Combination
High Fade + Slick Back
The hardest, most graphic combination available — a skin fade above the temple with everything on top swept straight back leaves nothing soft anywhere on the head. It flatters a round face and is punishing on a long one.
Cut lives at guard 0
- Guard range
- 0
- Chair time
- 45-55m
- Back in
- 1-2 wks
- Instrument
- Clipper + scissors
Two decisions, not one.
Sides
High Fade
The gradient starts at or above the temple and takes most of the side down to skin. Maximum contrast, maximum height. It narrows a wide head and pushes all the visual weight to the top.
Full high fade pageTop
Slick Back
All the length combed straight back with no part. Clean, severe, and unforgiving of a receding hairline — it puts the whole forehead on display.
Full slick back pageAsk for it like this.
Two decisions means two sets of instructions, and the third sentence is usually the one that decides whether they meet in the middle.
- Ask for a high fade to skin, with a hard line where the fade meets the top if you want the disconnect.
- Say the top is slicked straight back, no part, with 8cm minimum to sweep.
- Decide before you sit down whether you want it blended or disconnected — they are different cuts.
The failure mode.
Every pairing has one specific way it goes wrong, and it is almost always at the join between the two halves rather than in either one of them.
A slick back on fine hair shows scalp under any direct light. If your density is thin at the crown, this combination will find it.