The Best Beard Trimmers for Showing Your Face
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A Beard Trimmer is a blessedly straightforward device that can have widely disparate results. Different beards have wildly different needs, depending on hair type and style. And quality matters. Cheap blades don't save money if they die young. The last thing anybody needs in the morning is a dull or underpowered trimmer pushing your hair around instead of cutting it—or even worse, pulling your hair.
The shopping-aisle rainbow of trimmers advertising “professional precision” and “lifetime blades” without corresponding warranties can be daunting to sort through. We consulted barbers and hair pros, then we turned these blades to our very own faces. Our team includes multiple testers with different morning routines, with multiple versions and visions of beard. Whether you're aiming for rugged stubble, tight-detailed geometry, or the well-tended thatch of an elegant lumberjack, we have a pick for you.
For more grooming guides, check out the Best Creams and Tools for Removing Hair, the Best Hair Dryers, and the Best Hair Straighteners.
Updated December 2024: We added the Philips Norelco Multigroom and a classic, barber-recommended favorite Peanut from Wahl.
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How We Test
A beard grows about a millimeter every two or three days, depending on who you are—an eighth of an inch a week, on average. So testing beard trimmers can take a long time.
In general, we test each beard trimmer once a beard has grown out enough for a good trim—using at least two cutting lengths. Weight and balance matters, and so does the blade's ability to get to the awkward areas around the neck. Our testers check how well-made and easy to use any attachments are, and we verify manufacturer claims about battery life and power. We also check in with professional haircutters, especially to verify claims of durability and reliability among brands and models.
Tester Andrew Williams has a relatively full beard, with straight-growing stubble. Tester Matthew Korfhage has coarse and angry hairs, with a seeming mind of their own. We've tried to reflect any possible issues—struggling with thick bristles, for instance—in our reviews, so you can be sure of the best possible trim with the least amount of effort.
A Guide to Trimmer Tech
Here's some help on choosing the right features for your facial fuzz.
- Ceramic versus steel blades: Ceramic blades can hold their sharpness better than steel, but the smaller teeth of premium beard trimmer blades tend to be made of stainless steel.
- Barrel control: Some beard trimmers have on-device twist controls. For an easier life, pick one with minimal attachments.
- Ni-MH versus Li-ion: Avoid trimmers with excessively long charge times and those that use old nickel-metal-hydride batteries. They don't hold their charge as long as lithium-ion.
- Waterproof? Beard trimming in the shower isn’t as beneficial as wet shaving, but a water-resistant design does let you wash your trimmer under the faucet with confidence.
- USB charging: It took far too long, but you can finally get USB charging cables for beard trimmers, while Manscaped even uses a USB-C on the shell itself. A major bonus for travel.
- Small versus larger teeth: Larger blade teeth can cut thick, dense hair, but smaller teeth allow for a closer, more precise cut. The latter is best exemplified by the Philips OneBlade family.
- Wide versus narrow blade: Hair trimmers have wider blades than beard trimmers. The narrower style provides greater control, with minimal time loss for those with shorter facial hair.
- Do blades need to be replaced? Use blade oil (often included) to avoid rusting, and blades should last for years. Trimmer-shaver hybrid Philips OneBlade models will need more regular replacing, though.
- Vacuum? Some beard trimmers have a vacuum feature, to avoid getting hair trimmings everywhere. In truth, it’s a bit of a gimmick.
- Photograph: Braun
Best Beard Trimmer Overall
Braun Series 9Braun calls the Series 9 its professional-precision beard trimmer, and the blade's locked-in, half-millimeter adjustments offer reason to believe them. The Series 9 has a neat front control dial that allows for quick and secure changes in the cut length. You’re unlikely to knock this dial out of place accidentally, but there’s also a second security measure. That switch below? It locks the dial in place. That’s a blessing for the paranoid beard chopper.
Braun also demonstrates much better standards in its accessories than those seen in the lower-end Series 7 All-in-One (below), which is bristling with add-ons. The main clipper attachment here is of excellent quality, and just about the ideal width for beards. It’s wide enough to cover half of the average face in a handful of strokes, and narrow enough to deal with tricky areas like your lip overhang.
There’s also a ProDetail head for very small areas and an extra large ProEdge head for folks who want a super-straight line across their cheek. This stuff is nothing out of the ordinary, but the quality of the key accessories is well above average. In all three heads, the entire top plate is a single piece of ProBlade metal whose teeth Braun claims are “lifetime” sharp, a claim we're still testing. The Series 9 is laser-focused on beard trimming, but attachments that go longer, up to 20 mm, can even work for at-home haircuts. The Braun Series 9 also has an admirable battery life, lasting two to three hours per charge. —Andrew Williams
- Photograph: Andrew Williams
Best for Precision Stubble
Philips OneBlade 360 ProA Philips OneBlade is a beard trimming rapier, making the competition look ungainly in comparison. This Pro model classes up the family with a part-metal grip and a digital display that shows the battery level as a percentage. It feels a little unnecessary compared to the simple LED dots found on the excellent original, but it’s still the best OneBlade out there, though, with 120-minute battery life (double that of the basic model), and fast one-hour charging.
The same caveats apply across the OneBlade range. For sharp lines and getting a razor-like close shave across and down the neck, the Philips OneBlade 360 Pro is unbeatable. The small head is nimble, and its spring-loaded construction lets it conform to your contours unlike a regular beard trimmer. While it’s true that the heads need to be replaced more often than with a normal beard trimmer’s blade (Philips recommends four months), we’ve used the same one for occasional trims for far longer than that without issue.
However, this is one of the few beard trimmers you might want to use as part of a tag team. The Philips OneBlade 360 Pro does include an adjustable attachment that can cut at 14 lengths from grad 0.4 to 10, but it doesn’t feel entirely at home doing so, cutting with less confidence and consistency than a more conventional design. —Andrew Williams
- Photograph: Wahl
Best for Designer Beards
Wahl Pro Series High Visibility Skeleton Style TrimmerThe Wahl USA Pro’s big selling point is the exposed ball-and-socket head design that lets you see more of your face (and less trimmer) in the mirror. Typically hidden behind a metal or plastic exoskeleton, Wahl has engineered this premium design well, and it feels great to use.
The outer casing is a blend of a grippy rubber and smoky semigloss metal. It's a pretty aggressive design, but the cutting style is thankfully rather more refined. The Wahl Pro Elite uses small tooth stainless steel blades for a finer, closer cut. It's not brilliant for thicker hair, but is appreciably multifunctional, with a small-but-useful foil shaver attachment and nose hair trimmer included alongside a whole set of plastic attachments for longer trimming.
Buying this premium design, however, is a bit like picking a manual espresso machine over a bean-to-cup coffee maker. It does a brilliant job, but you need to put the work in. There’s no bundled adjustable length head, for instance, so changing grades is a bit of a fiddle. Battery life lasted longer than the promised two hours, but charging is slow, taking the same time again. —Andrew Williams
- Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Best for Versatility
Philips Norelco Multigroom 7000, MG7750The Philips Norelco Multigroom finds a lot of ways to be useful while trimming a beard—and a lot of ways to be impressive. The baseline trimmer is buzzily high-RPM but still relatively quiet compared to most comparable trimmers, and it doesn't nick or pull when used without a guard. Attachments fit securely but are easily swapped. The metal body has good heft but not too much weight.
Guardless, the basic trimmer attachment on this Philips cuts admirably close. But the detail foil shaver gets even closer, with nary a pinch or a razor bump. Other guards promise utility for body shaving, haircutting, nose clipping, eyebrows, and sideburns—not all of which we've tested. And unlike the newer Multigroom 9000 with pretty much the same metal chassis, you can use the 7000 while plugged in or unplugged.
That said, you’ll rarely need to plug it in: We let this run longer than 5 hours before it started to lose juice. The downside to all this versatility is that the many guards are hard to keep sorted and are marked near-invisibly in small type, which creates a bit of a learning curve. Once you find your go-to guards, keep them separate and keep them safe. —Matthew Korfhage
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- Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Best Corded
Wahl Black Peanut Clipper/Trimmer“Get a Wahl Peanut. They last forever.” This advice came from a trusted neighborhood haircutter in South Philadelphia, a place where barbers are still repositories of important information. The next barber I consulted told me the same thing.
Why do barbers like it? The wee Peanut may look funny, but it doesn’t mess around. There are no doo-dads or eyebrow attachments: just four trimmer guards, from an eighth inch to a half inch. Though cordless is available, the classic Peanut’s most revered and durable option still gets its juice through a wall socket.
But this pint-sized trimmer is fast, deft, and light. The rotary motor packs surprising punch, and it’ll trim, outline, and even detail like a champ. If you oil it at least twice a year, you'll likely have it for a long time. It’s a tiny corded tank with consistent power, best on shorter beards that won’t bog it down with bulk. If you use it to shave your neck without a guard, note that the Peanut doesn’t bite or nick but might pull on wispy wild hairs. While it’s an admirably close shave for a trimmer, foil shavers and blades are notably closer. —Matthew Korfhage
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Best Fully Modular
Panasonic MultishapeMany beard trimmers come with stacks of accessories. You get nose trimmers, guards of different widths, and more plastic attachments than a Nintendo Wii. Swapping them around can feel like you’re breaking the trimmer apart. Panasonic has addressed this head-on in the Multishape.
It’s a modular trimmer that has you remove the entire top section of the body when changing the cut style. You can even choose what elements you want when you buy it. Available modules include an electric toothbrush, as well as more conventional options, like a shaver and a narrower head, which is a good idea if your beard upkeep involves more precise cuts. It also means you can replace the battery, should it stop holding charges like it used to. Note that Panasonic makes both nickel metal-hydride and lithium-ion battery stick units. The lithium is preferable, as it lasts longer off a charge—up to 90 minutes, versus 60 minutes with the slightly cheaper battery.
It’s best if you really buy into the modular concept, though. While the soft-touch plastic of the battery handle is perfectly fine, it is not the most sophisticated or expensive-looking trimmer, though its actual cut is perfectly dependable. The rotary controller on the Multishape’s main attachment offers confident, fine-tune lengths of up to 30 mm when using the largest attachment. And Panasonic says its Japanese stainless steel blades will stay sharp for life. —Andrew Williams
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Best for Style and Battery Life
Wahl Stainless Steel Lithium-Ion Cordless Beard TrimmerThe Wahl Stainless Steel Lithium series has been around since 2011, and remains one of the sleekest, best-looking beard trimmers available. It has a stainless steel body as well as stainless steel blades and was launched as a showcase for the now-ubiquitous lithium ion battery tech. It can still outlast most rivals that aren't Philips. Wahl promises three and a half hours of runtime on a 60-minute charge. I tested these claims and got up to two hours and 39 minutes, which is miles off the brand's claims, but still great stamina compared to most.
The Wahl Stainless Steel Lithium offers a timeless look at a great price, but can also feel a bit retro in use, especially as you need to swap out fiddly attachments. The trimmer includes a whole host of these, including a 10-setting adjustable beard and stubble trimmer, which cuts between 2 mm and 11 mm. It feels more clumsy-feeling than a good barrel-adjustable trimmer, though.
I found it didn’t actually cut as close as the space suggests at each setting, and as a result, more runs across the face were needed for consistent results. Add that to a slightly wider T-style head, and the Wahl Stainless Steel Lithium doesn’t provide the greatest sense of control, particularly for those with shorter beards or stubble. Its ability to stand up by itself (or in the included metal stand) does earn a fistful of convenience points, though, and also helps to avoid too much contact with corrosion-causing water. —Andrew Williams
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Best for Travel
Manscaped The Beard HedgerIf you've been on social media or downloaded a podcast lately, you will have heard about Manscaped. Their influencer game is strong, and while focus is often on their groin-taming Lawn Mower trimmer, I've been keeping it above the neck with the Beard Hedger. The standout feature here is that you can charge it via USB-C. It's wild this kind of convenience isn't repeated much elsewhere, and it's a major win for travel use.
The trimmer uses small- to midsize stainless steel teeth and a high RPM motor, which is great for shorter beards. A quick stubble trim is quick, easy, and cuts closer than most. Part of this is down to the fact that there's a bit of give to the plastic length guide, which is altered using a barrel control on the Beard Hedger's body. As a result, the more pressure you apply, the shorter cut you get. It's a happy accident, and none of the other trimmers have anything like this much flex.
The all-plastic, waterproof body is practical, despite looking like something from '90s Batman's utility belt. While you could call the design subtle, many may think it a little boring. —Andrew Williams
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Easy Does It
Panasonic Wet And Dry ER-GB86This Panasonic is a sensible buy for whose who want their beard trimmer to do its job quickly with as little fuss as possible. It includes three plastic guards that cover three length bands. There's 1 to 10 mm, 11 to 20 mm, and 21 to 30 mm, while guard-free it cuts down to 0.5 mm. To adjust the length, you twist the barrel controller on the body of the trimmer itself, which is brilliantly simple. There's a good chance you'll never need to change the guard, just snap between settings. There's little chance of accidentally altering the setting, unless you are truly careless. (Manscaped's system is similar, but Panasonic got there first and its system is better.)
This model sits toward the top of this series, using a more powerful motor and sharper blade set. It's also waterproof, which is great for cleaning. Panasonic doesn't recommend the ER-GB86 for hair cutting, but from our testing this may largely be down to the narrower blade width, as it can cut through hair most effectively, and the fewer number of guard teeth helps prevent clogging. At around $119, the Panasonic feels expensive, especially given its rather underwhelming plastic build and 50-minute battery life, but it works well and can often be found discounted around holidays. —Andrew Williams
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Luxury Styling
Philips Series 9000 Prestige BT 9810The Philips BT 9810 is a self-consciously styled luxury beard trimmer. Where lots of similarly high-price models are made of plastic, because a soft touch or rubberized plastic is practical and has a nice texture, this one has a brushed metal outer. You’ll appreciate the Philips if you like the feel of a good stiff shaft in your hand. That’s right. Feeling virile yet?
Fun aside, the girthy shape lets the BT 9810 stand up by itself—handy for smaller bathrooms. And the hefty feel gives you a sense of having gotten your money’s worth. The way the subtle battery indicator phases in and out as you turn the trimmer off looks dead classy too. The substance of the higher-end design aspirations is found up top. Almost all trimmers use a plastic guard over metal trimmer elements for anything but the closest cut. The Philips BT 9810 has an adjustable steel blade system that takes you from 0.4 mm all the way to 5 mm. You only need the plastic attachment for lengths above that, up to 10 mm.
People with stubble-like beards need not worry about attachments. But I found the metal much harder on my skin than a plastic guard, and more likely to exfoliate my face than I want. Still, there’s real appeal if you want to max out on class. —Andrew Williams
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Full-Body Maintenance
Braun Series 7 Multi Grooming KitBraun’s Series 7 is the latest version of a trimmer we used for homebrew haircuts during the pandemic, until its battery would no longer hold a charge properly. It sports a lithium-ion battery with relatively fast charging and a run time of up to 100 minutes. The All-in-One pack includes a neat charging dock, and the motor is fairly quiet and uses Braun’s AutoSense tech. This isn’t something you’ll actually notice much in operation. It’s a behind-the-scenes feature that modulates the motor power to adapt to thicker/coarser hair.
It's an incredibly simple shaver that's designed for all-over use. Instead of rotary length control, you simply pull the main beard attachment along a ratcheted track. There's a built-in locking system, but it's much more likely that you’ll put the trimmer in the wrong setting or accidentally adjust it. There’s not much fine-grain control over the length, either, and to go shorter than three millimeters you’ll need to use one of the many bundled attachments. The charge indicator is also basic, lacking a multi-LED view to alert you of anything other than that it’s about to run out. That said, the All-in-One pack is extensive and includes attachments for hair, and a Gillette razor. Lockdown nostalgia aside, the width of the Braun Series 7’s default head is ideal for everyday beard maintenance. —Andrew Williams
