Somewhere along the road to 50, I became obsessed with hair.
Not on the top of my head (still there, thankfully). I’m talking about the odd strands and tufts that populate my ears, back, chest and everything below.
Currently, I have two separate razors in my shower, two shave mirrors (one for the shower, one above my sink) and three different electric trimmers that each correspond to a different body region.
But the “down there” area is the one that presents the most problems. That’s not a TMI admission — I’m only saying that it’s a landscape (manscape?) with more angles, curves, wrinkles and areas hidden from direct eyesight. And any sort of grooming nicks and cuts are gonna be more painful.
Without going full Ken doll in the nether regions, but still wanting to maintain my more sensitive areas, I decided to try The Trimmer from Meridian Grooming for a few weeks. While Meridian has been around for a bit — or for bits (expect more puns to follow) — its parent company Pangaea Holdings received a $53 million investment last year from Eurazeo Brands. (Pangaea also owns the men’s skincare brand Lumin.)
Meridian offers all the hallmarks of a 21st-century brand — good-looking product, cheeky advertising and a blog that’s comfortable enough to offer advice on both “7 Reasons Why You Should Shave Your Pubes” and “Understanding Suicide in Men.” Those are two separate thoughts, mind you.
Meridian offers a few bundles that include a spray, boxer briefs and replacement blades, but I simply ordered The Trimmer. The company describes its body hair device as follows:
“Our waterproof Trimmer handles coarse and curly hair without painful nicks and pulling. The Trimmer’s precision blades allow you to trim hair without cutting, tugging, or irritating the skin, so you can kiss razor burn and bumps goodbye.”
We spent two intimate weeks with The Trimmer. Here’s how it went.
The specs:
- Available in the colors sage or onyx
- Comes with two adjustable guide combs (3-6mm, 9-12mm), a cleaning brush and a USB charging cable
- Ceramic blades (suggested replacement: every four months)
- 90 minutes of trimming time on a full charge
What we liked:
- The packaging could pretty much be mistaken for a new smartphone. Cool, colorful, minimalist.
- The Trimmer had a nice feel and was comfortably sized for my hands.
- It’s incredibly simple to use: There’s an on/off button on the front center and an indicator light for battery use. Attaching the guide combs was a literal snap.
- Swapping USB charging for a plug makes powering up the device — which I never had to do in two weeks — a lot easier … at least, if you have a USB outlet in your bathroom.
- They allude to this on the Meridian website, but you can actually use The Trimmer on other regions of your body — back, legs, chest etc. In fact, I found it worked better on those spots because you weren’t limited by body curves or odd angles.
- Even in hard-to-reach areas, I was left with no nicks, razor bumps or ingrown hair accidents.
What we sort of liked:
- Yes, you can use The Trimmer in the shower but I found the device worked a bit better on drier skin just after a hot shower. If you have a lot of hair you’re dealing with, I’d suggest making your first body shave standing up in the bathroom, sans water (you really don’t want a lot of hair going down your drains).
- Cleaning the device was no easier or harder than working with any other body hair trimmer.
- If you’re using the guide combs, you’ll quickly realize you’ll never have to worry about having any shaving accidents. But take those off for “closer” shaves and, even with the low vibrations, you’ll maybe panic a bit if you’re using around the nether world. To its credit, the brand does admit, “The Trimmer won’t shave as closely as a razor shaves, but you can trim hair very short by removing the optional blade guard and angling The Trimmer with the blade parallel to your skin.” I’d really keep the shortest guard on for below-the-belt work, and, yes, use a non-electric razor for any detailed work.
What needs work:
- The printed directions that arrived with the Trimmer were tiny, hard to read and 99% worthless. Just use Meridian’s website to learn about your device.
What others are saying:
“The shaver’s agility is made possible by its tightly packed ceramic blades that help prevent any snags and nicks, which was surprising, given that even the most expensive body trimmers we’ve tried have caused some sort of tugging.” — The Manual
“Pubic hair removal isn’t easy as it involves navigating wrinkly folds of delicate skin. The size of the razor head and maneuverability are crucial. Most customers rate The Trimmer highly for these aspects.” — Honest Brand Reviews
Does it make the cut?
For every part of my body that’s not on my face or neck, I’ll be using the Meridian Grooming Trimmer. One exception: For very, very close shaves on any hard-to-reach places, I’ll stick with a body razer (like this non-electric one from Gillette).
Where to buy:
The Trimmer is available on the Meridian website for $74.
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