Fade Away Barbers is a men's salon with a stylish, modern edge, cutting from a shop on Waharoa Road East in Matamata. The focus is on tailored cuts and sculpted fades, shaped by experienced barbers to your individual style rather than a one-size-fits-all template. The shop's own measure of success is simple: you look your best every time you walk out.
The welcome matters as much as the cut. Reviewers on the group's site describe fantastic service and a great team, call their comb over the best in years, and remember the chat as fondly as the haircut. The barbers are patient with young clients, too — one mum wrote that her toddler's first proper haircut, cape refused and chair boycotted, was handled with good humour and at a really reasonable price.
Alongside the chair, Fade Away runs a grooming shop stocked with barbering staples: beard oil and beard balm, texturising hair powders from the Hair Benders and ROQVEL lines, Coco Soft, lemon after shave, Derby Extra stainless steel blades and a natural black hair colour.
The Matamata shop is part of the wider Fade Away family, with sister barbershops in Morrinsville, Tauranga South and Hamilton. Phone and email enquiries are answered 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, on 021 1554866 or zahed@fadeaway.co.nz.
There's a particular satisfaction in walking out of a barbershop knowing the cut is exactly right — the fade blends cleanly, the shape suits you, and you never had to explain it twice. That feeling is what Fade Away Barbers has built its name on across the upper North Island, and it's what the team offers from its Matamata chair at 41B Waharoa Road East. Fade Away describes itself as a men's salon with a stylish, modern edge: experienced barbers, a tight focus on tailored cuts and sculpted fades, and no fuss in between.
The idea is simple, and the shop states it plainly: you should look your best every time you walk out. That takes more than clippers and a chair. It takes barbers who read the hair in front of them, ask the right questions and shape the cut to the person rather than the other way around. It's a formula the group applies across its other barbershops in Morrinsville, Tauranga South and Hamilton — and here in Matamata.
The house specialties are the tailored cut and the sculpted fade — precision work earned clipper stroke by clipper stroke. Customer feedback on the group's website keeps circling the same themes: fantastic service, a great team, and cuts done with real care. One reviewer called her recent comb over the best she'd had in years. Another thanked the barbers for a wonderful haircut and, just as tellingly, for the chat. At a good barbershop the conversation is part of the craft, and this reads like one of those shops.
Fade Away also runs a proper grooming shop, in-store and online, and the shelf reads like a barber's toolkit. There are styling powders for texture and hold — including the Hair Benders and ROQVEL lines — alongside beard oil and beard balm for keeping facial hair soft and under control, Coco Soft for conditioning, a lemon after shave for a fresh finish, Derby Extra stainless steel blades for home shaves and a natural black hair colour. If you're not sure which powder or balm suits your hair, ask at the chair; the team stocks what they work with, so the advice tends to be practical.
Not every barbershop is kind to a wiggly toddler, but this one has form. One mother reviewing the shop described her son's first proper haircut: he refused the cape, wouldn't sit in the chair on his own, and the barber simply made it work — patiently, cheerfully and, she noted, at a really reasonable price. If you've been putting off a first haircut because you're braced for a battle, this is the sort of place that takes it in stride and sends everyone home happy.
The Matamata shop is part of a wider Fade Away family, with sister barbershops at Studholme Street in Morrinsville, Fraser Street in Tauranga South, Thames Street in Morrinsville and Silverdale Road in Hamilton. Each runs on the same formula — experienced barbers, modern cuts, friendly service — so if you're travelling for work or sport you're never far from a familiar chair.
For the Matamata shop itself, phone 021 1554866 or email zahed@fadeaway.co.nz; phone and email enquiries are answered between 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday. Opening hours for the individual shops aren't published on the group website, so it pays to ring ahead before you make the trip.
Matamata has its share of places to get a haircut, but few combine sculpted fades, tailored cuts and a retail shelf of proper barbering products under one roof. Add a team that reviewers describe as fantastic, friendly and great with kids, and Fade Away Barbers makes a strong case to be your regular chair — whether you're after a sharp fade, a clean comb over, or simply a good chat while the clippers do their work.