My name is Josh, and I'm a barber.
I've been cutting hair for six years.
I'm from Chattanooga, Tennessee,
and I just relocated to Atlanta, Georgia.
Started in 10th grade of high school.
So, I got on social media, and I was
wanting to teach a lot of people around the world
how to become a good barber, like I did.
My client didn't have a haircut
over the entire quarantine,
and as soon as the barbershops opened back up,
he came to me for his first haircut.
So, right here, I'm combing the hair out.
I'm lifting it up off the scalp
so I can make sure that I can find
the growth pattern of his hair to make sure
that I don't cut any light spots in his hair.
So, it's going to be a low-taper haircut,
even all over.
So, right here, I'm going over the head
with a No. 2 guard,
and I'm going with the grain.
I'm getting all the bulk off the top
to make sure that I can see the hair and the scalp
so I can know what guard to go in with next.
So, I use a lot of standard tools,
the clipper and the trimmer.
For me, I have to make sure
that I get my tools set properly
so they can cut as precise as I want them to.
So, right here, I'm going to be starting my low taper,
and I'm going in and setting my bald line.
This is the first guideline that you have to make
to create a low fade.
I want it to look like you can't see where it starts,
so you can't see where it finishes.
Right now, I'm going to be using my clipper
to go in and create my guidelines
to do my taper fade and to blend it out.
Once you have the basics down,
you kind of approach the haircuts differently.
You start to find your own style.
And at that point, I think it's you versus yourself,
because you get to a point where you want your haircuts
to look a certain way.
So, right here, I have my No. 1 guard on,
creating my next guideline.
And doing this is creating a transition.
When you're doing a taper fade,
you want to go from shorter to longer.
That's what creates a fade.
So that's what I'm doing when I change my guards.
So, when I'm doing a taper,
depending on what I cut the hair down to on the top,
that determines how many guards I have to use
when I'm doing a taper.
And on this particular haircut,
I'm going to be using four different guards.
So, right here, I'm going to be doing my neck taper.
This is the same exact process.
I go in with the same clippers,
and I use the same guards.
So, when I'm creating a bald line,
it acts as a balance zone for the rest of the fade.
So that's why I want to make sure
that I make the bald line straight across,
so when you look at the fade from the back,
it looks like it's all even
and it's all blended in the same transition.
So, over my barber career, my style has changed a lot.
Different haircuts have different dynamics.
So I was able to really understand
how to get my haircuts to come out
exactly how I wanted them to look
based on how I approached the haircut.
I can pick out this haircut
and tell you what barber did it based on his style.
So I feel like as you grow in the barber industry,
you kind of just grow into your style
and the way that you want your haircuts to look.
So, as I'm fading, I like to use my comb or a brush
to help keep up with where I'm at,
because it brushes out all the hair that's been cut
and it lays down the hair that needs to be cut.
Because if I fade too high on the back of the neck,
it's going to make the haircut look awkward.
The art of cutting hair is just like any other skill.
It can be learned, and I feel like it's all about
understanding what you're actually doing
and studying.
A lot of people, in the beginning,
they rush the process,
because it takes a lot of practice
and a lot of repetition.
So, before I go in and do the hairline,
I use holding spray to get the hair to lay down
and hold still so I can cut every hair precisely.
So, right here, I'm going to be going in,
creating his hairline,
and making it even all the way around.
So, when putting a line in on somebody,
you want to make sure that you put it
on their natural hairline
and not push them back too far.
Watching videos really helped me jump-start my career
and understand what I was actually doing.
So, for me, it was a matter of really slowing down
and understanding what's actually going on.
And I understood that
I'm not going to be good overnight
and it's going to take a lot of consistency
to get to where I want to be.
So, right here, I'm applying hair fibers to his hairline
because he had thin spots
and it kind of fills in for those light areas
and makes it look natural,
and it makes it look full.
When clients come in and they haven't had
a haircut in a long time
and I give them a big transformation,
they can't believe how they look.
They feel like they've been
brought back to life.
You set them out to have a good day,
looking good and feeling good.