5 Tips To Clipper Cutting Perfection

Josh DeMarco (@hairdemarco) averages 15 men’s haircuts a day, mostly clipper cuts, sometimes mixed with scissors. “I usually work clippers into most haircuts for the taper in the neck,” DeMarco says. “It’s a much cleaner look than squaring off a hairline.” Although his Wahl clipper is used on just about every male client, he frequently uses it on his female clients as well.

MODERN has seen DeMarco in action, having had the opportunity to shoot with him on set in NYC, watching him transform a client while educating along the way. It was truly impressive and explains his great success at his DAPR Grooming Parlour in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. DeMarco is a member of MODERN’s Artist Connective program and has been named a MODERN Game Changer, our annual list of the 100 artists making waves in the industry.

Although he is expert in many areas of hairdressing, MODERN asked DeMarco to share his top five tips to clipper cutting perfection:

1.   Clippers work best on dry hair (especially cordless ones). Wash your client after the haircut to remove any strands that are buried or hidden in the cut.

2.   Create starting point guides by looking at the face structure and deciding where to place the weight (forehead, temple, etc). Use those guides to create your shape and keep haircut balanced on both sides. 

3.   Set larger guides when fading to stretch the graduation longer, resulting in a more blended and elongated fade.

4.   Work in clean sections, keeping in mind what attachments you’ve used in each area of the head to result in a consistent and even fade.  

5.  Start haircut on side of head, not back. When you start in the back you risk the potential of taking the fade too high and have less control over the shape of the haircut.