Before we jump into our King C Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer review, you may be wondering: when did King C. Gillette rule, and over which kingdom did he rule?
The answer is:
- he was an American businessman named King Camp Gillette, so
- he didn’t rule over anything, except for his vast business empire, which eventually became the razor company we all know and love, named Gilette.
So King C. Gillette is actually part of the Gillette Company, and it seems like they want it to be the “fancy pants” part of the Gillette empire, that makes high-end tools for guys with beards and high-end safety razors.
With that in mind, how does the King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer measure up?
Here we’ll look at what we like, what we feel could use some improvement, and everything in-between.
The Style Master: What We Liked
We think the King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer has a lot going for it, including:
It Features a Cordless Design
One of the most attractive things about the King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer is its cordless design, which allows you to use it just about wherever you want. Trim your beard on the back porch, if that’s your thing.
A cordless design can actually be safer too, and that’s because you’re less likely to suddenly lose power because you’ve yanked the cord out of the wall accidentally. If you lose power like this, the blades will stop moving and catch on the hair. The constant power supply of the King C. Gillette prevents this from happening and can give you a smoother, more pain-free shave.
We’re big fans of cordless beard trimmers, and this is one of our favorite aspects of the Style Master. Not only does it let you roam where you want to, but it still does a good job trimming, which isn’t true of all cordless trimmers.
It’s Got a Unique 4D Blade Design
The Style Master Beard Trimmer’s blade design is ideal for close trims with nuanced designs that make your beard look neat and professional. Specifically, it has a 4D blade design which means it cuts your hair from four different angles.
On the top and bottom of the trimmer head, teeth catch the hairs and move them into the path of the oscillating blade. Then, the surface of the trimmer head basically functions like a foil shaver with two strips of holes that allow the hairs to pass through into the path of the blade.
Having this dual approach in four different directions accomplishes a lot of things. For one thing, it gets you a closer shave wherever you need to shave down to the skin. The trimming teeth cut hairs down to stubble, which causes them to stick straight up and more easily enter the foil holes. There they are further cut down almost to the skin.
Additionally, it can make shaving a lot faster. With most trimmers, especially those with only one cutting direction, you usually have to pass back over the same spot multiple times to trim all the hair. This is especially true if you have a particularly thick beard because the trimmer’s teeth simply won’t be able to catch all the hairs, many of which may be pressed flat so that they pass under the blade.
With four different cutting directions, you’re more likely to get every hair in one pass with this trimmer. This is true even if you have a bushy or curly beard where the hairs splay out in directions because there’s cutting in four directions.
It’s also worth noting the sharpness of the blade in general. It should last you about six months, and when it does finally dull, it’s easy to replace. This can make shaving faster, more comfortable, and more precise.
It’s Made with a Pivoting Head
Along with the 4D design, the head of the Style Master pivots vertically. This allows it to contour to every angle of your face. Again, this lets the blades cut the hair in one pass, saving you time since you don’t have to go over the same place over and over again.
More importantly, the pivoting head can give you a more consistent shave. If you want a specific style of beard, you’re going to have to use the combs and shave different parts of your beard to different specific lengths. To do this, the trimmer needs to cut all the hair in that area consistently. The pivot lets you do this.
The Grip is Rubberized
If you’ve read any of our other reviews, you know how much importance we place on the grips of our trimmers. They make a big difference in the shaving experience.
The King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer’s rubberized grip is definitely a huge plus. For one thing, it wraps all the way around the device so that you get a stable, non-slip grip regardless of how you hold it. This makes it easier to get to those difficult angles when you’re styling and grooming your beard. It’s not a perfect grip—and we’ll gripe about that in a moment!—but the rubberized grip is great.
It’s also necessary if you’re going to take advantage of the trimmer’s waterproof design, which we’ll discuss in detail in a minute. You don’t want the trimmer to fall out of your hand, of course, but more importantly, you don’t want it to slip while you’re shaving. This could cause you to trim the hair in a way you weren’t planning to.
It Features Three Comb Lengths
The King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer includes three combs of different lengths, 1 mm, 3 mm and 5 mm. In practice, this gives you four cutting lengths because you can also use the trimmer without any comb at all to get a skin-close shave or stubble, depending on the pressure you apply.
Three comb lengths should be enough to get creative with your beard styling. It’s not necessarily going to have everything you need to win a beard contest, but you can definitely use it to cut short or medium-length beards to detailed styles like ducktails, goatees, Van Dykes, etc.
It’s a Truly Waterproof Design
Although a lot of trimmers on the market are water resistant, it’s actually hard to find a beard trimmer that’s totally waterproof. The King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer is waterproof, and a waterproof design has two main advantages.
First, you can use it in the shower. That saves you tons of time because you can integrate grooming with your morning routine. Plus, it’s cleaner too because the hair clippings will just wash down the drain instead of getting stuck all over your sink where they’ll inevitably put your wife/roommates/whoever in a bad mood.
Second, it makes it easy to clean the device. You can simply put it under running water instead of having to deal with brushes and taking apart the whole machine. Most trimmers suffer from corrosion that dulls the blade when you do this, but this trimmer stays sharp. Very nice.
The Style Master: What We Feel Could Use Some Improvement
The Style Master isn’t all roses and sunshine. Before we wrap up our King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer review, there are some aspects we should share that we find disappointing, including:
The Battery’s Charge-to-Use Ratio is OK but Not Great
Our first complaint about the Style Master Beard Trimmer is how long it takes to charge relative to the length of use you get out of it. Specifically, you can get about 45 minutes out of the trimmer before you need to recharge it. Now, that’s not terrible. It will probably get you several days of shaving. However, it’s not the best on the market and definitely not ideal for use by multiple people.
As for charging, it takes several hours just to get up to that 45 minutes. That’s a problem because if you wake up one morning and it’s dead, you’re pretty much just out of luck. No putting it on the charger while you’re drinking your coffee.
As a result, we recommend plugging it in after every use—this way you’ll never be caught off guard without a charge—and if battery life is really important to you, we’d suggest you check out Wahl beard trimmers, which are know for having good-to-great battery performance.
There’s No Travel Case
The Style Master Beard Trimmer is small and compact, less than eight inches long. The charging cord and adapter is also small and easy to pack. For this reason, we found it strange that the manufacturer didn’t include any kind of travel case or carrying sack with it.
While this model is otherwise a great choice for travel since it doesn’t take up much space in your luggage, we recommend packing it in some kind of case. This will protect the blade and the device’s internal mechanisms. You’ll just have to find the case yourself.
It’s Not a Vacuum Beard Trimmer
As we may have mentioned—again and again—we absolutely adore vacuum beard trimmers, because they make clean-up so much easier. If you’ve ever finished a trim and thought to yourself, while collecting tiny tiny whiskers out of your skin, “I don’t like doing this,” then you may want to consider a vacuum beard trimmer.
The King C. Gillette, for all its strengths, features no vacuum, and that’s a bummer.
The Grip Is Somewhat Small
Okay, so we really liked the rubberized aspect of the grip. It’s just its size that we’re not a fan of. This is the main downside that comes with the Style Master’s compact size.
Basically, the small grip just makes it easier to drop and harder to hold on to. This can mean it’s harder to hold at those difficult angles if you want to get really creative with your beard. The small grip will be more of a problem if you have large hands or fingers.
We Recommend the King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer to Men Who…
While the King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer is a good choice for just about any man, it’s the ideal trimmer for a few demographics in particular.
Men With Sensitive Skin Who Want a Clean Shave
Even though it comes with three combs, this trimmer is still a great option if you want to shave down to the skin daily but deal with skin irritation from traditional cartridge razors or even ordinary foil shavers. That’s because the sharp 4D blade design can cut close to the skin without pulling the hair or scraping the skin itself.
Men With Short to Medium-Length Beards
The King C. Gillette Style Master Beard Trimmer really shines when it comes to detailing short beards and stubble. Thanks to the three different combs, you can cut different parts of your beard to different lengths, including stubble, and then easily blend them together.
Busy Fellas on the Go
Whether you’re a frequent traveler, run your own business or just have to get the kids to school, the Style Master Beard Trimmer can save you a little bit of time. It’s waterproof, so you can use it in the shower without skipping a beat in your morning routine. Plus, the sharp 4D blade design means a fast but precise shave that looks good so you can make the most of your day.
Wrapping Up the King (Not a King) C. Gillette Style Master
Alright! There you have it. We’ve exhausted everything we have to say about the Style Master. We think it’s a good and utile beard trimmer, and while not perfect, it’s better than almost all the other models we’ve reviewed. We hope there are some insights here that help you—until next time, have fun, be good, and happy beard!
Michael Morris is the head writer here at Rough and Tumble Gentleman. He's got a ducktail beard and loves Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He's married to the woman of his dreams and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
