Hair clippers are the epitome of technology that has given the grooming industry an everlasting boost.
Whether it’s for styling your hair into a particular trend or performing a simple maintenance job, there’s a pick for every requirement.
However, there exists a wide variety of hair clippers in the market, each with its distinct feature and a purpose to serve.
This article describing the types of hair clippers will help understand the many options out there and decide on the category best-suited for their cause!
Contents
Types of Hair Clippers Explained
In this section, we will be investigating the diverse field of hair clippers and the outcomes you would expect from each type. Apart from the basic feature analysis, I’ll highlight the positive and negative aspects to give you a broader idea about the categories.
Corded Hair Clippers
Corded hair clippers are generally the ones permanently connected to a power outlet and due to this factor alone, you’ll be getting relentless cutting actions without any pause.
Generally, corded hair clippers are preferred by professionals due to the higher motor torque and durability of the design.
There’s no threat of battery running out, therefore barbers can squeeze the maximum performance effortlessly!
Pros:
- No risk of battery running out in the middle of a session
- Generally comes with higher motor power
- Preferred by professionals
Cons:
- Maneuverability is limited by the cord length
- Grooming needs to be performed nearby power outlets
Cordless Hair Clippers
Cordless hair clippers are the portable variants of any device of this category, allowing you to move around freely while performing a haircut.
These tools are generally lighter in contrast and the battery can be conveniently recharged using a power cord.
Most of these hair clippers allow you to continue your grooming job with the power cord attached, so that you don’t have to stop your task if the battery runs out in the middle.
Pros:
- Movement with the clipper is liberating
- Traveling is possible
- No hassle of working around cords
Cons:
- Threat of battery running out during haircut
- Battery can deteriorate over time
Manual Hair Clippers
Manual hair clippers are exactly what they sound like – the manual version of an electric hair clipper which operates based on manual labor.
It’s more like a hybrid between a pair of scissors and a hair clipper which needs to be pumped to perform the cutting actions.
Basically this device gives you the flexibility of setting clipper attachments to an instrument mimicking a scissor, cutting down on the cost of purchasing an expensive electronic device.
Pros:
- Highly affordable
- Doesn’t require frequent maintenance
- Eco-friendly as there’s no need for power
Cons:
- Relies heavily on manual labor and skill
- Cuts very slow
Professional Hair Clippers
As the name suggests, these hair clippers are precisely built for professionals and the outcomes are most certainly spectacular every time.
Professional hair clippers are usually built using robust material to ensure longevity, the blades are more durable and sharper than regular hair clippers.
In addition, the motor units inside can torque up to the highest levels in the industry as they contain rotary or pivot motors.
These hair clippers often contain a huge library of alternative blades and sturdy guide combs, along with precise adjustment levers to allow a sophisticated grooming result.
Pros:
- Unmatched performance and precision
- Blades can be interchanged
- Durable and made for heavy-duty use
Cons:
- Generally more expensive
- Maintenance is more intense and frequent
Balding Hair Clippers
While this should’ve been categorized under specialty hair clippers, the extent of the balding hair clipper market renders this type of hair clipper a unique variety of its own.
These particular devices are equipped with a specific set of blades that caters to receding hairlines and balding hair maintenance.
Such blades tend to have fine teeth as opposed to generic hair clippers. Due to this, short and balding hair trimming becomes much easier for the groomer.
Also, a large number of these balding hair clippers are designed for self-clipping, so home groomers are generally curious to purchase specialized products as such.
Pros:
- Easier to maintain balding hair
- Fine blades deliver seamless results
- Convenient option for self-grooming
Cons:
- Not highly versatile
Budget Hair Clippers
Another type of hair clippers is the budget category – either for beginners, learners, teenagers or meant to be purchased as a gift item.
Such a clipper choice generally offers limited motor power, the blades are not specialized, rather something generic for broader use.
The housing might feel cheap and slightly vulnerable due to the budget-grade material used in construction.
Very few models last long and there’s little room for improvement. On the other hand, these tools are very safe and easy to use.
Pros:
- Great for beginners
- Easy to master and use
- Offers generic yet versatile use
Cons:
- Made with cheap materials
- Durability is limited
- Rarely offers neat specialized haircuts
Specialty Hair Clippers
This category of hair clippers explore the devices that serve more specific purposes rather than broader aspects of grooming.
For Fades
Certain hair clippers are designed to sketch out the most neat fade cuts with utmost precision. Fading clippers usually contain specialized blades that allow the groomer to blend the sections more conveniently.
To top that off, the adjustment levers on such hair clippers are carefully crafted and the length gradients are sufficient to incorporate subtle changes of cutting lengths.
For Shorter Haircuts
Not all hair clippers are equipped to perform specific haircuts like the buzz or crew, which generally belong to the shorter variants of hairstyles.
Specialized buzz cut clippers can accommodate particular buzz cut sizes using their adjustment lever, blade system and the included guide comb attachments.
For Beard Grooming
If you didn’t know, certain hair clippers do extend the courtesy to be used for beard grooming. Such activities generally aren’t the first priority of these particular clippers, rather it’s the benefit of their versatility.
Beard grooming clippers have less robust and sharp blades compared to the ones used by professionals. Therefore, it’s safe to be used on facial skin without any risk of accidental cuts.
For Body Hair Maintenance
Another versatile functionality of hair clippers is to maintain body hair using the safety attachment to spare your skin from tugs or cuts.
However, I would rather recommend a dedicated body grooming tool instead of bringing in a hair clipper and you shouldn’t walk this route unless you must.
For Afro Hair
Compared to generic hair types, black men’s afro or kinky hair are more coarse and thicker in texture.
Therefore, common hair clippers often fail to deliver the expected outcome and the struggle can only be sensed by first-hand experience.
That’s why certain hair clippers have dedicated their cause for black men to make grooming a bit more convenient with sharper blades and more powerful motors.
Popular Hair Clipper Brands
If you’re wondering about the popular brands of hair clippers, let me share a list you can investigate into to obtain a device with higher quality:
For more detailed information about these brands, make sure to read my in-depth article that explores their history, growth and features.
Choosing the Right Hair Clipper
Let’s take a look at the factors you should consider before choosing the hair clipper that’s perfect for your grooming routine!
Purpose
First, understand why you’re going to purchase a hair clipper, if it’s for professional use or personal use, whether it’s meant to be used on a kid or on an adult.
Once you know the target recipient, your filtering of hair clippers will become much easier as you’ll have a foundation to build your expectations on.
Hair Type and Texture
Secondly and most importantly, you have to set your focus on the target hair type and texture. If you’re a professional, you may want to obtain a robust device that caters to all hair types.
Otherwise, for home use, buying a hair clipper well-suited for your specific hair type, density and texture should suffice.
Budget
Now this is a very important consideration because there are tons of hair clippers on the market to choose from and the more you spend, highly likely the better device you’re going to get.
So with your baseline set after assessing your needs, you should set a cap using an estimated budget and explore the devices priced lower than that limit.
Corded or Cordless?
It’s a preferential consideration because a lot of the cordless hair clippers are pricier than corded ones due to the intricate battery system.
If your budget doesn’t allow you to buy a good cordless device, I’d say it’s better to settle for a quality corded clipper instead of opting for a rather generic, cordless tool.
With all of these considerations, you should be able to concentrate on a very limited number of hair clippers and choosing from them will most certainly be a much easier job.
FAQ
Before the end, let me answer some frequently asked questions about types of hair clippers to broaden the horizon of your knowledge on the matter.
Q: Are manual hair clippers still useful?
Ans: While manual clippers are quite rare these days, certain grooming enthusiasts own or even use them at times. If not for the traditional values, manual clippers are useful in scenarios where power sources are not available.
Q: Can I use regular hair clippers for cutting pet fur?
Ans: No, you should not use regular hair clippers for cutting pet fur since the skin and fur types of pets are much different than humans. If you own a pet, I’d recommend you to purchase a clipper that’s dedicated to maintaining pet fur for better and safer results. Also, it’s not hygienic for you to share the same clipper with your pet.
Q: Can I sharpen the blades of my hair clippers?
Ans: Yes, certain hair clipper blades can be sharpened using various methods – some are DIY while the others are more expensive. That said, there’s a limit to which you can sharpen clipper blades, additionally highly dulled blades may not deliver results after a sharpening procedure.
Final Thoughts
We’ve extensively discussed the various types of hair clippers, their functionalities, the goods and the bads to draw a holistic conclusion.
In addition, my guide on picking your ideal hair clipper should serve as the radar for obtaining a device that’ll serve you in the best possible manner.
While there are tons and tons of hair clippers available on the market, from this point onward you don’t have to be afraid to look into them.
Because now you possess the knowledge to categorize hair clippers based on different criteria and this will help you out in the long run!