Had a chat with an old barber at 7am before my first cut that changed how I do fades

Ran into a retired barber named Sal at the diner yesterday. He told me to stop using my trimmer for the bottom line and go back to a straight razor. Tried it on my 9am client and the blend came out cleaner in half the time. Anyone else get handed advice from an old timer that totally flipped their routine?

2 comments

2 Comments

ben82721d ago

You ever notice how the old heads always seem to have some simple trick that makes you wonder why you were overcomplicating things for so long? Its like they watched us struggle with fancy tools and just shook their heads. I had a similar thing happen at my buddy's auto shop last year. His grandpa came in, saw us fighting with a digital torque wrench, and just walked over with a regular ratchet and a piece of chalk. Told us to mark the bolt with a line and turn it a quarter past. Worked perfect every time after that. Sometimes we get so caught up in all the new stuff we forget the basics that actually work better. Glad you found that straight razor trick.

gonzalez.wesley21d agoTop Commenter

Man, that chalk trick with the torque wrench is genius. I had a similar deal with my old man when I was trying to adjust the valves on my motorcycle. Had the service manual out, reading all this stuff about feeler gauges and specific measurements. He just grabbed a business card, slid it in there, and said "if it's snug but not tight, you're good." Been doing it that way for years now and never had a problem. Sometimes the simplest fixes are the best.

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