Sideburns or No Sideburns With a Fade? How to Decide
Whether to keep sideburns with a fade comes down mainly to your beard. If you wear stubble or a beard, keep the sideburns and fade them into it so the haircut and beard read as one shape. If you are clean-shaven, you have a real choice: fade them out completely for a very clean, modern look, or keep a short, tapered sideburn that sits around the middle of the ear for something more classic. Fading them out looks sharpest on day one but shows regrowth fastest. A short faded sideburn grows out more gracefully and suits most offices.
Below are the four main options, how each wears over the weeks after a cut, and how to ask for the one you want without ambiguity.
The four options
| Option | What it looks like | Suits | Grows out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faded out completely | Hair blends down to skin above the ear; no sideburn | Clean-shaven men, high or mid fades | Quickly; shadow visible within days |
| Short faded sideburn | Sideburn kept to around mid-ear, faded at the bottom | Most men, most workplaces | Gradually |
| Squared sideburn | Sideburn kept with a crisp horizontal edge | Low fades, tapers, classic cuts | The edge softens in a week or two |
| Connected to beard | The fade runs down into the beard with no break | Anyone with stubble or a beard | Depends on beard upkeep |
The beard question settles most cases
If you have a beard, removing the sideburns leaves a bald strip between the haircut and the beard. It looks like two separate decisions. The standard approach is to keep the sideburn and let the fade continue down through it into the beard, lengthening gradually as it goes. Our guide to the beard fade explains how that transition is built.
Even heavy stubble benefits from this. Three days of growth on the cheeks with a skin-faded temple can look patchy unless the sideburn bridges the gap.
Clean-shaven? Four things to weigh
How high the fade sits
A high or mid skin fade often looks most coherent with the sideburn faded out, because the whole side is already close to skin. A low fade or taper usually looks better with some sideburn left, since the hair at the temple is still relatively long.
How fast your hair grows
When sideburns are taken to skin, regrowth shows as a shadow within a few days. If you are seeing a barber every two weeks that is fine. If you stretch to five or six weeks, a short sideburn hides the in-between stage far better.
Density at the temples
Some men have sparse hair in front of the ear. Keeping a sideburn can make that area look patchy, so fading it out is cleaner. Others have very dense sideburns, where fading completely takes more care to avoid a dark line.
Work and glasses
Short faded sideburns are the safe, neat choice for conservative offices. If you wear glasses, the arms sit right where the sideburn ends; a slightly shorter sideburn avoids hair being pushed out of shape by the frames.
What to say to your barber
Vague requests produce mismatched results. These phrases are clear:
- “Fade the sideburns out completely.” No sideburn, blended to skin.
- “Keep the sideburns to mid-ear and fade the bottom.” A short, soft sideburn.
- “Keep them to the top of the ear.” Very short, almost faded out.
- “Square them off at mid-ear.” A crisp, classic horizontal edge.
- “Blend the fade into my beard.” No break between haircut and beard.
Point to the place on your ear rather than relying on “short” or “normal”. Everyone’s idea of short is different. If you are unsure, ask for the more conservative option. A sideburn can always be removed at the next visit; it takes a few weeks to grow back.
At Highgate Cuts, every appointment starts with an assessment, where the barber looks at your hair, the fade and your beard, then makes a recommendation. Sideburns are part of that conversation, not an afterthought. You can see the full range of cuts on our barber services page.
Getting both sides even
Uneven sideburns are among the most common complaints after any haircut, and usually not the barber’s fault alone. Ears are rarely level, and a sideburn cut to the same point on each ear can look uneven when viewed straight on. A good barber checks in the mirror from the front, not just side by side. Our guide to sideburn length and shape covers this in more detail.
Keeping them right between cuts
- If faded out: a careful pass with a trimmer without a guard, in front of the ear only, can extend the clean look a few days. Do not attempt to re-fade the blend yourself.
- If squared: use the edge of a trimmer to tidy only the bottom line, matching the existing height. Check in a mirror from the front.
- If connected to a beard: keep the beard trimmed at the same length on the cheeks as the lowest part of the fade, so the transition stays smooth.
If you have tight, curly hair and take sideburns down to skin with a razor, you may be more prone to razor bumps and ingrowing hairs. Leaving a very short stubble rather than shaving to skin often helps. The NHS page on ingrown hairs has sensible advice on prevention.
A quick decision guide
- Beard or regular stubble: keep and blend them.
- Clean-shaven, high skin fade, cut every two to three weeks: fade them out.
- Clean-shaven, low fade or taper, cut every four to six weeks: short faded sideburn.
- Classic or formal look, scissor cut on top: squared at mid-ear.
For more on the fade itself, our explainer on how the blend is built walks through the process step by step.
Questions we get asked
Do sideburns make you look older?
Long, heavy sideburns can date a look. Short, tidy ones generally do not. Removing them entirely tends to read as younger and more modern.
Can I change my mind next time?
Yes. Going from sideburns to none is instant; going back takes a few weeks of growth.
Should sideburns match on both sides?
They should look level from the front, which sometimes means cutting them to slightly different points if your ears sit differently.
How often should I have a fade tidied?
Most people find every two to four weeks keeps the fade and sideburns sharp. Email us or visit the Highgate barber page to book; prices are on the barber menu or available by email.
Book with The Highgate House
Ready for a proper cut? Email us at [email protected] with the service and the day that suits you, and we will come back to you with times.
Visit The Highgate House · The barbers
The Highgate House, Archway Road, Highgate, London N6.
