20 Curly Hair Boy Ideas With a Taper

The 20 Curly Boy Taper Ideas

1. The Basic Low Taper

Curls left alone on top with the perimeter graduated down to a #1. It is the default worth asking for first, because it changes the smallest amount of hair for the largest gain in tidiness.

A boy with a basic low taper and curly top

2. The Neckline-Only Taper

Nothing touched except the hair below the occipital bone. From the front this reads as an untouched head of curls, which suits families who want the maintenance win without the visible haircut.

Back view of a boy with a neckline-only taper

3. Taper Around the Ears Only

The two arcs above the ears cleaned up and the back left long. It buys weeks of growing room during a grow-out and stops the sideways push that makes curls look shapeless.

A boy with curls tapered around the ears

4. The Car Seat Taper

The taper taken deliberately shorter and slightly higher at the back. If your child spends an hour a day against a headrest, that friction is the actual cause of the pad you keep finding, and length is the only variable you control — the same reasoning behind most curly toddler haircuts, where the car seat is in use even more.

A boy in a car seat with a short tapered nape

5. Low Taper Under a Long Curly Top

Maximum contrast between full length above and a clean perimeter below. Because the taper is low, the contrast reads as deliberate rather than as two different haircuts meeting.

A boy with long curls on top and a low taper

6. The Mid Taper for an Older Boy

The graduation starting between the temple and the parietal ridge. It gives more of the sharpness of a fade while still bottoming out at a guard, which suits a nine-to-twelve-year-old who wants something crisper.

An older boy with a mid taper and curly top

7. Taper With a Natural Neckline

The hair simply graduated to nothing rather than cut to a line. It never looks overdue because there is no edge to grow past, and it needs no upkeep of its own.

A boy with a natural tapered neckline on curly hair

8. Taper With a Blocked Neckline

A squared-off line at the bottom for a sharper finish. Worth knowing it looks its best for about ten days and then needs a trimmer, so choose it only if you own one.

A boy with a blocked square neckline on a curly taper

9. Taper With the Fringe Left Forward

Perimeter tapered, front curls kept long over the forehead. Weight at the front softens a young face and stops a tapered cut looking severe.

A boy with a taper and a long curly fringe

10. Taper With a Middle Part

Curls split down the centre with a clean perimeter beneath. The taper is what makes a middle part work on curl, because it stops the sides widening at the level of the ears.

A boy with a curly middle part and tapered sides

11. Taper on Fine Curl

Keep the shortest point at a #2 rather than a #1, because fine hair shows scalp quickly at 3mm. The gradient still reads clearly and the density holds up.

A boy with fine curly hair and a soft taper

12. Taper on Thick Curl

Thick hair needs weight removed from underneath as well as at the perimeter. Without internal thinning the top keeps standing outward however clean the sides are.

A boy with thick curly hair and a tapered perimeter

13. Taper on Tight Coils

Coils give the taper a strong edge to work against, so the gradient reads clearly even over a short travel — the grown-up version is the curly taper fade if you want a reference photo to bring in. Expect the top to look shorter than it measures, since tight coils lose up to half their length to shrinkage.

A boy with tightly coiled hair and a taper

14. The Scissor Taper

A taper only travels a couple of centimetres, which is short enough for a comb and scissors to cover the whole of it, so the silhouette can be built without a machine at all. Slower for the barber, but a child who cannot tolerate clipper vibration will sit through it, which matters more than a perfect gradient.

A barber tapering a boy's curls with scissors and comb

15. Taper With a Slight Drop Behind the Ear

The line curving downward behind the ear instead of running level. Following the skull rather than cutting across it flatters a small head considerably.

A boy with a taper dropping behind the ear

16. Taper Under a Curly Mop

Full mop length on top with only the very bottom edge cleaned. It is the version that keeps a long-haired look legal under most school rules.

A boy with a curly mop top and a discreet taper

17. The Photo-Day Taper

Booked ten days ahead rather than the night before. A taper looks its best once it has softened slightly, and a same-week cut can read too fresh in a photograph.

A boy in school uniform with a tapered curly haircut

18. The Home Touch-Up Taper

The neckline tidied at home with a #1 guard between salon visits. The nape is the one section a parent can safely handle, because there is no blending required below the occipital bone — the harder work of tapering at home starts above that point.

A parent trimming a boy's nape with a clipper guard

19. The Taper at Week Four

Four weeks of growth with the shape still holding. This is the state a taper spends most of its life in, and it is the fair basis for judging whether you like the cut.

A boy's curly taper four weeks after cutting

20. The Step Down From a Fade

Asking for a taper after a run of skin fades. Growing the shortest sections back to a #1 takes about three weeks, and the transition is far less obvious than parents expect.

A boy transitioning from a fade to a taper on curly hair

Styling and Upkeep

Do nothing at all to the tapered sections. Three millimetres gives a cream nothing to cling to, so it sits on the scalp instead and becomes one more thing to argue about at bath time.

Damp the top and separate with fingers. Ten seconds of water resets curl clumps that have slept flat.

Check the neckline weekly, not the sides. The bottom edge is the first thing to look untidy on a taper.

Book every three to four weeks. That is the honest window before the graduation stops reading.

Keep a #1 guard at home. Tidying the nape yourself buys an extra week or two between appointments.

A boy's curly top being separated with damp fingers

Mistakes to Avoid

Asking for a fade and meaning a taper. They are different cuts with different schedules, and the words are not interchangeable.

Letting the taper be cut wet. Curls draw up about a third as they dry, so the blend lands higher than intended.

Blocking the neckline without owning a trimmer. A squared line lasts around ten days before it needs redoing.

Taking the taper too high on a small head. The higher it starts, the more of a small skull it removes.

Brushing the top to tidy it after a taper. Brushing dry curls separates the clumps and undoes the definition the cut was built around.

An overgrown squared neckline on a boy's curly haircut

FAQ

Taper or fade? A taper leaves 3mm at the bottom, a fade goes to skin, and the taper lasts twice as long.

How often does it need doing? Every three to four weeks, against one to two for a skin fade.

Does it help with matting? More than any other cut, because it removes length from the exact patch that rubs.

Three-quarter view of a boy with a curly taper

Final Thoughts

If you take one thing from this page, ask for a taper by name and specify the guard at the bottom. It is the cut that gives a curly-haired boy a clean outline without turning his haircut into a fortnightly appointment.

For the sharper, higher-maintenance alternative see curly hair boy ideas with a fade, and for shapes with no clipper work at all read curly haircuts for boys. More in Fade Haircuts.