A taper fade haircut is a popular, low-maintenance cut perfect for men wanting a work-appropriate, stylish look. It features hair tapered from zero exposure at the hairline to longer lengths nearing the crown. This gradation creates dimension, contrast, and versatility for short, medium, and long hairstyles.
Read on for our favorite taper fade looks to show your barber.
1. High Taper
A high taper will expose more scalp, contrasting with longer hair on top. To keep some edge, ask your barber taper to start about an inch above the natural hairline and end subtly blended with top layers.
2. Low Taper
For a more conservative fade that focuses attention on the cut rather than scalp exposure, ask your barber to lower the start point of your taper down closer to the natural hairline. The subtle contrast works well for professional settings.
3. Skin Taper
One of the most extreme versions of a taper fade, the “skin taper,” takes blending completely down to the skin, exposing hair follicles for maximal edge and contrast against longer top layers before gradually getting longer and moving back.
4. High Bald Fade
A high bald fade tapers hair down to the skin instantly before fading into longer lengths, resulting in a high contrast disconnect paired with cropped cuts. It’s important to keep clipper work high, clean, and straight when cutting a bald fade—any unevenness shows.
5. Drop Fade
A drop fade abruptly “drops” into exposed skin before gradually blending hair to longer lengths, resulting in a clean yet still organic finish that complements wavy, curly, and coily textures well. Keep the drop fade portion lower near the temples and nape.
6. Burst Fade
The burst fade features hair of varying lengths “exploding outward” from central zones surrounding ears, neck, and hairlines. Groomed edges seamlessly met longer interior lengths graduate down from the crown towards the occipital bone.
7. High Top Fade
Fade hair extremely short up temples, across foreheads and napes to put curly voluminous height on display across the top portion of longer kinky hair. The shorter the sides, the bigger the perfectly round contrast silhouette.
8. Temp Fade
Lower disconnected fades to start along the temples instead of way up at the forehead hairline for a more conservative definition contrasting longer hair on top. Clean, curved temples graduate the shortest hair closest to the skin before blending back to the crown.
9. Mid FadeFade + Hard Part
Combine sharp tapering with the illusion of thicker hair by shaving a visible hard part line into naturally lower growth patterns before skin blends into dark hair. According to MensHaircuts, the disconnect makes hair on either side of the part appear wider.
10. Shadow Fade
One popular way to taper begins by “shadowing” natural hairlines with precise low outlining before quickly dropping to shorter lengths, darkening most at the temples, edges, and napes, keeping the top layers longest.
11. Faded Pompadour
Pump up polished pomp volume with skinny skin fades surrounding front hairlines and edges. Concentrate FadeFade works around curves of the head rather than tapering to the crown, which could flatten the dramatic height on display up top.
12. Faded Comb Over
Sweep longer top layers over natural part lines to the sides, contrasting with high bald fade work, removing bulk down to the scalp at temples and nape perimeters.
13. Faded Mohawk
Transform flat, tall spikes into a sharper focal point with highly faded sides, taking longer hair on crowns down to the skin instantly before subtly blending into shorter lengths, making strips of hair down centers stand taller.
14. Faded Buzz Cut
Crisp-up conservative buzzed haircuts with faded edges surrounding front and back hairlines. Concentrate fading around the curvature of the head before subtly tapering back into longer top hair trimmed to one even length messily styled for added edge and dimension.
15. Faded Shape Up
Line up faded hairlines with precise, crisply clipped shape-up details following the contours around foreheads, temples, and ears.
16. Faded Textured Crop
Rough-up polished crops with shattered texturized fringe made to stand out with tighter skin fades surrounding front hairlines and temples, drawing attention to shattered ends flicking upwards that might otherwise fall one even ordinary length.