The Best Beard Trimmers for Showing Your Face

A beard grows a few millimeter each two or three days—an eighth of an inch per week, on common. So testing beard trimmers can take a very long time.

Generally, we check every beard trimmer as soon as a beard has grown out sufficient for trim—utilizing no less than two reducing lengths. Weight and stability issues, and so does the blade’s means to get to the awkward areas across the neck. We test the trimmer’s means to operate as a shaver, whether or not for balding or on the neck.

Our testers test how well-made and straightforward to make use of any attachments are, and we confirm producer claims about battery life and energy. We additionally test in with skilled haircutters, particularly to confirm claims of sturdiness and reliability amongst manufacturers and fashions.

Tester Matthew Korfhage has coarse and offended hairs, with a seeming thoughts of their very own. Tester Andrew Williams has a comparatively full beard, with straight-growing stubble. We have tried to replicate any attainable points—combating thick bristles, for occasion—in our critiques, so that you will be certain of the absolute best trim with the least quantity of effort. And we’d additionally run a blade right into a horsehair broom, to check a motor’s energy and its chance of bogging down when confronted with a thick, full beard.

To pick beard trimmers value testing on the newest rounds of testing, I consulted plenty of barbers in Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon, in addition to suggestions from employees at hair provide shops. I consulted plenty of guides by different reviewers, together with business publications for barbers in addition to different specialised websites dedicated to beards and trimmers. And fairly merely, some names have earned their good status. A brand new mannequin from Wahl, Philips Norelco, Panasonic, or Andis will virtually at all times advantage testing.

Some beard trimmers have been despatched by producers as overview fashions; others I purchased and expensed. Our reviewers maintain top-pick beard trimmer fashions for sturdiness and comparability testing, typically over the course of years, and re-test battery life and efficiency over that point.

This is some assistance on choosing the proper options for your facial fuzz.

• Ceramic versus metal blades: Ceramic blades can maintain their sharpness higher than metal, however the smaller enamel of premium beard trimmer blades are typically fabricated from stainless-steel.
• Barrel management: Some beard trimmers have on-device twist controls. For a neater life, decide one with minimal attachments. However there could be a trade-off in accuracy and added unwieldiness. Such dials additionally add a failure level to the trimmer guard.
• Ni-MH versus Li-ion: Keep away from trimmers with excessively lengthy cost instances and people who use outdated nickel-metal-hydride batteries. They do not maintain their cost so long as lithium-ion.
• Waterproof? Beard trimming within the bathe isn’t as exact a course of as moist shaving, however a waterproof design does allow you to wash your trimmer beneath the tap with confidence.
• USB charging: It took far too lengthy, however USB charging cables for beard trimmers have now turn into pretty customary, typically along with proprietary charging ports. A significant bonus for journey.
• Small versus bigger enamel: Bigger blade enamel can lower thick, dense hair, however smaller enamel enable for a better, extra exact lower. The latter is exemplified by the Philips OneBlade household.
• Extensive versus slender blade: Hair trimmers have wider blade surfaces than beard trimmers. The narrower model of beard trimmer supplies larger management, with minimal time loss for these with shorter facial hair.
• Do blades must be changed? Use blade oil (typically included) to keep away from rusting, and blades ought to final for years. Trimmer-shaver hybrid Philips OneBlade will want extra common replacements, although.
• Vacuum? Some beard trimmers have a vacuum function, to keep away from getting hair trimmings in all places. It is typically a gimmick, but it surely’s a gimmick with a purpose: Beard trimmings are the worst. We’ll be including protection of beard hair vacuums in future protection.

OK, you have seen it. You’ve got lived it. Each beard trimmer’s charger is a few totally different form, incompatible with all different chargers. Talking as a reviewer of trimmers, it’s maddening—requiring me to maintain straight and separate an countless number of chargers when testing trimmers towards one another. Lose a charger, and you have to safe a substitute (or declare it inconvenient to take action, and change the trimmer.) Company conspiracy! Grift!

Properly, sure and no. Proprietary charging cables are after all one of many traditional ways in which producers have used to extend income and decrease comfort, whether or not by promoting a number of cords to the identical individual or by growing the chance prospects will purchase a brand new gadget. This was the impetus behind a much-ballyhooed European legislation that compelled small electronics producers (together with Apple) to standardize charging cables and cut back waste.

However no less than within the case of beard trimmers, the producers truly do have good purpose to shrink back from USB-C. The USB-C format doesn’t like water very a lot, and small quantities of moisture may cause shorts. Whilst you can mitigate danger with silicone flaps and the like, USB-C ports are nonetheless not excellent for belongings you take into the bathe; therefore the profusion of two-pin beard trimmer connectors whose ports are rigorously insulated from one another.

Might these waterproof connectors even be standardized via European parliamentary motion, as laptop computer and iPhone chargers have been? Certain! Maybe! However this hasn’t occurred. So for the time being, get used to a bunch of humorous twine shapes till and until wi-fi charging turns into customary. For now, USB-C charging is extra typically a trademark of finances trimmers with a brief guarantee.