What can we say about ear hair besides it’s a fact of life. You may not have ever noticed your ear hair, in which case you’re lucky. Ear hair is the type of thing you don’t notice until you do—and then you can never unsee it. The more we notice our unsightly ear hair, the more we want to get rid of it. Luckily, removing it is easy. As long as you have the right tool.
The right tool is an ear hair trimmer. Believe us, you don’t want to take a razor to your ears (particularly inside) and you definitely don’t want to do something like wax them. The skin on your ears is delicate and cutting or damaging it can not just be uncomfortable but can risk infection as well. Your best option for trimming ear hair safely and effectively is using a trimmer specifically designed for ear hair.
Best Luxury Ear Hair Trimmer
Panasonic Ear and Nose Hair Trimmer
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Best Overall Ear Hair Trimmer
Manscaped The Weed Whacker
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Best For Travel
Wahl Micro Groomsman Personal Trimmer
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Usually you’ll see the classic rotary blade trimmers that are made for ears and noses, but these days trimmers can do way more than just that. Many offer multiple attachments or different styles of blades that allow you to trim not just your ears but also almost anywhere else on your face. They’re often small, convenient, and nearly foolproof. So now, thanks to any of these handy devices, you don’t have to notice your ear hair—unless you’re trimming it.
Best Luxury Ear Hair Trimmer
Panasonic Ear and Nose Hair Trimmer
Now 16% Off
$45 $38 at Amazon$45 $36 at upscaledinc.comPros
Quiet, powerful motor
Built-in vacuum system
Wet/Dry capabilities
Cordless
Large size
Blade refills are hard to find
If we’re going to be completely honest, we mostly think of this one as a nose hair trimmer. Probably because that’s just because our nose hairs grow faster than our ear hair (just us?). The beauty of this powerful trimmer is that it does both with equal precision and ease. Everything that makes this a top-of-the-line nose hair trimmer also makes it a great ear hair trimmer. The dual blade is housed in a cone-shaped steel casing that allows it to cut through hair quickly and effectively while keeping the delicate skin inside your ears and nose protected and nick-free. It’s also wet/dry, which means you can trim in the shower if that’s your bag. Our favorite feature by far, though, is the integrated vacuum system that sucks up hair trimmings as you use it so you don’t have to worry about cleaning up your sink after you’re all trimmed up. The trimmer itself is on the larger, bulkier side (probably because of the vacuum component), which is kind of a bummer if you like to travel with your ear hair trimmer, but it works so well that we can overlook that.
| Blade | Rotary |
|---|---|
| Battery | Two AAA Batteries |
| Attachments | None |
Best Overall Ear Hair Trimmer
Manscaped The Weed Whacker
Small, sleek design
Rechargeable
Waterproof
Charge doesn't hold as well as time goes on
At first glance, this device looks like your standard ear and nose hair trimmer. Once you pick it up, you realize it’s not standard at all. The ergonomic design is large enough to fit your hand and grip easily, but still lightweight enough that it doesn’t become annoying to use. The dual blades are nestled inside a steel cone-shaped housing like most of the rotary style trimmers you see out there, but it’s one of the most powerful we’ve tried and doesn’t get clogged or dull easily, even with more than regular use. We love that it’s charged with your standard USB-C cord, as well, so you don’t have to worry about digging out another type of cord from your already-packed cord drawer. The 90-minute battery life does diminish slightly with prolonged use, but not significantly enough to really notice. More than anything else, it’s the best we’ve found at powering through thick nose and ear hair (like when we forget to trim for a while) for the cleanest finish.
| Blade | Rotary |
|---|---|
| Battery | Rechargeable |
| Attachments | None |
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Best For Travel
Wahl Micro Groomsman Personal Trimmer
Detailer and rotary head options
Very small, sleek design
Wet/Dry capabilities
Inexpensive
Blades are not replaceable
Nearly every celebrity groomer we’ve ever spoken with (and there have been a lot) has recommended this tiny detailer. It’s about the size of a ballpoint pen and easily slips into a dopp kit or pocket for travel. It comes with interchangeable detailer and rotary heads, so if you like the more traditional nose-hair style rotary trimmer you have that option, but we found that having the detailer takes ear hair trimming to the next level. With the detailer head, you’re able to shave your entire ear, including the outside and edges, way easier than you can with just a rotary head. Plus, the detailer head can be used in other places like your sideburns, mustache, and more for quick cleanup. It uses a single AAA battery for power instead of an integrated battery, which is part of how it can be so small, and while you can’t change the blades when they get dull, it’s cheap enough that you can just buy another one (or several and keep them on hand).
| Blade | Rotary and Detailer |
|---|---|
| Battery | One AAA Battery |
| Attachments | 3 |
Best Detailer
Micro Touch Titanium MAX Lighted Personal Trimmer
Heavy-duty design
Built-in light
Battery is included
Not rechargeable
Bulky compared to some other detailers
Most of the ear and nose hair trimmers you see out there use an enclosed rotary head to trim, but this detailer uses a thin, vertical side mounted blade. This makes it easier to trim all sorts of places on your face like sideburns, mustaches, beard lines, eyebrows, and, of course, ears. Personally, we find that we like a detailer for ears because it can also shave that weird fluff that grows on our earlobes and outer ears (again, just us?). There’s even a built-in LED light that allows you to easily see where you’re trimming, like inside your ears. The overall design is bulkier than some of the other trimmers on this list and feels heftier, so it may not be as good for travel, but that also makes it easy to hold and maneuver.
| Blade | Detailer |
|---|---|
| Battery | One AAA Battery |
| Attrachments | None |
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Best Budget-Friendly Ear Hair Trimmer
Remington Nose, Ear & Detail Trimmer
Interchangeable rotary and detailer heads
Wet/dry capabilities
Automatically cleans blades
Not rechargeable
Blades not replaceable
For a little over ten bucks, this detailer gives you both a trimmer blade and a rotary style blade to cover all your bases. There’s also something the brand calls Clean BOOST technology that apparently helps the blades stay clean and sharp, though we found you still need to run it under water to clean it (luckily, it’s waterproof). Like other trimmers in this price range, it runs on a single AAA battery, though it is on the bulkier side compared to other similar models. It doesn’t have a ton of extra features, but at this price point that’s expected. What it does do, however, is exactly what you need an ear hair trimmer to do: keep your ears clean and hair-free.
| Blade | Rotary and Detailer |
|---|---|
| Battery | One AAA Battery |
| Attachements | 3 |
What To Look For
Blades: You’ll find trimmers on this list (and out in the market) that use two types of blades. The classic is a rotary-style blade that’s typically housed in a cone-shaped casing with slits in it that allow for the blades inside to trim down hair while not getting close enough to your delicate skin to cut it. They’re effective and safe for both ear and nose hair trimming. The other fine is a detailer blade, a vertically housed blade that’s designed to trim all sorts of places on your face like sideburns, eyebrows, and more. Which kind of trimming blade you use depends mostly on where you want to use the trimmer, but both are effective for ear hair. When in doubt, go for a trimmer that has both options.
Battery: Mostly you’ll find rechargeable trimmers, though many of the smaller or more budget-conscious versions use AAA batteries. We found in our testing that both styles of battery were powerful enough to trim ear hair while only recharging (or changing the battery) minimally, so which you choose really depends on your personal choice—and how often you can remember to change a battery.
Attachments: Some trimmers will have multiple attachments, like the kind that offer both rotary and detailer blades. Additionally you may find things like eyebrow combs or other accessories to help with the actual trimming. To be honest, we’ve never actually used the accessories like combs, but we do appreciate having both blade options.
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Why Trust Us
We’re not going to say something is great unless it's actually great. Every product in Esquire’s round-ups is carefully curated by our grooming and e-commerce teams.
When it comes to grooming tools you can rest assured that we’re hand-selecting products that we’ve personally tested, tried, and loved. Our grooming editor Garrett Munce, along with the rest of the style team, has spent years test driving hundreds (thousands!) of grooming gadgets and we are confident that these are the best.
Every pick on this list (and our other lists) comes from these years of testing. We know that everyone’s hair is different, no two men are the same, and what works for you may not work for everyone else. But if you’re looking for the right place to start, with advice from folks who care (possibly too much!) about this sort of stuff, this is the place to be.