Fade pattern geometry finally clicked after measuring 50 heads

I was doing a fade on a regular last Tuesday and realized my blend lines kept drifting on guys with uneven skull shapes. So I started measuring head contours with a flexible tape before every cut, just for my own curiosity. After 50 heads I noticed something wild: guys with flat occipital bones need the fade to start a full finger width lower on the back, or the blend looks crooked. I found this out by charting each cut on a notepad and comparing photos after. My 0.5 guard work has gotten way cleaner since I adjusted for that. Anyone else map out head shapes like that or am I just being extra about it?

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1 Comment

harper_wright3h ago

Fifty heads is wild, man. I mean, I've been cutting for six years and I've never once thought to measure a skull with tape. The flat occipital thing though, that makes too much sense. That dip right below the crown is where my blends always look off on certain dudes, I just always blamed the clipper. Last month I had a guy with a head shaped like a damn cinder block, his fade kept looking like it was sliding forward no matter what I did. Now I'm sitting here wondering how many cuts I've messed up because I didn't check that bone.