Hot take: I think fading with the grain instead of against is a total game changer

I was at a shop in Denver last month watching a younger barber work and he was going against the grain on every single fade pass. Told him I usually go with the grain for the first couple steps to avoid irritation on sensitive skin. He looked at me like I had three heads but I've been doing it for 8 years now and my clients almost never get those red bumps after a fresh cut. I know you need to go against to get that crispy blend but starting with the grain saves me about 10 minutes of cleanup. Has anyone else tried this or am I the only one breaking the "rules" here?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin5911mo agoMost Upvoted

Another thing nobody's talking about is that with the grain first actually lets you see the natural fall of the hair better before you commit to a tight blend. That alone stops you from accidentally jacking up the fade line when the hair's laying weird. Plus it gives you a clean baseline to judge where you really need to go against the grain instead of just guessing.

rowan_thomas841mo ago

Got a buddy who used to do his own hair with a hand mirror and a pair of dull kitchen shears, lol. He'd start going against the grain right away every time and end up with this choppy mess that looked like a lawnmower hit it sideways. One day I finally convinced him to just watch how his hair naturally fell first and he was shook at how much better it turned out. He still messes it up sometimes but at least now he's not going in blind with the scissors. Really does save you from that panic when you realize you took off too much in one spot and have to scramble to fix it. Its honestly wild how skipping that one step can make or break the whole cut.