What Trimmer is Right For You?

New Ned

New Ned is young and doesn’t have a ton of facial OR body hair. I was new Ned between the ages of 18-25 when I started to grow more facial and body hair. New Ned doesn’t trim a lot and out of all the personas can get a way with buying on the low end of the price scale. New Ned doesn’t do long stubble because it may be thin or patchy. Ned trims body hair (chest, back etc..) maybe twice a year. Ned does do below the belt trimming, so he needs something that isn’t going to snag or pull. Here’s a look at the best trimmers for Ned.

• The $20 Philips Multigroom is a lot of bang for the buck. The blade is OK and is the same one that’s on $55 model. You won’t want or need half the attachments that come with this trimmer, but since you’re not trimming a lot, you can put up with a few shortcomings around the power, blade, and attachments.

Avoid trimmers with adjustable guards—for most of your trimming, these are just going to be in the way—they offer so little precision that they generally aren’t worth using. There are a lot of similar trimmers out there but given the price point on this one, it’s hard to justify an equally compromising $40 Wahl over this one.

• Back when I was Ned, I would have gone for the Brio Axis. For the extra $40, you are buying a blade that will stay sharper longer and cuts a bit closer and a much better battery—which is basically like buying more years of use. Trimmers with small batteries die quicker. Plus, you can rely on our amazing customer service team if anything does go wrong.

Stubble Steve

Steve is a lot hairier than Ned; he can be any age but doesn’t wear a long beard. He trims his facial and body hair regularly and doesn’t really ever grow a beard except that one time he lost a bet. He trims body hair every other month or so and has to keep up with manscaping. He experiments with stubble lengths but is generally on the pretty short side.

The young version of Steve is the most likely to be disappointed with his low-priced trimmer. Due to the amount of time he spends trimming he is fairly demanding of his trimmers. The older version of Steve has already been disappointed with several low-quality trimmers and is ready to step up.

• Check out the Wahl Lithium-ion trimmer. I have owned this one, and it’s pretty good. Wahl generally does a good job with the blade (ground stainless) and they put a good battery in this one. The guards are a bit of a mess to keep track of, but you can cram everything plus the charger in the bag it comes with. The cutting range with the 12 guards is pretty good and should cover most stubble lengths.

Our Beardscape is designed with Steve in mind. For about the same price as the Wahl, you get a bit more control over the stubble length and a blade that should stay sharper longer. Both trimmers have great battery life, and both are very capable at body hair trimming.

Tidy Ted

Ted is cool with shaving—for better or worse, that’s his look. It’s not that he can’t grow hair, it’s just that it’s not the look for him. All of Ted’s girlfriends have preferred when he keeps his body hair in check and at times, he needs to be reminded to manscape.

Ted can spend less on a trimmer since he is going to spend a lot on razors. With trimming, his main focus is body hair. Cutting close isn’t a priority, so he wants a trimmer with a narrow trimming range and a couple of close cutting guards that can fit in tight places. Ted should look for a trimmer with a narrower blade.

• You may be tempted to get the Braun BT, MGK (or Gillette which is the same as the Braun MGK) but avoid these, since they have both a crappy blade and crappy battery. If you can get past the ridiculous design of the Wahl Li-Ion all-in one, it’s not a bad pick. It has a good blade and a good battery, definitely a step up from the Braun at about the same price. There are lots of similar Wahl trimmers so be sure to avoid the really inexpensive ones that have ni-cad batteries.
• On the Brio side, the Axis is the perfect trimmer for Ted. It’s powerful enough to buzz through the body hair, narrow enough for manscaping, and stay sharper longer than the steel blade options.

Bearded Bill

Bill is mentally invested in his beard. He likes it and it’s here to stay. Bill is up on all the beard products and has taken to the internet to learn all the tips and tricks for maintaining a great beard. Bill likely uses beard butter and oils regularly and takes time with trimming and shaping. Since Bill may want to use fairly long guards, he may be tempted to use a set of plug-in clippers. If he has a sturdy set of plug-in clippers—he should keep using them. Cordless trimmers offer convenience, but professional style hair clippers offer a cutting range beyond most cordless trimmers range. A sharp blade is a must, stamped blades will get bogged down with thicker hair. Wider blades make shaping big beards easier and make trims go faster.

If Bill needs an upgrade or is ready to cut the cord from his barber style clippers, he needs to get a Beardscape. The ceramic blade and larger motor can power through the thickest beards. Plus, the guards ranging up to 18mm will be able to handle all the trimming and shaping he will need to do.

I hope this has been helpful for you in your journey to choose a new trimmer. Feel free to reach out to us at service@brio4life.com OR just comment below and we will get to your question.

Here’s a few things to avoid completely when looking for trimmers.

• Cords—unless you are a barber, skip the clippers with a cord. It’s totally unnecessary for all the personas we talked about today.
• Vacuum—please resist the urge to have a vacuum on your trimmer—several major brands make them, but the generally impede the core function of a trimmer (your ability to trim) and never catch all the hair.
• Waterproof—Please don’t trim wet hair. Ever. Making trimmers waterproof requires manufacturers to cut corners on internal components in order to build a waterproof case.