Manscaped needs little introduction these days, having flooded social media channels with adverts about their shavers that have been specially designed to tackle the short and curlies, without risk of nasty nicks.
The company plays on the fact that it manages irritation and prevents painful snags with titanium-coated stainless steel T-blades and powerful motors that are capable of chopping back even the thickest pelts.
The Beard Hedger is slightly less impressive than the company’s Chairman Pro electric foil shaver, which comes with an interchangeable four-blade foil head for a baby smooth close shave, an LCD display and a fantastically useful LED for illuminating the skin when shaving.
Instead, this is a more basic wet/dry beard trimmer that deals with varying degrees of hair length, thanks to 0.5mm-10mm micro-adjustments via a quick and easy zoom wheel.
Charging is fast, the overall package looks great and it all comes in a quality travel case, but there are a couple of drawbacks that prevent it achieving the full five-star rating.
Manscaped The Beard Hedger review: price and availability
The Manscaped The Beard Hedger costs £99 and is available to buy at Manscaped and select retailers like Amazon.
Manscaped The Beard Hedger review: design and features
There are more robust-feeling shavers for this kind of money - particularly those that boast a metallic housing that generally makes them appear like they can withstand being bundled around in a gym bag.
That’s not to say The Beard Hedger feels cheap, because the sleek plastic casing looks good and feels good in the hand. What’s more, it is light and ergonomically designed so it doesn't slip out of the hands in the shower.
Operation is pretty simple, as there’s just one button to contend with here (on/off) and charging is taken care of via a pretty standard USB-C cable. Up top, there’s a rotating ‘zoom wheel’ that adjusts the guard length from 0.5mm to 10mm in handy increments.
Alternatively, you can whip the guard off and go for the closest shave possible, which gets pretty close to the skin but doesn’t leave baby smooth results like a rival foil shaver will.
The included guard is fashioned from plastic and is a little bit flimsy, particularly the prongs that fit into the shaver head itself. But I had no trouble fitting and removing, while it didn’t feel like anything was about to snap off.
The entire package comes in a semi-solid carry case, complete with mesh pockets for stashing a cleaning brush and the charging cable. It’s a nice touch and Manscaped’s general packaging and design looks fantastic.
Manscaped The Beard Hedger review: performance
Designed to plough through thicker facial fuzz, the Beard Hedger uses titanium-coated steel blades, as opposed to the ceramic-coated blades of its latest groin-orientated Lawn Mower model.
That’s not to say that the Beard Hedger isn’t kind on the skin, but it’s not quite as gentle as something you’d point towards your crown jewels. With the guard off, I found the blade did a pretty good job of cutting facial hair down to stubble, but it did catch and snag in a few tricky places.
At 41mm wide, the blade is also quite wide, making it slightly more difficult to get a real precision finish in certain spots. The Panasonic MultiShape Modular Care System that I recently tested, for example, is sold with an additional trimming and styling kit that includes much smaller cutting heads for this very purpose.
That said, the powerful motor means it is capable of slicing through thicker beard fuzz that I could ever dream of growing. With that in mind, I handed it to a barber friend (who owns some serious facial hair) and allowed him to have a little trim.
The feedback was positive, although he claimed the adjustable guard lengths were slightly off, generally cutting a little longer than advertised. Still, it’s better that way than the other way around.
Finally, the Beard Hedger is IPX7 rated, which means it is fully waterproof and can therefore be taken in the shower. Although many beard trimming folk probably won’t use it in conjunction with lubricating creams or oils, it’s nice to know it will still work if you do.
Manscaped The Beard Hedger review: battery life and charging
A built-in Lithium-ion battery is good for 60-minutes of runtime from a single charge and it’s possible to achieve an extra 15 minutes or so of beard shaving from a quick five-minute top-up. You know, in case the thing dies as you’re about to dash out to work.
Charging via the USB-C outlet takes around an hour and a half, but a tri-LED on the front of The Hedger will let you know what percentage is remaining and when it needs plugging in.
Unfortunately, this battery isn’t removable like it is on some rival models, meaning that if run time suddenly diminishes or the unit fails to charge, you’ll be forced to buy a new Beard Hedger if it is out of its warranty period.
Manscaped The Beard Hedger review: maintenance and cleaning
Cleaning is about as easy as things come. Whip off the guard, tap out any excess hair and then remove then remove the blade head by pushing down from the bottom. With a little force, it just slides right off.
All of the components can then be run under the warm tap and laid out on a towel to dry. Alternatively, you can rinse the entire thing if you are in a bit of a rush, but it’s advised to give it a deep clean as much as possible, in order to avoid any build-up of fuzz or worse, bacteria.
Manscaped The Beard Hedger review: verdict
By no means the most expensive beard trimmer on sale, Manscaped still commands a bit of a premium over basic cordless models from established players, like Wahl and Remington.
But The Beard Hedger looks great, it comes in premium packaging and generally feels like a more luxurious product to use. The ‘Zoom Wheel’ is also great for making rapid adjustments to cutting length mid-shave.
Most definitely a beard trimmer, it’s not suitable for cutting stubble right down to the skin for a clean shave, as even when using it without a guard, it still leaves a day’s worth of hair behind.
