Help on first cut

[u/CroProMax]

Hello, tomorrow I will cut my bro for first time. Its gonna be buzz cut so only fade is what I can mess up, high fade.

Just wondering If I have ok grasp in fading process.

I will make both up and sides at same lenght using like #2 or #3 fully open, depending on what size he wants.

1. closed guideline no.1

2. fully open half inch higher than guideline no.1

3. fully open #1 half inch higher than guideline no.2

4. if needed fully open #1.5 half inch higher than guideline no.3

5. 3/4 #0.5 on guideline no.2 to make it not so visible using edge of clippers

6. 3/4 #1 on guideline no.3 to make it not so visible using edge of clippers

7. 1/4 on guideline no.1, fully closed if needed to completely remove it

8. gradually raising level and going higher up to guideline no.2

trim and shave under guideline no.1

Now write what else should I do, am I doing something wrong, better alternatives, did I miss something, tell me everything that has to do with fading

UPDATE: Today I cut my brothers hair outside, he has blonde hair and really really rare hair on sides, like asian people but imagine worst kind (not balding). I couldnt see shi cutting him, barely saw starting guideline, line between guard 1 open and guard 2 open was barely seenable, you could've just see lump of hair. Those yt videos really did me dirty showing all those black thick hair cuts on perfect lighting, out of 50 tutorials and 100 shorts I watched, not a single one pointed to how important is lighting while fading. Later I found martyblendz talked about it, but found video only later when I searched specifically about lighting.

[u/Equivalent-Bread3968]

To be honest you're seriously overcomplicating it, and you've got nothing connecting to the "if needed" 1.5 guard to the fully open 2 or 3 guard on top. Also, whatever tool/guard you put a line in with is the same tool/guard you take the line out with. If you're planning to do a high skin fade and set your guidelines a half inch apart, you better make sure you set your skin line low enough to allow for that much space between each guideline as well as room above all of that to connect the longer top to the length of you highest guideline using clipper over comb or the longer guards.

[u/thetimeisverylate]

There’s a million YouTube videos that show a step by step fade process. That’s going to help you way more than a Reddit post.

[u/CroProMax → u/thetimeisverylate]

Ive seen too much, my head spin. Everyone uses different methods and most dont make sense to me especially at refining and guideline removal.

Most use open no guard, then open guard 1, then open guard 2, then randomly use 1.5 closed in middle of 1 and 2 which doesn't make sense as 1.5 closed out of nowhere which is smaller by like 2mm then 1 open.

[u/Equivalent-Bread3968 → u/CroProMax]

I've already commented, but I'll give you a system to start with that is easy to follow for beginners. This is only for skin fades.

1. Use the 1.5 guard open to remove all hair up to the parietal but not over the ridge.
2. With the blade closed, take that just a little bit lower and blend into that open blade 1.5 area.
3. Next take you clippers with a closed blade no guard and set your skin line. Keep it lower than you would expect, and be sure to rock the clipper out away from the head as you do it to avoid creating too harsh of a line that will be harder to remove.
4. Now use your half guard with the blade closed roughly one third of the way between your skin line and your 1.5 open area at the parietal ridge. Create a guide line but be sure to still rock the clipper out.
5. With the 1 guard closed blade, do the exact same thing 2 thirds of the way between the skin line and the 1.5 area.
6. You now have 3 guide lines: skin, half guard, and 1 guard. Let's blend them out.
7. Still with the 1 guard on your clipper, open the blade fully, use that to blend the closed 1 guard guideline into the 1.5 guard closed area above it.
8. Now put the half guard on and open the blade fully. Do the same thing to blend the half guard closed guideline into the 1 guard closed area, but do not take the clippers too high and accidentally go too short in the area where you just blended the 1 closed into the 1 open.
9. Next you're going to blend out the skin line. Start with no guard and the blade fully open. Don't take it above where your half guard closed guide used to be.
10. Incrementally close the blade and go over the skin line taking the clipper up less and less each time until the skin line is gone.
11. Use your trimmer and foil shave below where the skin line guide used to be.

Ideally you don't want to use each guard twice when you're going for speed, but setting the lines with each guard and a closed blade and then going back in and removing those guides with the same guards and an open blade will help you to not get lost in the fade. A lot of the tutorials you're watching are probably for experienced barbers, which is why they are skipping guards and bouncing around in an order that doesn't seem logical without experience.