THE WORK Shot in the room · on the day

FOUR CHAIRS. NO FILTER.

Everything below came off a phone in this shop, under these lights, on a working day. Nothing was re-shot in better light and nothing was cleaned up afterward. If it looks like a barbershop on Edgewood, that's because it is one.

Hold a chair What to ask for →

SHOT ON THE FLOOR ● NO RE-SHOOTS ● NO STOCK PHOTOS ● FOUR CHAIRS ● EDGEWOOD AVE ● ATL ● SHOT ON THE FLOOR ● NO RE-SHOOTS ● NO STOCK PHOTOS ● FOUR CHAIRS ● EDGEWOOD AVE ● ATL ●

01 — Cuts & fades

Clippers running up the side of dark hair, the barber's other hand steadying the client's head

A tattooed barber holding a comb against a client's head while running clippers along the side

Back of a client's head as the barber lifts textured hair on a comb and cuts, low fade beneath

A barber in an apron shaping a client's curly, blonde-tipped top with a gloved hand above a high fade

A tattooed barber holding a comb and straight razor over a tight fade on a bearded client

A barber blow-drying a red-bearded client's hair in a brightly lit shop, denim apron on

02 — Beard & razor

A tattooed barber at the chair at Kingsmen

Gloved barber drawing a straight razor down a lathered cheek, client reclined with eyes closed

Black-and-white photograph of shears trimming a full beard on a reclined client in a striped cape

Clippers cleaning up the nape of a client's neck, the barber's tattooed forearm across the frame

Pomade tins, a wooden-handled straight razor in a stand, shears and a wooden comb laid on a dark bench

— Before you screenshot one

A picture is
a starting point.

Bring one anyway. We would far rather look at a photo than listen to a description: "short on the sides, longer on top" covers about four hundred haircuts and roughly nine of them are the one you want.

What the photo can't carry across is the head under it. Density, growth pattern, where the crown sits, whether your hairline has a corner or a curve, how much of a cowlick you're working around. Two men can ask for the same fade off the same picture and get results four weeks apart in how they grow out.

So the barber will tell you which parts of it are yours and which parts belong to the man in the photo. That conversation takes ninety seconds and it is the difference between a good cut and the one you meant.

The words for what you want