A beard trimmer is incredibly convenient and is an essential part of every man’s grooming kit. However, they require regular maintenance to keep trimming your beard comfortably, and you need to know how often you should replace your beard trimmer to keep getting the best results.
The average lifespan of a beard trimmer is between seven and ten years, with the right amount of care, depending on the brand and quality of the beard trimmer. Maintainance is essential for the best results. Otherwise, your shave will get more uncomfortable every time you use your beard trimmers.
Finding the right pair of beard trimmers feels incredible when you start seeing the results of a perfectly maintained beard that takes mere minutes to trim. And it doesn’t take long before you can’t imagine life without them. But lately, your shaves have been incredibly uncomfortable, and your beard keeps getting caught between your trimmers’ blades, or you’re getting small nicks and cuts on your skin.
It could mean that your beard trimmers just need a little bit of maintenance, or they will need to be replaced.
How Long Do Beard Trimmers Last?
This is an important question to consider if you’re a first-time buyer, and different brands will offer different warranty periods, but you can expect your beard trimmers to last between seven and ten years. However, not every trimmer will have that longevity, so you will have to maintain them regularly to get the most out of them.
Beard trimmers’ lifespans depend on various factors, including whether you’re matching the power intake level, the durability of the blades, how you use them, or if they are battery-powered, among other things, such as the quality of your device (which is why you should always invest in expensive, recognized brands).
But the important take-home here is that you need to maintain your beard trimmers regularly. For example, oiling and sharpening your blades will keep them operating smoothly.
Shaving with the right technique and preserving the battery (if your beard trimmers are battery-powered) are other ways to improve the longevity of your beard trimmers.
How To Maintain Beard Trimmers
Once you get used to it, maintaining your beard trimmers is incredibly easy and can be done in about 20 minutes. Set aside some time weekly, if you shave daily, or monthly if you shave less frequently. Get your hands on a beard trimmer maintenance toolkit with lubricants, oils, and blade sharpeners, and also be prepared to spend some money on replacing any out-of-shape components.
Replace Protective Covers
The component of your beard trimmers that’s most likely to give out before anything else will be the plastic protective covers that help you trim your beard at a consistent length and keep you from doing any damage to your skin.
However, because protective covers are typically made out of flimsy plastics, they’re prone to breaking, whether it be the teeth or a piece of the part that clips it to your beard trimmers. Unfortunately, even if you try to hold it in place, you’re not going to get that same even, consistent trim unless you replace them. Most manufacturers will sell your beard trimmers to you with a set of replacement covers, though, so you might not have to worry about spending any more money.
However, you should find that every three months or so, your cover has worn down and may need replacing. Doing so will help maintain the effectiveness of your beard trimmers, particularly because they help with your shaving technique.
How Often Should You Oil Your Beard Trimmers?
If you want to be extra efficient, your beard trimmers are supposed to be oiled after each use, but for personal use, it’s typically recommended that you oil your beard trimmers’ blades once a month.
To do so, you should buy a bottle of Clipper oil (or mineral oil), which is an ideal lubricant for beard trimmers. If your blades aren’t properly lubricated, you will feel your blades start to pull your hair out rather than trim it. Furthermore, poorly lubricated blades tend to get blunt a lot faster than a blade with a drop or two of oil applied to it monthly.
To oil your beard trimmers, switch them on, apply a drop or two of Clipper oil to the blades, let them do the hard work, and wipe excess oil off with a dry towel after you’ve turned your trimmers off. Regularly oiling them makes your beard trimmers’ job easier, and they’ll operate more efficiently, therefore increasing their lifespan.
How To Sharpen Beard Trimmers
If you want to know when your blades need to be sharpened, here are some signs that they’re too blunt:
Rattling sounds are never a good sign and indicate that your blades need oiling, sharpening, or washing.
Meanwhile, if your beard trimmers lack the power to trim your beard efficiently, they need to be sharpened. If you find yourself having to go over the same parts of your beard twice, it means your blades are blunt. The same goes if you feel any pain while you’re shaving.
Beyond this, it’s never a good sign to see any discoloration or rust. If you spot any rust at all, it’s time for some cleaning and disinfecting, which can be followed up with sharpening.
To sharpen your beard trimmers’ blades, the first thing you need is a sharpening stone, which you will need to place your blades on at a 45º angle. Move the blade forwards across the stone’s surface and repeat until the edge of the blade looks shiny. Then you should wipe off the residue from sharpening the metal before moving onto the next blade.
Don’t Overcharge Your Beard Trimmers
Another big contributing factor to your beard trimmers’ longevity is to ensure that you are vigilant about maintaining the integrity of the rechargeable batteries that power them, or, in the case of trimmers that are plugged into an outlet that you are matching your trimmers’ power needs (i.e., a 220V outlet).
When your battery is low on your beard trimmers, the blades will start to slow down, and you’ll feel the blades pulling out some of your hair. This isn’t the point where you plug your beard trimmers into a charger. Rather, you should just leave the trimmers on until they run out of battery fully and only charge your beard trimmers on a flat battery. This helps preserve the longevity of the battery.
You should also avoid overcharging your beard trimmers. The packaging (or inserts) will tell you how long it takes to fully charge your beard trimmers (normally 9-12 hours), and you shouldn’t charge them for a minute longer. Otherwise, excess power starts to fry your battery.
Shave With The Right Technique
Another important part of your beard trimmers’ longevity is your shaving technique.
Firstly, make sure your beard is clean. There will inevitably be a lot of dead skin, straggling hairs, perhaps moisturizer or lotion, and even food in your beard. So the best time to shave is immediately after a shower where you’ve applied soap or shampoo to your beard, and it has been freshly towel-dried.
Secondly, do not press the beard trimmers too hard against your skin. This is asking for trouble and puts your blades, plastic protector, and battery under unnecessary strain. You should be able to softly glide your trimmers across your face/neck effortlessly, and if you can’t, your beard trimmers need maintenance. Every time you put it off will be another painful shave and only make things worse.
Finally, be wary of stubble. Most men love their beard trimmers because they can achieve the 5mm beard/5 o’clock shadow/stubble look that has become a staple for men living in the 21st century without having to shave clean and wait for that stubble to grow out on its own. However, especially if you’re pressing an unprotected blade right against your skin, you can cut yourself, and the much harder stubble does more to mitigate the sharpness of your blade than a longer, softer hair follicle.
Shaving your beard short-but-not-clean will wear your beard trimmers’ blades down a lot faster.
