What Is a Taper Fade and How Is It Different From a Regular Fade?

By Elias Becker · Written and reviewed by a working barber · Updated September 2026 · 9 min read

What Is a Taper?

A taper is a gradual shortening of the hair at the edges of the cut. That means the neckline at the bottom of the back, and the perimeter around the ears. Everything above those edges stays roughly the length it already was.

Picture the hair on the side of your head staying at, say, three inches. Then in the last inch before it reaches your ear, it steps down progressively until it meets skin. That is a taper. From a few feet away, someone looking at you would say you have long-ish hair with tidy edges.

The purpose of a taper is cleanliness rather than shape. It removes the blunt line where hair would otherwise just stop, and it is why a tapered neckline still looks deliberate three weeks after the cut while a blunt one looks unkempt after one.

What Is a Fade?

A fade takes the entire side and back of the head through a progression of lengths, from very short at the bottom to longer as it moves up.

The area involved is much larger. Instead of a gradient in the last inch before the ear, the gradient covers the whole side of the head, from the hairline up to wherever you choose to end it. The hair at the bottom is usually very short or bald. The hair at the top of the fade is whatever length you want it to meet.

From a few feet away, someone would say you have short sides and longer hair on top. The contrast is the point. A fade is a statement about the shape of the whole haircut, not a tidying of its edges.

So What Is a Taper Fade?

A taper fade is the combination: the sides are faded, and the edges are additionally tapered.

This is where the vocabulary gets confusing, because in ordinary conversation people say taper fade when they mean a low fade, and say fade when they mean taper. Both usages are common enough that a barber cannot rely on the word alone.

The most useful way to resolve it, in a shop or in your own head, is to stop using the nouns and describe two things instead: how high the shortest hair goes, and how short it gets at the bottom. Those two numbers describe every cut in this family unambiguously, and a barber will know immediately what you mean.

Which One Should You Actually Ask For?

Ask for a taper if you want to keep the length you have and want it to look neater. Ask for a fade if you want the sides visibly shorter than the top.

A few practical considerations that matter more than the terminology:

Growing out. A taper grows out gracefully. Because it only affects the edges, it stays looking intentional for four to six weeks. A skin fade loses its definition in about two weeks, because the very short section at the bottom grows into the section above it and the gradient collapses.

Hair type. Fades show scalp, and how much scalp they show depends on hair density and colour contrast. On dark, dense hair a fade reads as a clean gradient. On fine or light hair the same cut can read as patchy, and a taper is often the better choice.

Reversibility. A taper can be turned into a fade at the same appointment if you decide you want more. A fade cannot be turned back into a taper. If you are undecided, start with the taper.

Which Is Easier to Cut Yourself?

A taper, by a wide margin, and the reason is where the mistakes land.

On a taper, the entire gradient sits at the neckline and around the ears. An uneven patch there is small, low, and largely hidden by the hair hanging over it. You can be genuinely mediocre at cutting a taper and still get away with it.

On a fade, the gradient sits across the full side of your head at eye level. Every error is on display, and the two errors people make most often are setting the baseline too high and leaving a visible shelf where two guard lengths meet. Neither is hidden by anything.

If you are cutting your own hair for the first time, cut a taper. It teaches you the same lever and scooping motions a fade needs, at a fraction of the cost when it goes wrong.

How Do You Cut a Basic Taper?

The short version, assuming a clipper with a taper lever and a trimmer for the edges.

Comb the hair down so it lies flat over the neckline. Decide how high the taper goes, which for a conservative taper is roughly an inch above the natural hairline.

Start with a middling guard, a #2 or #3, and cut upward from the bottom of the neckline, arcing the clipper away from the head as you reach your chosen height. That arcing motion is what stops the pass creating a hard line.

Then take the guard off, open the lever to its longest setting, and work the bottom half inch shorter, again arcing out. Close the lever slightly and repeat lower down. Each pass sits below the last, which is what builds the gradient.

Finish the perimeter with the trimmer, following your natural hairline rather than cutting a straight line across it. A straight-cut neckline looks sharp for four days and awkward for the following three weeks as it grows past its own edge.

Does Any of This Change on Curly or Coily Hair?

The definitions do not change but the execution does.

Curly and coily hair springs up after cutting, so the length that comes off the clipper is not the length you see when the hair dries and recoils. This means a gradient that looked smooth while cutting can look stepped afterward. The working answer is to cut the gradient slightly longer than you think you need and to check the shape with the hair dry rather than damp.

Contrast also behaves differently. Tight curl patterns show the transition between lengths more sharply, which means a fade on coily hair looks crisper but is less forgiving of an uneven join. Blending needs more lever work and more passes, not fewer.

None of this makes either cut a bad choice. It changes how much time to budget and how often to stop and check.

NOVAH Pro Clipper + Trimmer

A cordless clipper for the bulk of the cut and a trimmer for lineups, edging and detail work, sold together as one set.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is a taper fade the same as a low fade?

In everyday use, most people saying taper fade mean a low fade, and most barbers will read it that way. Strictly, a taper fade means the sides are faded and the edges are also tapered. Because the usage is inconsistent, describing how high and how short you want it is more reliable than either name.

Which is shorter, a taper or a fade?

A fade removes far more hair overall. Both can go down to skin at the very bottom, but a taper only does so in a narrow band at the neckline and ears, while a fade takes the entire side and back through progressively shorter lengths.

Can you turn a taper into a fade?

Yes, and it is a normal thing to do mid-appointment. A taper leaves all the length on the sides intact, so a barber can go shorter from there. The reverse is not possible, which is a good argument for starting with the taper if you are unsure.

Does a taper work with long hair?

It works particularly well with long hair, because it only touches the edges. A tapered neckline stops long hair looking shapeless at the bottom without shortening any of it.

How often do you need a taper cut?

Every four to six weeks. Because the gradient sits in a small area and the surrounding hair is long, it degrades much more slowly than a fade, which needs attention every two to three.

What guard number is used for a taper?

There is no single answer, because a taper is built from several passes rather than one guard. A common starting point is a #2 or #3 for the upper part of the taper, then the guard removed and the lever used to work progressively shorter toward the bottom.

Sources

1. NOVAH Grooming technique notes, compiled from working barbers
2. NOVAH Pro Clipper and Trimmer product specifications
3. Customer questions submitted to NOVAH support, 2025 to 2026
4. NOVAH guard-size reference chart, published on novahpro.com

Related Reading

• How to do a skin fade at home, step by step
• Low fade vs mid fade vs high fade: how to choose
• How to blend clipper guard lines without leaving a shelf
• How to Practise Cutting Hair at Home Before You Touch a Real Client
• What the Price of a Professional Clipper Actually Buys You