|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Whether or not it’s shopping season, barber clippers are constantly being purchased. Men are used to touching up their haircuts or beards for themselves at home in between barbershop visits; if you’re a professional barber, then you will always be upgrading your tools as well. Barbers need workhorse machines – reliability, speed, power, good battery life, long-lasting blades, etc. If you’re a beginner barber, you may not necessarily be in a position to get the best of the best right now, but you still want something that can hold up in your business without dying on you after a few months. With so many different brands now available, and so many different models under each brand, choosing the right clippers for you can be a difficult task. This guide will help you identify 6 things to consider when buying barbers clippers.
1. Budget
Your budget is the very first thing to consider, as this will determine what options are even available to you in your decision-making. If your budget is not on the higher end of the spectrum, don’t even waste your time exploring options beyond your maximum spending limit; weigh your options within what you can afford at this time.
2. Professional-quality or home-quality clippers
What will the clipper be used for? Is it simply to maintain your own hair at home, in between barbershop visits? If that’s the case, then consider anything within a cheaper price bracket. Almost any clipper will cut hair, but the average Joe looking for something to do basic hair cutting does not need professional quality tools with a high torque motor, cool-blade technology, or the like.
If, however, you plan to use the clippers in a barbershop, then you should never, ever consider anything labeled for home use. One easy way to tell if the clipper is for home use is to look at the product packaging or advertising photos. If you see a photo of someone cutting their own hair, then more than likely, it is for home use. Now, of course, professional machines can be used at home, but not vice versa. A professional barber needs tools that can perform consistently for the entire day at the shop and not quit shortly after putting it under strain… which leads us to the next point.
3. Brand Reputation
In considering clipper options, it’s important to consider the reputation of the various brands – what are they known for. Keep in mind, however, that a brand’s old reputation may not be consistent with the brand’s current reputation. Wahl, for example, used to have a reputation of innovation and reliability. That was decades ago. Nowadays, the brand’s reputation is one of stagnation where the company keeps churning out the same old machines over and over in different colours, trying to pass them off as new machines.
Newer brands have stepped up to the challenge and filled the gap with what is needed to modernise the industry. Companies like jRL, BaBylissPRO, Gamma+ and Stylecraft have quickly dominated today’s barbering industry by creating tools suited to the high standard today’s barber needs and expects these companies to deliver on.
Other old companies that are still trying to stay relevant are Oster and Andis, with Andis doing a much better job and keeping up as a contender in the competition.
3. Battery life
As most of the world has moved away from corded clippers, battery life has become a concern for the barber. With a working day of approximately 8 hours, you need your clippers to hold up. A barber can easily be doing at least 3 to 4 hours of proper cutting and fading during that day period. While, of course, you can plug in and charge your clipper in between clients, it is not very convenient. This is why professional barbers should not consider clippers that come with short battery life, such as the Wahl senior, which only has 70 minutes of runtime before it cuts off.
In an ideal situation, you would not have to charge your clipper for the entire day and only have to charge it overnight when you’re not at the shop. To date, few clippers on the market have been able to achieve that, such as the jRL Fresh Fade 2020C and the Stylecraft Saber Clipper. The Stylecraft Saber Clipper in particular has the longest battery life of any clipper on the market with an astonishing 6 hours, and a 3-hour rapid charge. No other clipper on that market has been able to beat that yet.
4. Fading or debulking clippers
Most barbers have at least 2 clippers. One with high power for blasting through thick hair such as the BaBylissPRO LOPRO or the Stylecraft Rebel. However, because of the power in these machines, they tend to heat up after a short period, so you’re not able to fade for long periods with them. Therefore, in addition to getting a debulking clipper, you need to get one that fades well without heating up, as fading usually takes the most time (see suggestions below).
Getting a machine that has a fade blade as an option helps make fading easier. If a clipper does not come standard with a fade blade, you can always buy it separately and install it.
5. Power and heat-resistance
In the past, clippers have been known to get extremely hot to the point of burning yourself and your client. Barbers have developed some tricks over the years to help with this, such as spraying with a cooling spray or using rubber grips on the clippers. Nowadays, the big brands of clippers such as Stylecraft, Gamma+, jRL and BaBylissPRO have done well to reduce heat in both the clippers and blades.
One contributing factor for heat, and the reason we grouped this together, is because of the extremely powerful motors in the clippers nowadays. Power is one of the big factors that people consider when choosing a clipper. How powerful a clipper is, meaning the strength and speed of the motor, can determine how much heat is produced. The motor type is another contributing factor, with the brushless motor from Stylecraft producing very low heat.
6. Extra accessories
The main accessory that people look for when determining which clipper to buy is the amount and type of clipper guards it comes with. The best that we have seen so far would be the high-end clippers from Gamma+ and Stylecraft which come with double-magnetic guards from a 0 all the way to a number 6 – eight in total, including a 1.5. The jRL, however, has the most from a 0.5 to a number 8 – 10 in total, including a 1.5.
Having a charging stand is a very nice additional accessory, but it’s also fine if the clipper does not come with one as they are usually sold separately for most clipper brands if you prefer to have one. That being said, out of all the clipper brands, Gamma+ and Stylecraft have done the most when it comes to extra accessories. When we opened up the Stylecraft Saber clipper, we were most impressed to find a charging stand, extra clipper face, a swappable stretch bracket, replacement cam follower, screwdriver, the option to change the lever from clickable to floating, etc. They have also been known to give extra blades from time to time.
We hope we’ve been of some help to you in deciding which clipper to buy next. Keep in mind that by the time you read this, new clippers will be coming out soon, as these new companies are constantly trying to up the ante. We’ve also given a list of some suggestions that we have available right here for sale that you can purchase and have delivered to you if you are in Trinidad & Tobago.
Best low-budget machines: Stylecraft Protege, Stylecraft Rogue, Kemei 1986, Ceenwes Gold and Silver
Best Professional Quality clippers: jRL 2020C, Stylecraft Saber, Stylecraft Rogue, Stylecraft Rebel, BaBylissPRO GoldFX (or variation)
Best clipper/trimmer combo: jRL 2020C and 2020T, Stylecraft Saber clipper and trimmer, Babyliss Clipper and trimmer
Best home-quality: Ceenwes all-in-one groom kit
Best battery life: Stylecraft Saber, jRL 2020C
Best for fading: jRL 2020C with the fade blade, Stylecraft Saber, Stylecraft Rogue
Best for debulking: jRL 2020C, BabylissPRO LOPRO, Stylecraft Saber, Stylecraft Rogue, BaByliss GoldFX (or variation)
Best at heat resistance: jRL 2020C, Stylecraft Saber
Best Intermediate Options: Stylecraft Protege
@cutsbyantonio
Antonio is a professional barber/hairstylist in Trinidad. He is known for creating memorable transformations with his cuts and helping clients to regain and maintain their personal style and confidence, starting at the head.
