My old barber mentor would roll over in his grave if he saw me using electric trimmers for everything now

I started cutting hair back in '98 at a shop in Detroit, old school guy named Mr. Thompson taught me. He would only let me use shears and a straight razor for the first two years, no clippers at all. Now I do almost every fade with my Wahls and only break out the shears for texture work or a full scissor cut. The change happened around 2012 when I got my first cordless trimmer and realized how much faster I could do a taper without the cord getting in the way. But I still think about old Mr. T yelling at me for rushing, like that time I nicked a kid's ear cause I was trying to finish a flat top in 20 minutes. Has anyone else switched up their tool routine over the years or am I just getting lazy?

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baker.simon1mo ago

Yeah, I feel you on the cord thing. I read somewhere that cordless trimmers changed barbering more than the clipper itself did. That's probably true. I started in 2005 and remember fighting with that damn cord wrapping around the customer's arm every time. Old school guys like Mr. Thompson had a reason for the long apprenticeship though. It builds discipline. But time is money now. I still grab shears for the top and use trimmers for the hard parts. You're not lazy, you're just keeping up.