Philips Bikini Trimmer review

12 August 2004 17:23 GMT / By Debbie Davies

The first thing you'll notice about the Philips Bikini Trimmer is its ergonomic design designed, making it a lot easier to use than your boyfriend's shaver.
The contoured head has a blade similar to hair clippers, and a detachable, sliding comb. Using the blade on its own claims to cut like a close shave - down to about 1.5mm.

Philips calls the blade a 'precision cutting element'. With the comb attached, there are five settings for trimming hair to a length between 9mm and 5mm, depending on how much you want to chop. The trimmer works against the direction of hair growth. Once fully charged it runs cordless for about 40 minutes. There is a heart shaped template with the trimmer and Philips suggests you try other shapes including an arrow and a star.

Philips' research suggests that 50% of women trim their bikini line every month and one in five women use scissors to do it. We have to confess, that scissors and sometimes a razor around the edges, was our preferred method until this bikini trimmer arrived in the office. The shape of the gadget and the smooth, plastic comb that stays on the skin makes the trimmer very safe to use: we did not come anywhere near to a cut. But when it came to defining ourselves with a heart, we were disappointed with the results. Given that this is a trimmer, not a razor, it leaves quite an amount of stubble on the skin. Using the so-called precision cutting element we were hoping for something very clean cut that would make us look at home in a David Hockney swimming pool picture. Instead, we were left with more of a Grade 2 around the edges with hedgerow in the middle.

Verdict

For a quick trim, this gadget works fine and is probably a time saver over scissors. It is also less selfish than borrowing your boyfriend's shaver. To clean it, you have to pull the cutting element out. This looks very simple in the instruction diagram, but we could not budge the cutter on our trimmer. We were also surprised not to have a cap to fit onto the blade for when the trimmer is packed away in luggage.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Philips
Price as reviewed: £20
Latest price: Compare prices
The good: Safe and painless to use
The bad: A razor or wax gives more of an individual identity below the bikini line
Quick verdict: If you are in the habit of borrowing someone else's shaver, having your own dedicated trimmer should save a few arguments.
Score