Top 10 Best Beard Trimmers: Why You Need A Beard Trimmer & How To Use Them

How To Use A Beard Trimmer?

If you need a quick primer on using a beard trimmer, we break it down in the following steps:

1. Wash your beard and dab dry with a clean towel.
2. Comb the beard properly as explained in our beard comb guide.
3. Now comb the beard up to reveal all the hairs on their ends.
4. Ensure your beard is thoroughly dried before you continue to avoid damaging the trimmers.
5. Start with a longer setting to ensure you don’t cut too short.
6. Carefully trim down one side in increments.
7. Comb down the cut side to see the results
8. Trim down the same side.
9. Comb out the hairs under the chin and cut away stray hairs.
10. Comb hair back and cut away any remaining strays.
11. Rewash the beard to remove remaining hair clippings.
12. Oil and brush your beard to replenish cut ends.

Trimming Tips

Always start cutting with a larger guard or lower setting than you want. This will avoid any accidents in removing too much hair. Always trim vertically downwards to avoid hair rising and taking chunks out of your beard.

To ensure symmetry, take hair off in increments on each side. Brush or comb back into place after each pass to make sure you’re going in the right direction.

You can learn more about trimming your beard on our main beard page. This guide offers a detailed step-by-step guide to beard trimming. Furthermore, it hosts several different beard types, which each feature style-specific beard trimming.

Why Do You Need Beard Trimmers?

An unfortunate reality of growing your beard is developing split ends. These unavoidable inconveniences are a pain for developing your beard. Therefore, you’ll need to get rid of them if you want your beard to thrive.

Split ends cause two significant issues. Firstly, they slow down healthy growth, which means that if you want to grow a longer beard, you’ll need to trim them away. Secondly, split ends render a beard untidy and cause wired growth. Therefore, if your appearance is important to you, you’ll need to remove them one way or another.

Alternatively, if you have a shorter, cropped beard style, you’ll need to keep its length in check regularly. Unlike longer styles, short beards require frequent touching up to ensure they don’t get out of control. Undertaking this task only armed with scissors is an unimaginable chore and trimmers would reduce the time required by a significant scale.

Trimmer Convenience

Beard trimmers are undoubtedly the most convenient solution to taming your hair growth every time. Unlike scissors, which may take some practice to master, many beard trimmers are designed for ease of use. However, they are not necessarily as precise and can be somewhat aggressive. This increases the chances of making mistakes and taking a chunk out of longer beard growth.

Therefore, stylised or long beards may fare better with a pair of quality beard scissors. However, if your beard is the even and not a different length all over, the convenience offered by trimmers is noteworthy. All you have to do is put on the proper guard with the length you want and run it all over.

Furthermore, if you’re seeking to taper your beard down the sides for an elongated shape, quality trimmers will make this daunting task a breeze. Finally, trimmers are a handy tool for cleaning up your cheek and necklines with or without a razor to finish.

What To Look For In The Best Beard Trimmers?

Between technological leaps and bounds, gadgetry and various price tags, it’s hard to navigate through the insane plethora of contraptions available. Nevertheless, not much has changed in the basics of what makes a good beard trimmer.

Before we continue, it’s also important to bear in mind that the best beard trimmer is the one that corresponds to your exact needs. Indeed, there are many with lots of features, expensive or otherwise, that you may never even need.

Build Quality

Although this may go without saying, build quality is often overlooked when choosing a set of trimmers. Unfortunately, this can often lead to crushing disappointment as even the most expensive clippers tend to break.

For instance, several high-end Philips models come with premium features such as laser guides and in-built vacuums. They would have surely made it on our list of top 10 above if they didn’t feature plastic parts, which caused them to break.

Worryingly, this wasn’t a rarity either. Many users complained of their expensive trimmers breaking and only after a few months of purchasing them. Therefore, it’s vital to choose something that is solidly built with metal parts so that it can last.

Corded Vs. Cordless

One of the first questions you should ask yourself is whether a corded or cordless beard trimmer best suits your needs. Although cordless trimmers are by far the most convenient, they’re not always as powerful. However, do you even need the sheer voltage that you get from a mains-powered trimmer?

This can be simply answered by how much hair you’re looking to remove. If you have a long, thick beard, then a cordless trimmer will struggle. Furthermore, if you ever want to use the trimmer on your head, then you are also better off going for something corded.

Men with really thick hair or very long beards should even consider ditching trimmers altogether and instead aiming for a set of professional clippers.

However, if you’re only touching up a short beard or long stubble, then this is the sort of overkill that is more of a hindrance than a help. Therefore, a cordless trimmer will suit your needs far more. What’s more, is that there are even cordless solutions available for men with medium-length full beards.

When choosing either, keep in mind one of two things. Firstly, cordless models come with different batteries. Ignore the alternatives and only go for lithium-ion, which is the same type that powers laptops and smartphones. These are more durable and give up to an hour’s charge.

When going for corded clippers, take note whether you may travel with it or not. Some clippers available in the USA aren’t suitable for travelling due to voltage differences.

Blade Types

Different blade types have varying durability or sharpness. For instance, carbon steel blades are by far the sharpest choice, but they tend to rust relatively quickly. Given that beard trimming usually takes place in the bathroom, this isn’t always the most durable option.

Conversely, stainless steel is a stiff metal that holds well against thicker hair growth. However, the best and most premium option are titanium-coated carbon steel. These offer the durability and stiffness while being resistant to weathering.

Finally, there are also ceramic blades, which offer a premium quality and excellent durability but can be somewhat fragile if mistreated.

Washable & Wet Shaving Options

Another factor to consider is whether you require something that can resist water. For example, many beard trimmers aren’t completely washable aside from their detachments. This renders cleaning something of a chore, and the clippers are slightly less hygienic.

Furthermore, it means that they can’t be used on wet hair and only on a dry beard. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but just worth keeping in mind when purchasing.

Accessories

Occasionally, the trimmers will be delivered as part of a grooming kit. While some accessories are essential to a grooming regimen, others can come across as somewhat symbolic. It’s great that they’ve been included should you ever need them, but the chances are that they’ll never be used.

Basic trimmers should, at the very least, always include clipper guards for changing the length. However, additions such as detail blades and nose clippers are still welcome. The former is of particular importance if you have a stylised beard such as a Balbo or Circle beard as they make contouring a breeze.

Although they’re not strictly accessories, intermediate settings for blade length are particularly handy on a decent set of clippers. This will allow you to adjust the blade length along with the clipper guard precisely.

Gimmicks

As mentioned above, several new and exciting gimmicks can be included in higher-end trimmers on the market. While some are designed for marketing, others offer extra convenience and functionality.

For instance, some models feature self-sharpening blades, which ensures they stay productive for longer or low battery displays to give users a little warning.

Various gimmicks can include laser guides and in-built vacuum systems that sweep up hair and prevent sink blockages. Another newer feature in some trimmers is the ability to lift hair as it glides through growth to cut it at the perfect length.

What Next?

Now that you have discovered the best beard trimmer for your needs, check out some of our related guides:

• More Beard Accessories
• Best Beard Oil To Use
• How To Grow & Trim A Beard
• Moustache Guides
• Hairstyle Guides
• Bespoke Unit Grooming Home