A pro barber's tip for how to do a fade hair cut at home

Wide_Still_2

  • Waseem Youans, a professional barber known for his super-clean fades, walks us through the process of fading our own hair at home.
  • A fade is a haircut that consists of hair tapering from longer on the top to shorter towards the nape of the neck.
  • The process will be more difficult should you attempt to do it on your own. Youans recommends reaching out to your barber to help you through it.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Following is a transcript of the video.

[clippers buzzing]
Waseem Youans: You went too high, man.
A. C. Fowler:: I went too high?
Waseem: The other side, 'cause I wasn't looking at you.
A. C.: Oh, shoot, yeah. Oh, gosh, I've already messed up.

A. C.: My hair is a little bit of a mess right now, so this is very much needed.
Waseem: All right, I got you.
A. C.: So, for people who don't know, Waseem, what exactly is a fade?
Waseem: A fade is where you start off gradually with the lower number and you slowly fade into the longer numbers. For instance, if you start at zero, just about an inch, then you'd open up another guideline with a No. 1, let's say almost a half an inch, and then you're gradually doing that from one to two to three.
A. C.: So, when you're talking about numbers, you're talking about, like, these things, like, these guards, so, like, this is the No. 1, this is the No. 2, things like that, right?
Waseem: Yeah.
A. C.: OK, cool. This is my biggest fear. I'm very worried about messing up my hair. So I'm gonna need some special guidance, especially when it comes to doing the back.
Waseem: Yeah, I'm gonna tell you all my expertise, whatever I can. If you mess up, I don't know. [laughing] I'm not there.
A. C.: If I mess up, it's on me.

Waseem: All right, first of all, show me a little bit closer look of your hair. And we'll start from there.
A. C.: All right, so, it is pretty rough on the sides here. I haven't had a lining in, like, you know, four months, so.
Waseem: I see. It's been a long time, eh?
A. C.: Yeah. Also, my forehead is gigantic, so just know that.
Waseem: So, what I would recommend you do right now, find a spot that is bright, and I always recommend probably a bathroom, you know, 'cause you got the best lighting and the best mirrors there.
A. C.: All right, I'm gonna move to my bathroom. Waseem: First thing that I would do right now, grab a comb, and if you can, kind of push the top of your hair to the side and comb it all down, make sure all the little hairs are downwards. It doesn't tangle with the top or something.
A. C.: Yeah, my biggest fear is that I accidentally cut off one of my twists. I've been growing my hair for three years, and this is as long as it's gotten, so. What's the next step?
Waseem: The next step. So, right now, grab your clipper and use the No. 1 guard.
A. C.: All right, cool. I have my No. 1 guard on here, which is 1/8 of an inch. What do I do with it now?
Waseem: Let me make it easier for you.
A. C.: Nice.
Waseem: You'll start with the No. 1, about an inch. I would say, like, an inch and a half, let's say around here, and in the back you kind of drop it where the occipital bone is...
A. C.: Oh, the occipital bone, of course. [laughs] Just to make sure I got it right, because this is the first cut and I'm nervous. So, I'm going in from, like, about right here with my one guard. Right here, sort of, like, dipping.
Waseem: Yeah.
A. C.: Below the occipital bone, and then coming back up around on this side.
Waseem: Let's go.
A. C.: All right. Here we go.
[clippers buzzing]
Waseem: What I would recommend to you; kind of, like, flick out on your scalp and be a little more light with your hand. I feel like you're kind of rough with your hand.
A. C.: OK. [laughs] All right, I'm gonna be lighter. I'm gonna flick out.
Waseem: By the way, did you have the lever? You see the lever on your clipper?
A. C.: Oh, yeah, yeah. This thing right here.
Waseem: Was it closed or open?
A. C.: It was closed.
Waseem: OK, perfect. Now you open it, and just go where that line is, and just flick it out. Don't open up another guideline, but let's say if the line is here, just flick it out. You know?
[clippers buzzing]
You went too high, man.
A. C.: I went too high?
Waseem: The other side, 'cause I wasn't looking at you.
A. C.: Oh, shoot, yeah. Oh, gosh, I've already messed up. OK, is it salvageable? What can we do? We've already hit our first road bump.
Waseem: It doesn't matter. Like, even if you go high, we can still fade it, 'cause you still, as long as you got some hair on the side still, like, you didn't go all the way up, you know? It's OK.
A. C.: Yeah, and I still have some hair.
Waseem: I always try to keep it a little lower, but it's OK. I always say, when there's hair, there's always a solution. So, right now I would use the No. 2. We're gonna open up another guideline. Not as big as the first one you did, but we were planning to do this guideline. With the first guideline, you did kind of, like, a dip. Right now you can just go straight.
A. C.: All right, here we go. Oh, I'm very nervous. [clippers buzzing] It's possible that I was underdoing it.
Waseem: It's OK, not a problem. What we want is just to kind of flick out soft in this area. You got No. 3?
A. C.: OK, Yep. No. 3. All right.
Waseem: Follow the head shape, and just all the way up. Don't dig in.
A. C.: OK, don't dig in.
Waseem: Just fade up, you know?
A. C.: Cool.
Waseem: Like, you see? Over here, and just, like, fade up. Don't do that.
A. C.: OK. [clippers buzzing] I think that kind of worked. The other side, here you go.
Waseem: That looks good now.
A. C.: Some positive feedback. There we go. Cool.
Waseem: Now use the No. 2 again.
A. C.: OK.
Waseem: And now we'll try and merge with the No. 2 into the No. 3, you know? You can just do the same movement, flick out. So, right now, go and use the No. 1. I see, like, you have a heavy line on the left side. The way to fix that heavy line, just gonna open up, and instead of going in, you're just gonna, like, lift the clipper and kind of, like, go into this scraping motion, but still flick up, just enough so it raises the line.
A. C.: OK, cool. So I'm doing that all around this bottom layer?
Waseem: Yeah.
[clippers buzzing]
A. C.: Kinda did that.
Waseem: We got work to do. We still got work to do, for sure.
A. C.: Yeah, we do.
Waseem: Now grab the one and a half guard. Open the lever. Where your line is, just go, like, downwards. Now we're just trying to soften off more of that line. You can just, like, go and flick out that line again. Do that, and then close it and flick it out again. You wanna get all the little hairs that are going all over the place. Other motions, not only up and down, but, like, flick it out, kinda like, sorry, kinda like to the side, you know, like that, and then up.
A. C.: OK, all right.
[clippers buzzing]
We don't know what's happening in the back. So I'm going to turn around and let you inspect it. You can be brutally honest. It might be terrible. So, here we go. Can you see that?
Waseem: Yeah, I can see that. I'm not sure, but, like, on the right side, over here, yeah, right there in the back, I feel like you went too short, no?
A. C.: It's possible, yeah. So, like, you mean, like, right here?
Waseem: Yeah, yeah. I see, like, a... almost like a...you know?
A. C.: Like a bald spot? [laughs]
Waseem: I didn't want to say it, you know?
A. C.: Not quite bald, but too low for that area.
Waseem: Yeah. Go with the No. 1 around this area and clean it up. Make sure you go all angles again. Let's grab a No. 2.
A. C.: OK.
Waseem: Push the hair again on the top and go in a downward motion. That's, like, the final thing we're gonna do there. Just, like, lightly, you know?
A. C.: Lightly, OK, cool.
Waseem: Trying to just, like, blend it in more. So, right now I want you to turn around all the way to the back. I have some other things I want to fix. You see where this area is?
A. C.: Right here?
Waseem: Yeah, I would go with the No. 1 1/2 guard, open. And close, and just flick it out there again, 'cause it's very dark, I see, you know? Everybody has their own dense and dark areas, so I usually, you know?
A. C.: The shape of my head is very bizarre, so.
Waseem: Oh, trust me, a lot of people have some crazy dents in their heads.
A. C.: OK, cool. I don't feel so weird. I feel like this feels uneven to me. It looks like a weird line.
Waseem: Just look straight.
A. C.: OK.
Waseem: No, it's good. It's good.
A. C.: Oh, really?
Waseem: Yeah, it's good.
A. C.: I'm shocked.
Waseem: On the right side, I would leave, where the corner is, just tap it a little bit just to create that curve in it, you know?
A. C.: Just a little bit. How's that?
Waseem: Perfect. Awesome. That's it.
A. C.: All right. My first straight line of the day.
Waseem: I'm happy for you, man.
A. C.: Thank you, thank you.
Waseem: With this haircut, the main thing I wanted to accomplish is to just gradually have a fade but still have a little bit of hair here.
A. C.: Yeah, I'm actually very impressed. Especially with the left side. I gotta say, this side is not terrible.
Waseem: I like the right side more.
A. C.: You like the right side more?
Waseem: Yeah.
A. C.: Hey, all right, cool. Yeah, I mean, I think that if, you know, if people just don't look at me straight on, then we'll be all right.
Waseem: Now, actually, straight on, right now, that's what I wanna do. We're gonna use a little bit of gel on the top. Just, like, push it down. Yeah, that's it, and make sure, No. 1 mistake that you did, don't ever go too high with the fade.
A. C.: OK, yeah. That was about one minute in that I made that mistake, so. The good thing about hair is that hair grows back.
Waseem: And again, now we're just keeping you, you know, we're keeping you ready and clean till your barber is back, you know?
A. C.: Exactly.
[clippers buzzing]

Deal icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Keep reading