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We’ve added the Manscaped Lawn Mower 4.0 to the competition.
The hair down there: Grooming it has been a struggle and a source of anxiety for people since before the building of the pyramids. To get a clean shave, consider using a manual razor. But if you’d like to remove some—not all—of your pubic hair, a dedicated trimmer can be helpful. We researched dozens of “body hair” trimmers, consulted experts, polled incredulous dates, and recruited four people (two with vaginas, two with penises) to conduct 40 test trims. Our conclusion: The versatile, inexpensive Philips Norelco Multigroom 3000 is overall the best tool for the job, regardless of your genitalia.
With 13 attachments, including one for nose hair, this all-purpose trimmer is easy to maneuver around delicate skin, yet it still cuts powerfully. And it has a two-year warranty.
The Philips Norelco Multigroom 3000 has everything we want in a pubic hair trimmer, plus several extras that make it an exceptional value compared with the competition. With sharp steel blades, this water-resistant trimmer cuts pubic hair easily. And it has 13 attachments (including several guards, ear- and nose-hair trimmers, and a precision trimmer), so we were able to use it for grooming other body hair, too. The Multigroom 3000’s rechargeable battery lasts for about an hour of total use—enough for several weeks’ worth of trimming sessions between charges, we found, even for those who have fast-growing hair. Despite its power, this trimmer wasn’t any noisier than others we tested (and it was much quieter than one we tried). It would be hard to hear this one over the sound of a shower running. The Multigroom 3000—our budget pick in our guide to beard trimmers—comes with a two-year warranty and a handy storage bag.
This trimmer’s vertical orientation and V-shaped head make it easy to navigate the body’s bends and folds. But the Panasonic is more expensive than our pick, it comes with fewer attachments, and you pay extra for a warranty.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $60.
Even though they found the Multigroom 3000 perfectly serviceable, both of our female testers slightly preferred the more powerful, easier-to-maneuver Panasonic Electric Body Hair Trimmer and Groomer for Men ER-GK60-S. All four testers found that the blades of this vertically oriented, water-resistant trimmer easily cut through pubic hair in a single pass. Running at about the same volume as our pick, the Electric Body Hair Trimmer and Groomer for Men would also be hard to hear over shower sounds. Fully charged, the battery lasts 40 minutes, about 20 minutes and several shaves less than our pick’s battery. And the extra power and maneuverability this model provides come at a price: The Panasonic trimmer typically costs three times as much as our top pick and does not include a warranty. (You can contact Panasonic to request such coverage, for a fee.)
The Philips Norelco MG7750 offers the ideal combination of power, ease of use, and versatility, making it the best tool for most at-home beard groomers.
The Venus Original is the best body razor for most people because it’s functional, easy to maneuver, and doesn’t clog as easily as five-blade models.
With 13 attachments, including one for nose hair, this all-purpose trimmer is easy to maneuver around delicate skin, yet it still cuts powerfully. And it has a two-year warranty.
This trimmer’s vertical orientation and V-shaped head make it easy to navigate the body’s bends and folds. But the Panasonic is more expensive than our pick, it comes with fewer attachments, and you pay extra for a warranty.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $60.
For this guide, we pored over Reddit threads about male grooming, female grooming, and hair removal in general. I read through countless customer reviews on Amazon and Walmart, and consulted every existing product guide I could find (of which there were a scant few). Finally, in an act of defiance of social norms that would have horrified my 14-year-old self, I talked to everyone I know about pubic hair. I mean everyone. I talked pubes with coworkers, friends, romantic interests, and my grandma.
Most adults engage in some sort of pubic hair maintenance. According to a study published in JAMA Dermatology in 2017, about 67 percent of men and 85 percent of women in the US remove or trim the hair down there, using any or a combination of methods, including razors, wax, scissors, depilatories, and laser treatments. Unfortunately, all of this hair removal doesn’t come without risk; 25 percent of the self-reported pubic hair groomers indicated they had sustained a related injury, with lacerations being the most common, followed by burns and then rashes. Between 2002 and 2010, American emergency rooms reported 12,000 pubic-hair-grooming-related injuries. The biggest culprit? Laceration by razors.
Trimmers are likely safer than razors, Dr. Benjamin Breyer, chief of urology at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, told us. “The lacerations and infections that bring people to ER are mostly related to using a razor,” he said. By reducing or eliminating the risk of serious cuts that can be caused by shaving—and the harm to hair follicles from waxing, which can lead to ingrown hairs and increased risk of infection—pubic hair trimmers offer the potential of being a safer hair-removal method, Erika Collazo-Vargas, an assistant professor of health sciences at James Madison University, agreed. “Hair trimmers tend to just cut the hair itself and do not carry as big a risk to the skin or the hair follicle.” (They’re not, however, 100 percent nick-proof; more on that in our Use, care, and maintenance section.)
You can’t use a pubic hair trimmer to fully remove hair, as you would waxing or shaving (and for that, we have a guide to body razors). But for someone hoping to shorten hair, it’s the perfect tool.
In an annoying example of squeamish marketing, most pubic hair trimmers are not advertised as such. They’re often called “bikini trimmers” when marketed to women, and “body hair trimmers” or “manscapers” when men are the intended audience. For this guide, we chose to ignore the labeling on the tools and instead selected our contenders based on objective criteria. This led us to also include beard trimmers, which are functionally similar to tools marketed as pubic hair trimmers. We retested a cordless model we recommend, which has a narrow cutting surface that can navigate both facial and pubic hair. We considered dozens of models, eliminating those that didn’t meet the following criteria. A quality pubic hair trimmer is:
We considered certain accessories (including various attachments, cleaning tools, and a travel case) nice but not necessary.
We asked four people (two with penises, two with vaginas, all with different self-identified hair textures) to test four trimmers over the course of 16 weeks. Each panelist used at least two different length settings (using different guards, or going guard-free) on each model, trying them both in and out of the shower. Panel members evaluated efficacy (how well a trimmer cut through hair), maneuverability (how easily a trimmer reached the hairs the panelist intended to groom), noise, safety (or at least the perception of it), and the ease of cleaning away any loose hairs.
With 13 attachments, including one for nose hair, this all-purpose trimmer is easy to maneuver around delicate skin, yet it still cuts powerfully. And it has a two-year warranty.
Panelists gave the Philips Norelco Multigroom 3000 the highest overall score for its efficient cutting, easy maneuverability, soft sound, and simple cleaning process. Its sharp steel blades cut through hair easily without needing more than a few repeat passes, and multiple guard options offered plenty of choices on (and control over) hair length.
Without the guard, the Multigroom Series 3000 (which is also our budget-pick beard trimmer) cut hair nearly down to the skin, but not always without minor injury. Two testers nicked themselves slightly while grooming pubic hair without using the guard (which gives you a closer shave and is a legit way to use the tool). But the cuts weren’t serious, and this didn’t scare the panelists off the trimmer. The cutting area is about an inch wide. In our testing, we had to do a few more passes when trimming with this tool, compared with the Panasonic Electric Body Hair Trimmer and Groomer for Men ER-GK60-S.
Cleaning this model is fairly simple. Even though the Multigroom 3000 comes with a small cleaning brush, and the attachments easily snap on and off, we found that a quick rinse got rid of hair clippings within seconds, no tools needed.
The Multigroom 3000 is powered via a wall charger, and the battery lasts for about an hour of total use, enough for several weeks’ worth of trimming sessions—even for the most werewolf-like among us. Despite its power, this trimmer didn’t make much more noise than a soft buzzing, in or out of water. It comes with a two-year warranty, which is more coverage than that offered by most of the competition.
An added bonus: The Multigroom 3000 comes with 13 attachments. The nose-hair trimmer, especially, was a hit with the panelists. We were also glad for the included storage pouch, which holds all of those parts and the charger.
This trimmer’s vertical orientation and V-shaped head make it easy to navigate the body’s bends and folds. But the Panasonic is more expensive than our pick, it comes with fewer attachments, and you pay extra for a warranty.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $60.
The Panasonic Electric Body Hair Trimmer and Groomer for Men ER-GK60-S scored well with our panelists, thanks to its perfect blend of power and maneuverability, and it was the favorite trimmer of our two female panelists. It cut through all panelists’ pubic hair in a single pass over each section, but they still felt protected from nicks and cuts, even when using this model without a guard (because of the trimmer’s round-edge blades). In fact, this was the only trimmer that didn’t cause one nick on any panelist over the course of our weeks of testing. However, this ease of use comes at a price: The ER-GK60-S typically costs three times as much as our top pick. It also comes with far fewer attachments.
This trimmer also stands apart from our pick (and most other models we considered) because of its vertical orientation. One tester noted that its unique, V-shaped head resembled that of the alien from Alien. Our panelists didn’t find the design better or worse for cutting pubic hair.
Running at about the same volume as the Philips Norelco Multigroom 3000, the ER-GK60-S would likewise be hard to hear over the sound of a shower running. Fully charged, this model’s battery doesn’t last as long as the Philips Norelco’s (40 minutes, versus our pick’s 60). And the ER-GK60-S is not warrantied by default. You can contact Panasonic to request two-year coverage ($5).
A flaw but not a dealbreaker: We don’t like the bulkiness of the charging stand, which is further limited by a short cord.
While trimming pubic hair, go slowly and carefully. Good lighting is a must for this task, and mirrors may be useful for those who are new to the technique. When you are trimming near the delicate skin of the scrotum and labia, especially, it helps to pull the skin taut so that it’s less likely to come in contact with a blade. With any trimmer, even if there’s a safety guard securely in place, “there is still a risk of cutting or irritation,” said Erika Collazo-Vargas of James Madison University.
If your pubic hair is quite long and you intend to cut it short, start with the longer comb attachment for a first run, and then use the shorter attachment after. To trim most effectively using the comb attachment, move the trimmer against the direction of hair growth. For trimming without the comb attachment, you can cut—carefully—with or against the direction of hair growth. If hairs accumulate in the blades during use, pause between strokes to clean them out, either by rinsing the trimmer under water, pulling hairs out by hand, or using one of the included cleaning tools.
To optimize the working life of your battery, manufacturers recommend that you charge your trimmer only when the battery is low or empty, and that you not charge it for longer than 24 hours at a time. Even if a trimmer is waterproof, do not store it in the shower or any other wet place.
Our panelists found that the Manscaped The Lawn Mower 2.0 performed fine but lacked the features that set apart our picks. The Lawn Mower comes with two reversible attachments for length customization, but we didn’t like that when one of those attachments was on, the device became extra-bulky. We chose not to test the 2.0’s replacement, The Lawn Mower 3.0 since it, too, lacks the features our panelists preferred and warranty coverage. A wireless charging dock, a travel lock setting, and an LED spotlight set The Lawn Mower 4.0 apart from its predecessors. We’ve found the spotlight helpful, especially when trimming in a poorly lit bathroom. Like earlier Manscaped models, the 4.0 also comes with two length attachments. Overall, though, it’s less bulky than its predecessors. It’s a great tool, but it is pricier than our picks and isn’t covered by a warranty. Manscaped offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its trimmers.
We chose not to test Meridian’s The Trimmer because it costs more than our picks, plus it is not eligible for return and lacks warranty coverage.
The Philips Bikini Perfect was the least-effective model of all those we tested—and it was by far the loudest. Our testers found that this trimmer, without the guard on, was prone to pulling hair as it cut through it, causing a few nicks on panelists of both sexes.
We chose not to test the Panasonic Bikini Shaper and Trimmer for Women ES246AC (which has good customer ratings on Amazon) and the popular Philips Norelco GOSTYLER, because they rely on AA batteries.
The Philips Norelco OneBlade Face + Body Hybrid Electric Trimmer and Shaver QP2630/70 has high ratings on Amazon, and it seems as if it would work well for those seeking a closer-to-the-skin pubic hair trimming. But we ruled it out because it doesn’t offer as many length options as the competition, and its blades require replacement about every four months.
We looked at the Wahl Pure Confidence Purple Rechargeable Trimmer, but we dismissed it because of poor customer reviews (in particular, those noting that it required multiple passes to trim hair).
We chose not to test our top-pick beard trimmer, Wahl’s Lithium Ion Stainless Steel Groomer #9818. Given its heft and larger size, we concluded that it would be more difficult to maneuver around genitalia compared with the lighter, smaller Philips Norelco Multigroom.
Matthew D. Truesdale, MD; E. Charles Osterberg, MD; Thomas W. Gaither, BS; et al., Prevalence of Pubic Hair Grooming–Related Injuries and Identification of High-Risk Individuals in the United States, JAMA Dermatology, November 2017
Jennifer L. Bercaw-Pratt, MD; Xiomara M. Santos, MD; Judith Sanchez, MD; Leslie Ayensu-Coker, MD; Denise R. Nebgen, MD; Jennifer E. Dietrich, MD, MSc, The Incidence, Attitudes and Practices of the Removal of Pubic Hair as a Body Modification, Journal of Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology, February 2012
Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH; Michael Reece, PhD, MPH; Vanessa Schick, PhD; Stephanie A. Sanders, PhD; Brian Dodge, PhD; J. Dennis Fortenberry, MD, MS, Sexual Behavior in the United States: Results from a National Probability Sample of Men and Women Ages 14–94, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, October 2010
Scott M. Butler, PhD, MPH; Nicole K. Smith, PhD, MPH; Erika Collazo, MPH; Lucia Caltabiano, BS; Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH, Pubic Hair Preferences, Reasons for Removal, and Associated Genital Symptoms: Comparisons Between Men and Women, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, November 2014
Michael Boroughs, Guy Cafri, and J. Kevin Thompson, Male Body Depilation: Prevalence and Associated Features of Body Hair Removal, Sex Roles, May 2005
Maureen O’Connor, The Great Diversification of Pubic Hair, The Cut, November 12, 2018
Dr. Benjamin Breyer, chief of urology, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, email interview, August 15, 2019
Erika Collazo-Vargas, assistant professor of health sciences, James Madison University, email interview, August 15, 2019
Dorie Chevlen is a staff writer from Youngstown, Ohio, now living in Los Angeles. She has worked as a copy editor, fact checker, and sandwich maker, but this is probably her favorite gig. Her writing has also been published in Science, Slate, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. She has been called—both flatteringly and not—“a lot.”
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