[clippers buzzing]
Waseem Youans:
You went too high, man.
A. C. Fowler: I went too high?
Waseem: The other side,
'cause I wasn't looking at you.
A. C.: Oh, shoot, yeah.
Oh, gosh, I've already 
messed up.
A. C.: My hair is a
little bit of a mess right now,
so this is very much needed.
Waseem: All right, 
I got you.
A. C.: So, for people
who don't know, Waseem,
what exactly is a fade?
Waseem: A fade is where
you start off gradually
with the lower number
and you slowly fade
into the longer numbers.
For instance, if 
you start at zero,
just about an inch,
then you'd open up another
guideline with a No. 1,
let's say almost a half an inch,
and then you're 
gradually doing that
from one to two to three.
A. C.: So, when you're
talking about numbers,
you're talking about, 
like, these things,
like, these guards,
so, like, this is the No. 1,
this is the No. 2,
things like that, right?
Waseem: Yeah.
A. C.: OK, cool.
This is my biggest fear.
I'm very worried about 
messing up my hair.
So I'm gonna need 
some special guidance,
especially when it
comes to doing the back.
Waseem: Yeah, I'm gonna
tell you all my expertise,
whatever I can. If you
mess up, I don't know.
[laughing]
I'm not there.
A. C.: If I mess up, it's on me.
Waseem: All right, first of all,
show me a little bit
closer look of your hair.
And we'll start from there.
A. C.: All right, so,
it is pretty rough 
on the sides here.
I haven't had a lining in, like,
you know, four months, so.
Waseem: I see. It's 
been a long time, eh?
A. C.: Yeah.
Also, my forehead is
gigantic, so just know that.
Waseem: So, what I would
recommend you do right now,
find a spot that is bright,
and I always recommend
probably a bathroom,
you know, 'cause you 
got the best lighting
and the best mirrors there.
A. C.: All right, I'm
gonna move to my bathroom.
Waseem: First thing that
I would do right now,
grab a comb, and if you can,
kind of push the 
top of your hair
to the side and 
comb it all down,
make sure all the little
hairs are downwards.
It doesn't tangle with
the top or something.
A. C.: Yeah, my 
biggest fear is that
I accidentally cut off 
one of my twists.
I've been growing my 
hair for three years,
and this is as long 
as it's gotten, so.
What's the next step?
Waseem: The next step. So,
right now, grab your clipper
and use the No. 1 guard.
A. C.: All right, cool.
I have my No. 1 guard on here,
which is 1/8 of an inch.
What do I do with it now?
Waseem: Let me make 
it easier for you.
A. C.: Nice.
Waseem: You'll start with
the No. 1, about an inch.
I would say, like, 
an inch and a half,
let's say around here,
and in the back you 
kind of drop it
where the occipital bone is...
A. C.: Oh, the occipital 
bone, of course.
[laughs]
Just to make sure 
I got it right,
because this is the first
cut and I'm nervous.
So, I'm going in from,
like, about right here
with my one guard.
Right here, sort 
of, like, dipping.
Waseem: Yeah.
A. C.: Below the 
occipital bone,
and then coming back
up around on this side.
Waseem: Let's go.
A. C.: All right. Here we go.
[clippers buzzing]
Waseem: What I would 
recommend to you;
kind of, like, flick 
out on your scalp
and be a little more 
light with your hand.
I feel like you're kind
of rough with your hand.
A. C.: OK. [laughs]
All right, I'm gonna be
lighter. I'm gonna flick out.
Waseem: By the way,
did you have the lever?
You see the lever 
on your clipper?
A. C.: Oh, yeah, yeah.
This thing right here.
Waseem: Was it 
closed or open?
A. C.: It was closed.
Waseem: OK, perfect.
Now you open it, and just
go where that line is,
and just flick it out.
Don't open up 
another guideline,
but let's say if the line is here,
just flick it out. You know?
[clippers buzzing]
You went too high, man.
A. C.: I went too high?
Waseem: The other side,
'cause I wasn't looking at you.
A. C.: Oh, shoot, yeah.
Oh, gosh, I've already 
messed up.
OK, is it salvageable?
What can we do?
We've already hit 
our first road bump.
Waseem: It doesn't 
matter. Like,
even if you go high,
we can still fade it, 
'cause you still,
as long as you got some
hair on the side still,
like, you didn't go 
all the way up,
you know? It's OK.
A. C.: Yeah, and I 
still have some hair.
Waseem: I always try to
keep it a little lower,
but it's OK.
I always say, when 
there's hair,
there's always a solution.
So, right now I would 
use the No. 2.
We're gonna open up 
another guideline.
Not as big as the 
first one you did,
but we were planning 
to do this guideline.
With the first guideline,
you did kind of, like, a dip.
Right now you can 
just go straight.
A. C.: All right, here we go.
Oh, I'm very nervous.
[clippers buzzing]
It's possible that I 
was underdoing it.
Waseem: It's OK, 
not a problem.
What we want is 
just to kind of
flick out soft in this area.
You got No. 3?
A. C.: OK, Yep. No. 3.
All right.
Waseem: Follow 
the head shape,
and just all the way up.
Don't dig in.
A. C.: OK, don't dig in.
Waseem: Just fade 
up, you know?
A. C.: Cool.
Waseem: Like, you see?
Over here, and just, 
like, fade up.
Don't do that.
A. C.: OK.
[clippers buzzing]
I think that kind of worked.
The other side, here you go.
Waseem: That 
looks good now.
A. C.: Some 
positive feedback.
There we go.
Cool.
Waseem: Now use 
the No. 2 again.
A. C.: OK.
Waseem: And now 
we'll try and merge
with the No. 2 into 
the No. 3, you know?
You can just do the same
movement, flick out.
So, right now, go 
and use the No. 1.
I see, like, you 
have a heavy line
on the left side.
The way to fix 
that heavy line,
just gonna open up, and
instead of going in,
you're just gonna, 
like, lift the clipper
and kind of, like, go
into this scraping motion,
but still flick up,
just enough so 
it raises the line.
A. C.: OK, cool.
So I'm doing that all
around this bottom layer?
Waseem: Yeah.
[clippers buzzing]
A. C.: Kinda did that.
Waseem: We got work to do.
We still got work 
to do, for sure.
A. C.: Yeah, we do.
Waseem: Now grab the 
one and a half guard.
Open the lever.
Where your line is, just
go, like, downwards.
Now we're just trying to
soften off more of that line.
You can just, like, go and
flick out that line again.
Do that, and then close
it and flick it out again.
You wanna get 
all the little hairs
that are going 
all over the place.
Other motions, not 
only up and down,
but, like, flick it
out, kinda like, sorry,
kinda like to the side,
you know, like that,
and then up.
A. C.: OK, all right.
[clippers buzzing]
We don't know what's
happening in the back.
So I'm going to turn around
and let you inspect it.
You can be brutally honest.
It might be terrible.
So, here we go.
Can you see that?
Waseem: Yeah, I can see that.
I'm not sure, but, like,
on the right side, over here,
yeah, right there in the back,
I feel like you 
went too short, no?
A. C.: It's possible, yeah.
So, like, you mean, 
like, right here?
Waseem: Yeah, yeah. 
I see, like, a...
almost like a... you know?
A. C.: Like a bald spot? 
[laughs]
Waseem: I didn't want 
to say it, you know?
A. C.: Not quite bald,
but too low for that area.
Waseem: Yeah. 
Go with the No. 1
around this area 
and clean it up.
Make sure you go 
all angles again.
Let's grab a No. 2.
A. C.: OK.
Waseem: Push the hair 
again on the top
and go in a downward motion.
That's, like, the final
thing we're gonna do there.
Just, like, lightly, you know?
A. C.: Lightly, OK, cool.
Waseem: Trying to just,
like, blend it in more.
So, right now I want 
you to turn around
all the way to the back.
I have some other 
things I want to fix.
You see where this area is?
A. C.: Right here?
Yeah, I would  go with 
the No. 1 1/2 guard, open.
And close, and just
flick it out there again,
'cause it's very dark, 
I see, you know?
Everybody has their own
dense and dark areas,
so I usually, you know?
A. C.: The shape of my
head is very bizarre, so.
Waseem: Oh, trust me, 
a lot of people
have some crazy 
dents in their heads.
A. C.: OK, cool.
I don't feel so weird.
I feel like this feels 
uneven to me.
It looks like a weird line.
Waseem: Just look straight.
A. C.: OK.
Waseem: No, it's good.
It's good.
A. C.: Oh, really?
Waseem: Yeah, it's good.
A. C.: I'm shocked.
Waseem: On the right side,
I would leave, 
where the corner is,
just tap it a little bit
just to create that 
curve in it, you know?
A. C.: Just a little bit.
How's that?
Waseem: Perfect. Awesome.
That's it.
A. C.: All right.
My first straight 
line of the day.
Waseem: I'm happy 
for you, man.
A. C.: Thank you, thank you.
Waseem: With this haircut, 
the main thing
I wanted to accomplish
is to just gradually 
have a fade
but still have a little 
bit of hair here.
A. C.: Yeah, I'm 
actually very impressed.
Especially with the left side.
I gotta say, this 
side is not terrible.
Waseem: I like the 
right side more.
A. C.: You like the 
right side more?
Waseem: Yeah.
A. C.: Hey, all right, cool.
Yeah, I mean, I think 
that if, you know,
if people just don't
look at me straight on,
then we'll be all right.
Waseem: Now, actually,
straight on, right now,
that's what I wanna do.
We're gonna use a little
bit of gel on the top.
Just, like, push it down.
Yeah, that's it, and make sure,
No. 1 mistake that you did,
don't ever go too 
high with the fade.
A. C.: OK, yeah.
That was about one minute in
that I made that mistake, so.
The good thing about hair
is that hair grows back.
Waseem: And again, now
we're just keeping you,
you know, we're keeping
you ready and clean
till your barber is 
back, you know?
A. C.: Exactly.
