The old master's advice about clipper tension was dead wrong

My barber mentor of 12 years always said crank the tension until the blade screams, so I've been doing that on every fade since 2019. Last month a client's hair got yanked out raw at the nape, and he walked mid-cut. The newer guy next to me runs his clippers loose and his fades are buttery, so who do you trust when the old way fails in front of a paying customer?

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elliots497d ago

Ever jack up your own clippers because you thought screaming blades meant skill? I sure have, man. My mentor taught me the same thing, crank it till it sounds like a dying cat, and I ruined a few good fades before I figured out the trick. It's not about the noise, it's about the angle and the comb. The older guy probably had hands like a surgeon, but his ears were shot from all those years of cranking. You gotta trust your own eyes and the client's reaction, not some old habit. That walk-out was a hard lesson, but loose and steady beats tight and angry every time.