Skin fade
45 min$45Clipper work from zero up, blended by hand. Neckline and a hot towel finish included.
Milwaukee Ave · Chicago · Six chairs
No Visible Lines
A fade is a controlled gradient between clipper guards a sixteenth of an inch apart. Done right there is nothing left to see. That is the whole job — and why we book forty-five minutes for it.
01 — The work
We measure in
sixteenths of an inch
You are blending between clipper guards that step in increments of a sixteenth of an inch, and the entire craft is making the boundary between two of those steps disappear. Get it wrong and there is a visible shelf. Get it right and there is nothing to see at all.
The cut itself takes fifteen minutes. The rest of the appointment is the blend.
#01/16″1.5 mmSkin and near-skin. The bottom of a low fade.
#11/8″3 mmFirst step up. Where most of the blending happens.
#21/4″6 mmSides on a conservative cut. Holds shape three weeks.
#33/8″10 mmUpper sides, and the start of the top on a short crop.
#41/2″13 mmA full uniform cut. Grows out without a hard line.
#81″25 mmBulk removal on thick hair before the scissors come out.
02 — Prices
One price.
However long it takes
No junior rate, no senior rate. Every barber here has finished an apprenticeship, and if a cut runs over it runs over.
Cash and card · 15% off for service members and first responders · No tipping expected
03 — Barbers
Three chairs
three specialisms
Book by name if there is a preference, otherwise take whoever is free. Nobody here hands off a cut they cannot finish.
Dez Okonkwo
Trained in London, moved to Chicago in 2019. Fastest clipper hand in the shop, and the one to ask for when the fade has to sit sharp for a photograph.
Skin fades · Clipper work · Line-ups
Marisol Vega
Came off a salon floor, which shows in the scissor work. Best in the shop on curls, cowlicks and anything that refuses to sit where it is put.
Scissor cuts · Textured crops · Curl patterns
Tomas Ruiz
Opened the shop in 2016 and still takes the first chair. Strops the razor between every shave, which is either principle or superstition depending on the day.
Straight razor · Hot towel · Beard shaping
04 — Visit
Walk in
or call ahead
Opening hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- 9:00 – 19:00
- Wednesday
- 9:00 – 19:00
- Thursday
- 9:00 – 19:00
- Friday
- 9:00 – 19:00
- Saturday
- 8:00 – 17:00
- Sunday
- 10:00 – 15:00
Last cut goes on the chair 45 minutes before close
Where
1907 N Milwaukee Ave Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 555-0142Blue Line to Western, three minutes on foot. Metered parking on Milwaukee, free on Wabansia after 6pm.