Being bearded – for many years – has left me with a challenge, and it’s a challenge that’s extended itself throughout those many years that I’ve been bearded. Which is most of my adult life.

The challenge is one of how to keep the beard looking somewhat trim – as in neat and tidy. About twenty five years ago I purchased my first beard trimmer, and it’s a testament to the quality of that unit that I (a) still have it, (b) that it still works (but nowhere near as well as it used to) and (c) that in the last ten years or so, as I’ve sought to find a suitable replacement, no satisfactory replacement has been found.

Seriously.

With the units that I’ve looked at, bought, and used, there have been all manner of problems. One fell apart fairly quickly. Another didn’t permit me to select a nice level of beard trimming length. And yet another had a serious design flaw, in that as it trimmed your beard, it collected the clipped hair between its blade and its body, causing it to jam up. As you can imagine, this is somewhat problematic. It also proved difficult to clean, and thus clearing the jam became a very frustrating but all-too familiar routine, but one that I didn’t really want to become too familiar with.

Enter the Philips Multigroom Pro grooming kit.

This is yet another beard trimmer appliance, but so far, it shows all of the hallmarks of being perhaps the best since I bought that first unit, so many years ago. Build quality is excellent. As are the various accessories that are supplied with it. You can use this for shaving, beard trimming, grooming your body hair, as well as removing the unsightly hairs from one’s nose and ears.

It has a built in rechargeable battery, and comes with a stand that permits recharging, along with storage of the various accessories which are included in the package.

One of the nicer accessories is a spacer/guide, that allows you to choose the closeness of the cut. This is easy to use, and provides a very fine level of adjustment. For the first time in a long time, I can choose to have a beard that looks like it’s a beard (as distinct from being unshaven) but one that still looks neat and trim and well groomed.

And for those of you who know me, you can readily appreciate exactly how much of a novelty that must be.

My only criticism of this unit is the instruction leaflet that’s included in the package. It’s about as good (or not good) as a set of Ikea instructions. The illustrations seemed – to me – to be not as clear as they could have been, and left me somewhat confused as to which components were needed to perform which tasks. I’d like to see some improvement here please.

But otherwise, this is the first beard trimmer with which I’ve had a better than pleasant experience in a very long – way too long – time.

With the holiday season fast approaching, this just might be something to keep in mind.