A guy in the chair next to me at my shop said clipper guards are for cowards and now I can't stop thinking about it
I was finishing up a fade on a regular last Thursday when the barber two chairs down, Marcus, looked over and said he hasn't used a guard above a 1 in 4 months because he thinks it makes you lazy with your wrist. I laughed it off at the time but then I caught myself reaching for my 2 guard on three cuts in a row and felt weird about it. He said the trick is keeping your blade flat and moving your whole arm, not flicking your wrist, which sounds simple until you actually try it. Now I'm wondering if I've been leaning on guards as a crutch for years and just never noticed. Any of you cut mostly guard-free, and if so how long did it take before your fades stopped looking choppy?