Sabot 16 Haircut: the French Barber Joke Behind the TikTok Trend

The “sabot 16” haircut is a French barber joke that turned into a TikTok trend in summer 2025. “Sabot” is the French word for a clipper guard, the comb you snap onto the clippers to set the length. Standard sets stop at #8, which leaves 25 mm (1 inch). A #16 would leave about 5 cm (2 inches), so it barely cuts anything. It all started with a June 2025 video by the barber @sashasouthside, whose client wanted a sabot 16 to win back his ex. Here is the story, what the cut would really look like and how to make your own video. To get it seen beyond your neighborhood, think about TikTok views.

Where does the sabot 16 haircut come from?

The video that launched the phrase was posted on June 9, 2025 by the French barber @sashasouthside. His caption tells the story: a client wanted to win back his ex, and she had asked him to get a “sabot 16”. The barber says he first checked whether it was possible, then recommended something else after his assessment, something better suited to the client’s hair. He adds that he didn’t want to erase the “Richard Ríos” highlights, named after the Colombian footballer, that he had given him last time.

A love story told by a professional who takes an absurd request seriously: it worked straight away. The next day, June 10, the creator @tom_johnn posted his own video, “La coupe au sabot 16”, introducing @sashasouthside as “the barber from the video who gave us a very technical cut”. The irony was deliberate, and the phrase started spreading.

@sashasouthside

Il voulait reconquérir son ex… elle lui a demandé un sabot 16 😳

♬ son original – Sashasouthside

Over the summer, “sabot 16” became a set phrase in French. The online dictionary Orthodidacte, which gave it an entry on May 11, 2026, describes it as an imaginary haircut: clients ask their barber for it, the barber refuses while playing along, and the phrase then gets reused elsewhere for laughs.

How does the joke work?

The mechanism is simple. Someone confidently asks for a cut that no normal shop can do, and the barber has to react. Three uses come up most:

1. The professional refusal: the barber studies the head, looks serious and suggests “something more suitable”. That is the format of the original video.
2. The “sabot 16 in action”: the barber pretends to carry out the order on camera, and the punchline is the result.
3. Reuse outside the shop: the phrase gets quoted in other videos and in comments, for laughs (Orthodidacte).

The hair account @hairtist_paris posted its version on July 23, 2025, “le fameux sabot 16 en action” (the famous sabot 16 in action). It shows how quickly the joke left its original circle and became a must-do among French barbers.

@hairtist_paris

La fameux sabot 16 en action !!

♬ son original – Hairtist_paris

Does a #16 clipper guard really exist?

Hardly, and that is the whole joke. A guard number tells you the length left in eighths of an inch: a #1 leaves 1/8 inch (3 mm), a #4 half an inch (about 13 mm), a #8 a full inch (about 25 mm). The standard guard sets that come with clippers stop at #8.

Beyond that, some makers sell long attachment combs separately: a #10 leaves about 1 1/4 inches (32 mm), a #12 about 1 1/2 inches (38 mm), and the longest reach around 2 inches (10trim guide, September 2026). A #16 would equal 2 inches, or 5.08 cm, the figure Orthodidacte gives. On short hair, a guard like that glides over without touching anything. On longer hair, it only evens out the top.

That is also why the joke travels badly outside France. In English-speaking shops, people ask for “a number 2 on the sides”, so a “number 16” sounds just as absurd, though we found no equivalent meme in English.

Why did it catch on?

The original video told a real story. A man ready to change his look for his ex meets a barber who turns him down tactfully. You want to know what happens next, and you send it to the friend who just got a haircut.

The number helps too. “Sabot 16” sounds like pro jargon, yet it names a cut that cuts nothing. That gap between seriousness and emptiness makes a perfect punchline. And the format can be copied in a minute in any shop, which explains how many barbers joined in that summer.

For a barber, riding this kind of joke gets the shop known far beyond its street. The video still has to take off, though: a few TikTok likes at the start help it reach the people who will comment “I want a sabot 16 too”.

How do you make a sabot 16 video?

1. Pick your role: the client asking, the barber refusing, or both as a duo. A polite refusal works better than mockery.
2. Write the hook: an absurd reason as on-screen text, like in the original. “He wanted to impress his mother-in-law…”, “Job interview tomorrow, he wants a sabot 16”.
3. Play it straight: the barber touches the hair, measures, frowns. The more professional he stays, the funnier it gets.
4. Nail the punchline: a reasoned refusal, a giant fake guard made of cardboard, or clippers passing over without a single hair falling.
5. Show the real result: end on the cut you actually did. Potential clients see your work, and people who came to laugh stick around.
6. Reply to comments with video: “Does a #20 exist?” is a ready-made second video.

If your shop account is new, a base of TikTok followers reassures the new visitors who tap your profile after the video.

Which hashtags should you use?

TikTok groups the topic under the searches “sabot 16”, “coupe sabot 16” and “sabot 16 buzz cut”. The original video used #taper, #barber and #coiffure. TikTok now caps captions at five hashtags: use #sabot16, two trade tags (#barber, #barbershop) and one or two local tags (your city, your area). Also write “sabot 16” in plain text in the caption, since that is what people type into search.

What about a barbershop?

It’s the ideal case. The joke is about your trade, you film it at work, and you get to show your skills at the end. The original video does this well: the barber refuses the absurd cut, but explains his assessment and shows what he offers instead. He comes across as a pro who advises, not someone who just follows orders.

Two precautions. Get the client’s written consent before filming, especially if they can be identified. And don’t make fun of them: the joke is about the number, not the person.

As of September 2026, the summer 2025 peak is over, but the phrase has stuck in French barbershop vocabulary. It still works as a wink, especially with younger clients, and a shop outside France can borrow it as long as the caption explains the joke.