you’ve got a lot of hair to deal with.
I also recommend doing the effect on one side of your head first, then working on the other side, then to the back of the head.
Use your handheld mirror to see from different angles.
Remember, this is a high fade. So with a high number guard, you need to do the clipping from the point at the corner of your forehead.
Place your finger on the corner of your forehead, as if you’re signing to somebody to use their brain, and draw an imaginary line around the back and returning to the other side of the forehead. That’s where you need to start clipping. Use a slow upwards sweeping motion.
Step 4 – Continue fading
Now go downwards but switch your guard to a slightly lower number and repeat the motion in step 3. As you do this, you’ll start to see the layers forming and the fade effect starting. As you go lower and lower, decrease the number of the guard.
Step 5 – Adjustments and Style
The first time you do this, you’re probably going to notice it’s not quite the look you’re going for. This is why I recommend not using very low numbers with the clippers towards the bottom if you’re doing this for the first time.
Start with the high number at the top and then use the second highest, then the third highest, as you go downwards. Then do the process again but with the lower numbers respectively until you achieve the look you want.
Another issue that may pop up is the fade won’t look blended. This means that there may be some weight lines in your cut. Be sure to even those layers out with your clipper or scissors. You can do this by sifting your comb through the lines and blending the excess hair with your tool of choice.
If you’re confused by what I mean, check out the video below.
Conclusion
Remember, if you don’t have all the tools you’re going to have to either buy them or get your hair cut by a barber.
With that said though, learning how to do a high fade on your own is pretty neat. Once you do it a few times then it starts to become second nature. I think learning to cut and style your own hair is a skill every guy should have.
It saves you money in the long run and, let’s be honest, it’s kind of badass.
