Barbershop Blog

What Is A Skin Fade Haircut?

This is the first question that needs answering and much of the confusion simply stems from people using the terms taper and fade interchangeably. They are however two different things. Both are a gradual reduction in the length of the hair. A taper is a gradation between longer and shorter hair down to the hairline. A fade differs because it fades down to skin level and finishes above the natural hairline, what changes between the different fade hairstyles is how much skin shows and where.

What Are The Different Types of Skin Fade Haircuts?

A skin fade is not a complete hairstyle in it’s own right, it is however a hair cutting technique that forms part of a an overall hairstyle. So, important to keep this in mind as we outline the different types of fades.

Low Skin Fade

A low skin fade shows roughly an inch or less of skin above the natural hairline. The fade drops down behind the ears and around the back of the head, keeping an inch of skin shown relatively even all the way around.

Mid Skin Fade

With a mid fade the skin runs higher up on the head, starting from around the brow, it again drops down behind the ears and behind the back of the head, but dropping only a little at the back.

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High Skin Fade

A high skin fade leaves a lot of exposed skin, starting up around the top of the forehead at the front and almost reaching the crown of the head at the back. The fade runs evenly around the head and doesn’t appear to drop at the back.

Drop Fade

This another popular term used to describe some fades. Both a low skin fade and a mid skin fade are drop fades, as the fade drops down at the back of the head. A high skin fade is not a drop fade as there is no drop down towards the nape of the neck.

Taper Fade

Here you have a taper of the hair down to the hairline and a fade to skin evident only at the temples and the nape of the neck. The amount of skin shown varies from low, medium to high. In all variations of this hairstyle the hairline remains behind the ear.

The term ‘taper fade’ is not used universally and the terminology can vary somewhat geographically and depending on who you talk to. Other popular terminology such as temple fade, Brooklyn fade and blowout fade are all types of taper fades.

Burst Fade

A standard burst fade is cut in a semicircle shape around the ear, the fade drops down behind the ear where it ends on the side of the neck, it does not continue along the nape of the neck like a low skin fade or mid skin fade does.

Burst Taper Fade

Much like the taper fade mentioned above however the fade at the temple is cut in a semicircle shape or ‘burst’.

Which Skin Fade Hairstyles Are Trending?

At the moment, we continue to see the mullet take on many different forms and plenty of those involve a burst fade of burst taper fade.

In fact the burst taper fade has really become one of the most trendy modern takes on the old school classic mullet hairstyle.

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And That's A Wrap

We hope this article helps to clarify the different types of skin fades and makes it that little bit easier when requesting your next haircut at the barbershop. If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to ask Medhi and the team here at Barber Industries Cessnock.