Why does nobody talk about comb vs scissor-over-comb for fading?

Been cutting at a shop in Austin for 2 years and always defaulted to scissor over comb for blending. Decided to try a fine tooth comb on my last three clients and the blend came out way smoother with less bulk. Anyone else have a preference between these two or am I just doing scissor over comb wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

sammurray14d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, same thing happened to me... tried comb over scissor after watching some old barber tutorials and it just clicked way better for my fades. Feels like scissor over comb can leave too much weight if your tension isn't perfect.

wren65214d ago

You ever have one of those moments where you realize you've been making things harder on yourself for no reason? I used to be all about scissor over comb for everything, thought it was the only way to get a clean blend. But after reading this and trying comb over scissor on my last couple cuts, I gotta say I was wrong. The control you get with the comb guiding the scissors is just way more predictable, especially around the crown where I always struggled. It's wild how switching up one small thing can make fades look way cleaner with less effort.

mila_craig42d ago

It's funny how that works with so many things in life. Like there's always this default way everyone says you're supposed to do something, and you just follow it without questioning if it's actually the best way for you. I noticed it with cooking too, everyone swears by certain techniques but sometimes the simpler opposite method gives you a better result. It's like we get locked into this idea that harder or more traditional equals better, when really it's just about what works for the specific person and situation. Glad you and the other commenters figured out that comb over scissor gives you that extra control, because saving time and frustration is always worth switching things up.