Meet the workhorse of men’s hairstyles. A foundation on which flashier styles are built, taper haircuts can be classic and cutting edge at the same time. They’re versatile. They last longer than most heavily clippered styles. And if our word isn’t good enough (come now…), take it from Messrs Beckham, Gosling or Timberlake. They all love a taper haircut.

“It’s a feature of every good haircut,” agrees Dan Glass, senior barber at Murdock London. Just don’t mistake it for a fade. “A fade is a haircut where the back and sides are faded from the temple downwards, to a length anywhere below a grade two. A taper haircut is shortening the length of the hair roughly a centimetre above the ear, around to the nape of your neck.” If it’s shorter at the bottom than the top, it’s a taper haircut.

The great thing about tapers is that they can be as safe – or as extreme – as you want them to be. If you’ve got thick or wavy hair, they’re great for removing weight and you’re making your mane more manageable. If you’ve got a face the shape of a football, they add length, lending you some much-needed definition. “Your barber is likely to always finish your haircut with a taper, unless expressly asked not to,” says Glass.

The only face shape where caution is advised is ‘triangular’. If your face is markedly wider at the temples than the chin, then a taper haircut will exaggerate that feature rather than soften it. For everyone else, it should be a default setting. “It helps make a haircut pop.”

If you want one that’s more pronounced, but don’t fancy anything as extreme as a fade, let your barber know. “State in your consultation that you want the hair nice and sharp around the ears and back of the neck,” says Glass. “Tell them your preferred shortest length of taper too – so not down to the skin – and whether you want a natural or sculpted neckline.”