Wahl 5 Star Senior Cordless: Do Your Own Fade With This Pro Tool

(This is real advice and opinions from a real person. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Some links in this post are affiliate links.)

For the price of just a couple of cuts in a high-end salon or barbershop, you can own a tool that will allow you to do your own fade and much more with the same precision as the professionals. The strangely named Wahl 5 Star Senior Cordless Trimmer isn’t for working on old people. It’s called “senior” because it’s the top of the line, and it’s what stylists around the world use for fades and other clipper cuts.

Whether you’re cutting hair for other people or want to do a great job on your own fade or other haircut, these are the cordless hair clippers for you. Just ask any barber or stylist about good brands of clippers, and they’ll mention Wahl first.

Keep reading for more information on how to do your own fade and some details and opinions on Wahl 5 Star Senior clippers, including links for ordering them. You’ll find that these salon quality clippers aren’t available in most in-person stores, but they’re easy to get online.

Pros consider Wahl the best for a reason

While some of the companies that make grooming products have only been around a few years and make products designed to look good rather than work well, Wahl is an old-timer. Leo J. Wahl discovered and designed the first electromagnetic motor in 1911, and soon he was selling improved hair grooming products to barber shops. The American company based on his innovations and his products was founded in 1919 and rapidly became the leader in personal grooming products.

Perhaps Wahl’s most important innovation was its 1967 introduction of the first cordless hair clippers that used rechargeable batteries. This led to a line of other products that used its rechargeable battery technology and vibrating motor technology, but grooming products are always where the company has excelled most.

Later, the company invented the first cordless beard and mustache trimmer for the consumer market. It’s hard to believe that before 1984, you couldn’t buy a cordless beard and mustache trimmer. You either had to go to a barbershop for a trim, use hair clippers or trim with scissors.

How to do your own fade

Fades are simple, elegant haircuts that anyone can do at home. They’re the style of the day, but it’s not the first time fades have been popular. Similar haircuts have been popular at other times through the years, and many barbers and stylists used Wahl tools like the Wahl 5 Star Senior Cordless to do fades then too.

But increasingly, guys want more control over how their hair is done and have gotten tired of paying the high prices for stylists who don’t do as well as they could have done themselves. In other words, there’s more interest in doing your own fade or other short haircut than ever before.

Here’s how to do a fade yourself: Starting with clean hair, comb it the way you normally do. Make sure you have great clippers that adjust in cut length — or have a variety of guard lengths ready to go. You’ll also need scissors and a handheld mirror.

If you have a lot of hair on top or you’ve been growing it out for a long time, you may want to use scissors to tidy the top before you start the fade. Additionally, you may want to set the clippers set on a long setting and use them to remove the bulk of the hair on the sides before you start the fade.

To do the fade correctly:

Choose the right setting. Use a low numbered guard or setting on your cordless clippers around the edges of your hair. If you’re not quite sure that you know what you’re doing, start with the #2 guard, which will leave the hair about a quarter of an inch long. You can go shorter later if you want and can even get a zero fade if you use the right clippers.

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Start at the bottom. Use your chosen guard to trim the sides and back of your head starting at the bottom and cutting gently upward, pressing only slightly on your head as you go. Make slow, gentle swoops so that you don’t go too high or make any other mistakes. Don’t go up very far on the sides or back on this pass, maybe an inch or so.

Switch to a longer guard. If you started with #2, switch to #3. Starting where the shorter guard left off around the sides and back cut again going perhaps an inch or so higher than you did with the shortest guard.

Repeat, if desired. You’ll probably use three or four guards total when doing a fade, each going about an inch higher up on your head than the previous one. Be sure to check carefully behind your ears to make sure you didn’t miss any spots, and use a razor or manscaper to clean up your neckline.

Check your work. You may notice hard lines in your haircut or places where you didn’t quite get things even. Put on the appropriate guard for that level, go back over an area, and make any necessary adjustments. If it’s your first try, you’re not likely to get everything right in one pass. Also, sometimes clippers skip a spot for no reason. That just happens.

Redo often. The layers in your hair will start to disappear as it gets longer and messier so you’ll have to go back and do it again. Because the bottom portion of a fade is short, you may notice it needing to be redone after only two or three weeks.

Ask around. Have a friend look at your haircut and see what they think about it. Choose someone who will be honest, and ask them if you’ve done a good job. Let them help you make adjustments on your first couple of haircuts, if possible. You may be surprised how many of your friends are doing their own haircuts and have experience with this.

Wahl 5 Star Senior cordless are the best for clippers for fades

With up to 80 minutes of cordless run time and a big range of fade adjustments, the Wahl Professional Cordless Senior Metal Edition, available through this Amazon affiliate link, is the only type of cordless clipper you should try to do your own fade with.

These cordless fade clippers are designed for close cutting, so they’re perfect for smooth, easy cuts through any kind of hair. You can even use these cordless clippers on wet hair, which causes a big problem for some brands of trimmers.

The device is about half a foot long, weighs less than a pound and includes a lithium-ion battery inside. And one thing that helps make these the best cordless fade clippers available is that they come with a weighted stand that makes it easy to take them out and put them in over and over again. While they’re good for home use, the weighted stand along with the sturdy metal construction of the clipper body means they’re good for professional use too. This is a substantial tool for serious haircuts.

I like to make balanced, fair reviews of products, pointing out the negative qualities of the items I review as well as the positive ones. But it’s hard to find anyone saying negative things about these clippers. These are the industry standard for cordless fade clippers. They’re that good. Period.

If you’re looking for something wrong with this product, my only complaint is that it doesn’t come with a case for traveling or putting everything away neatly. But this isn’t meant as a travel device and is intended to be left on the countertop, and I’m OK with that.

Get a pro tool, whether you’re a pro or not

Wahl 5 Star Senior professional clippers are just that: professional fade clippers that you can buy and use at home. The more fades you do on yourself and your friends, the better you’ll get at it, at least if you use a good tool. If you use bad clippers, your fades will never look good.

Looking good is important to me, and I’m sold on the Wahl 5 Star Senior pro clippers. Once you hold them in your hand and try your first fade, you will be too. Click here to see the remarkable price of these professional hair and beard clippers on Amazon.