Trimmers
Beard Trimmers
This is the group that decides length, which makes it the group most beards actually need. Most of what is here arrives as a kit with a number in its name, and that number counts the pieces in the box rather than the things the appliance can do. One item is not a kit at all: it draws lines, runs from the wall, and does nothing else.
Zones the listings name
Zone grid
A cell is filled only where the listing names that part of the face in words. Several kits here list attachments by count instead, and counting attachments is not naming a place, so those cells are empty. An empty cell means the seller was silent about it.
No listing in this group names the cheeks and jawline, the neckline, or the sideburns and temples. That omission covers the cheek, the jaw and the neck, which is the whole of what a beard trimmer is bought to shape. Not one seller in this group commits to any of them in words, and the columns below are what is left once the attachment counts are set aside.
Philips Norelco 3000 All-in-One 13-in-1 MG3919/50
- Named
- Neither of them.
- Silent
- Nose and ears, Scalp
Philips Norelco 7000 All-in-One 23-in-1 MG7970/49
- Named
- Nose and ears — nose
- Silent
- Scalp
Philips Norelco 9000 All-in-One 23-in-1 MG9575/49
- Named
- Nose and ears — nose
- Silent
- Scalp
Braun Series 5 All-in-One AIO 5510
- Named
- Scalp — hair
- Silent
- Nose and ears
18-in-1 Cordless Trimmer and Clipper Kit
- Named
- Nose and ears — nose, earScalp — hair
Wahl Groomsman Rechargeable Trimmer Kit 5622V
- Named
- Nose and ears — nose trimmer
- Silent
- Scalp
Andis T-Outliner GTO Corded Trimmer 04780
- Named
- Neither of them.
- Silent
- Nose and ears, Scalp
Named by a single listing
- Wahl Groomsman Rechargeable Trimmer Kit 5622V — Mustache and lip, on the words “mustache”.
What the group is for
Core job
Hold one chosen length across a whole beard, and change that length when you decide to rather than when the appliance drifts.
Subgroups
All-in-one kits
five listings
Boxes sold on a number. That figure counts combs, heads and brushes together, and it rises far faster than the number of distinct jobs the appliance can do.
Dedicated beard trimmers
one listing
Smaller boxes that name the beard and stop. The mustache is named outright in here, which is rarer across these listings than you would expect.
Corded outliners
one listing
An appliance built around an exposed straight blade, running from mains power for as long as it is plugged in. It is a line-drawing tool and it is not a beard trimmer at all.
In this order
Buying order
- Buy nothing yet. Take the comb you already own to its longest setting and cut the whole beard at one length. Most people discover the shape they wanted was a length problem, and testing that takes one cut.
- Settle the length range you need before looking at any kit. An appliance offering twenty-nine settings is only better than one offering nine if you would use a setting the smaller one lacks.
- Separate the line-drawing job from the length job in your head. They use different blades, and one appliance doing both adequately is a compromise rather than a saving.
- Read what runs the appliance. One item here only works while plugged in, which decides where it can be used before anything else does.
- Count the pieces you would actually take out of the pouch. On the evidence of most bathrooms, the answer is two.
Leave on the shelf
Skip these
- A number in a product name read as a list of abilities. It is a count of objects in a box, and the objects are mostly combs.
- A kit bought for its nose attachment when a dedicated appliance does that job on its own.
- A cordless trimmer bought to replace a corded outliner, or the reverse. They are built for different jobs and neither substitutes for the other.
- Any appliance bought on the strength of a phrase about bumps or irritation, which is a matter for a doctor rather than for a blade.
- Spare combs bought before a single one has gone missing.
Category cautions
Some of what follows belongs to the corded appliance alone, and the caution about skin is here because a listing on this page uses language that this site will not repeat as a fact. Three of the four below apply to every listing in this group. One is written for a single listing.
- StopA corded appliance is a mains-powered appliance. It does not go into the shower, into a filled basin, or under a running tap, whatever a listing says about rinsing anything else.
- StopTwo things mean stopping rather than taking one more pass. Skin that is broken, raised, sore or already inflamed, which is a doctor’s call and not something to draw a blade across. And a line so far out of true that a shorter setting only chases it, which is a barber’s. Neither of them improves by carrying on.
- StopA shaver or a trimmer belongs to one person. Shaving injures skin at a scale too small to notice, and whatever sits on the blade goes into that injury.
- StopNothing here treats a skin condition. Ingrown hairs, raised bumps after shaving, flaking under a beard and inflamed follicles are medical matters, and pseudofolliculitis barbae in particular is a diagnosis rather than a shaving style. What to do about any of them is decided by a clinician.
All-in-one kits
Fewest lengths stated
Its listing names nine length settings, the smallest count in this group, which is a smaller range rather than a worse appliance.
Philips Norelco 3000 All-in-One 13-in-1 MG3919/50
Open the listingThe listing states
- a trimmer, beard styler and hair clipper
- 9 length settings
- self-sharpening skin-friendly blades
The number in the name counts objects in the box. It is not a count of things the appliance can do, and no listing in this group claims that it is.
States a T-blade
The only all-in-one here whose listing names a T-blade among its heads, which is the head that draws a line rather than holding a length.
Philips Norelco 7000 All-in-One 23-in-1 MG7970/49
Open the listingThe listing states
- a beard styler, nose, detail and body trimmer
- a hair clipper
- titanium blades
- a T-blade
- 26 lengths
- a 5-hour runtime
- showerproof
Most lengths stated
Its listing names 29 length settings, more than any other appliance in this group, and a longer stated runtime than any of them.
Philips Norelco 9000 All-in-One 23-in-1 MG9575/49
Open the listingThe listing states
- a beard styler, nose and detail trimmer
- a body shaver and hair clipper
- steel blades
- 29 lengths
- a 6-hour runtime
- showerproof
Names a shave head
The only listing here adding a smooth shave head to a clipper and trimmer set, which is a different cutting arrangement in the same box.
Braun Series 5 All-in-One AIO 5510
Open the listingThe listing states
- a cordless trimmer, hair clippers and shaver
- for face, hair and body
- a smooth shave head
18-in-1 Cordless Trimmer and Clipper Kit
Open the listingThe listing states
- waterproof
- rechargeable
- beard, hair, nose, ear and body attachments
- a face shaver
It moved onto this page from the accessories because it is a whole appliance rather than something added to one. As with every kit named after a number, that number counts pieces in a box.
Dedicated beard trimmers
Names the mustache
The only listing in this group naming the mustache directly rather than referring to a beard as a single thing.
Wahl Groomsman Rechargeable Trimmer Kit 5622V
Open the listingThe listing states
- a rechargeable beard and mustache trimmer
- a bonus battery nose trimmer
- wet or dry use
Corded outliners
Mains powered only
The only appliance in this group its listing describes as corded, which settles where it can be used before anything else does.
Andis T-Outliner GTO Corded Trimmer 04780
Open the listingThe listing states
- a carbon steel T-blade
- bump free technology
- corded operation
- a gray finish
The phrase about bumps is the seller’s. It is quoted because it is on the listing and for no other reason: nothing on this site claims that any appliance prevents, treats or improves a skin condition.
StopNothing here treats a skin condition. Ingrown hairs, raised bumps after shaving, flaking under a beard and inflamed follicles are medical matters, and pseudofolliculitis barbae in particular is a diagnosis rather than a shaving style. What to do about any of them is decided by a clinician.
StopA corded appliance is a mains-powered appliance. It does not go into the shower, into a filled basin, or under a running tap, whatever a listing says about rinsing anything else.
Last check
Before buying
Almost everybody who buys twice in this group bought a kit first and a dedicated appliance second. The kit answers the question of what a beard could look like at various lengths; the dedicated appliance answers the question of how it looks every week. If you already know the answer to the first, you can skip straight to the second and leave the kit on the shelf.
Where to look next
- T-blade outliners
What an exposed straight edge is for, and the damage it does when asked to do anything else.
- Neckline
The line that goes wrong most often, and the one this group is most often bought to fix.
- Guard numbers
What a comb number leaves standing, and why the number on your own combs comes from your own box.
- Runtime and charging
Where the stated hours in these listings come from, and what they are counted against.