Understand Hair Clipper Sizes to Get Precisely the Cut You Want

Three essential elements that have to be combined for a DIY haircut that will not be embarrassing, or for a profitable professional haircut:

1. Quality hair clippers from a reputable brand.
2. Mastering a haircutting technique, from the simplest buzzcuts to fades and tapers.
3. Knowing which guard size is the most appropriate to use for your desired hairstyle.

It is no overstatement to say that selecting and managing guard sizes underpins the ultimate result of your self-haircut.

If you have been following the hair clippers market even superficially, you already know the three most reputable brands – Andis, Oster, and Wahl. This guide will deal with attachments for each brand for the purpose of clarifying different differences between the sizes.

Sometimes, the three brands differentiate the sizes in their own ways. By viewing them in a standardized way, both in metric (mm) and imperial (inches), you will be able to more easily discern which sizes and sets to get.

Andis Hair Clipper Guard Sizes

Andis’ most successful brand of accessories is the Nano magnetic combs. The moniker Nano refers to their small size, but only for some.

They are separated into:

• 5 short magnetic guards
• 5 longer magnetic guards

Nano magnetic combs have become extremely popular due to the way they snugly and securely fit onto the hair clipper’s blade. With generic brands, you can expect guards to be loose and flimsy, moving even when small pressure is applied. Not so with Andis’ Nano magnetic combs!

There is nothing worse than guards dislodging in mid-haircut.

You need confidence in applying haircutting motions and Nano magnetic combs provide it, making haircutting a smoother and efficient experience.

In short, magnets are indeed magical, and you would need to exert intentional and intense force to remove these guards from the blade. Here are the size tables for both sets:

Short Andis magnetic guards

Long Andis magnetic guards

Andis Detachable Blades

In the last decade, ceramic blades have become the mainstay of top tier hair clippers. And for good reasons:

• Ceramic blades are sharper than stainless steel and stay sharper longer.
• Ceramic blades result in fewer hair snags.
• Ceramic blades have significantly longer longevity.
• Ceramic blades run drastically cooler, which is extremely important for prolonged professional use. You can expect up to 70% cooler blade operation with ceramic blades.

Andis has them in the CeramicEdge lineup, while the more traditional, non-ceramic variant being the UltraEdge blades. They are still top-notch, but not as good as the ceramic ones.

Of the CeramicEdge blades, the most popular blade is the Andis BGRc. It offers ultimate performance, and it can be attached to competitive hair clippers, like the Oster 76 Classic.

Andis CeramicEdge blades table

As you can see, Andis CeramicEdge blades come in all sizes you would need. A word of caution though, while ceramic blades have many advantages, they are more fragile than both steel and carbon blades. Therefore, take extra care to not bang them on hard surfaces, or drop them. It would take a really weird angle and drop height to break them, but it can happen.

Oster Hair Clipper Guard Sizes

Oster doesn’t have its own magnetic guards, so you will have to borrow one from Andis if you have Oster hair clippers. They are perfectly compatible, but make sure to check for the specific model you have.

What Oster does have is their adjustable hair clippers for getting excellent and effortless buzzcuts. Of their own guards, Oster offers 10 sizes:

Oster Hair Clipper Blades

New materials are always vying for supremacy in the haircutting arena.

Currently, the top competitors use ceramic or carbon-steel alloy, with more carbon than steel. Undergoing rigorous testing and deep-freezing process, Oster blades are rated to RC62-66 Rockwell Scale, which is a hardness scale based on indentation hardness of a material. Suffice to say, Oster detachable, high-carbon steel blades are exceedingly durable and sharp.

You can confidently expect them to last you a lifetime. Here is their Oster blades size table for your convenience.

Some have ridges on the top of the blade to ensure greater cooling capability while in operation. It simply means that they allow for greater airflow while in contact with the head/scalp. However, they also have the benefit of being less likely to snag hair or drag on skin.

Wahl Hair Clipper Guard Sizes

Wahl comes with the most comprehensive guard sizes for your favorite Wahl clippers, including two combs, under numbers #10 and #12. Here is the full list:

Additionally, Wahl boasts its color-coded guards for easy reference. If you have a family, it will be easy to remember each color as it corresponds to a specific size. Even a professional barber would find this feature extremely helpful.

When you think about it, all clipper attachments should be color-coded. Is there any reason there shouldn’t be? Is there any downside to it?

Unfortunately, they are made out of plastic, so they are less sturdy. Additionally, you could fault them from an aesthetic perspective due to their mismatched color when combined with the hair clippers.

If that superficial reason is enough of a concern, you can opt for Wahl’s sturdier and pure black metal guards option. They are, of course, more expensive than their color-coded counterparts.

To Recap the Importance of Clipper Guards

• Even a tiny length difference, just a couple of mm, can make a huge difference for the overall haircut style.
• It would be best to equip yourself with a full set of guards, at least 10, so you have an appropriate option for every occasion. No matter if you are a professional barber, or if you are doing DIY haircuts at home.
• The lower the size number, the less hair you will leave on the head. Therefore, if unsure which guard to use, always start from the high number. That way, you can correct further if necessary. You can’t correct a haircut with non-existing hair!
• If a client tells you specifically that they want a specific guard used (number 5 for example) because that was their best haircut, don’t forget to ask which brand! The three big ones (Wahl, Oster, Andis) have their own size indicators, so consult these tables to see their actual sizes in metric (mm) or imperial (inches).