I Tried a $3 Hair Trimmer from Shopee to Cut Hair and Here Are The Results

Last week, I came across this hair trimmer on Shopee:

Doesn’t it look really easy to use? Just clip hair and cut along the line. Also, it’s very affordable, so I figured if this works to cut my kid’s hair at home, it’s a steal!

I ordered this on 3rd May and received it on the 11th — so 8 days shipping. Here’s what it looks like in real life:

It comes as a set of two plastic clips; a longer curved one for cutting the back and sides of hair, and a shorter straight one for cutting bangs. There’s a spirit level in the centre so you can have perfectly straight or angled lines — a clever touch for such a simple product. Do note that the longer clip is really meant just for cutting regular straight hair styles that are medium to long in length (in case you didn’t catch that from its shape).

Today, I tried it on my 9-year-old’s long hair. I combed the hair down and placed it neatly between the arms of the longer clip, with it curving upwards (you can place the curve in any direction or angle you like). There’s a snap at the end to close and secure the clip, but I find that the clip is not “tight” enough; it doesn’t secure the hair as tightly as I need it to, so I held it together myself with one hand.

I cut along the base of the clip like this:

This is how I hold the hair in place within the clip so it doesn’t slide down:

After I removed the clip, I spotted a few obviously uneven patches — these were trimmed off easily enough.

Here’s the final result!

It’s definitely far from a professional hair cut, and I can see obvious sections that need evening out. The outer layer of the hair is also shorter than the inner layers, and I can imagine my hairdresser friends feeling really uneasy just looking at this picture. The curved shape of the clip clearly didn’t happen as well; and that’s because I kept hacking away at the hair after removing the clip. My fault.

VERDICT: The clip worked in chopping off the length quicker than if I didn’t use it; but you need a steady hand, and an even steadier kid who doesn’t move while you’re cutting hair. It’s also not easy to create the straight or curved lines that you imagine the clips can achieve — especially now that I’ve tried it, and didn’t take into consideration how thick my kid’s hair is (like mine!). In the future, I would separate the hair into inner and outer sections, and clip and cut accordingly. For less than $3, it’s not bad. Perhaps you might have more luck — and skill — than me.