Wahl Peanut Review

The Wahl Peanut: An Overview

Rotary motor excellence in a compact body

Then I tried it out.

I was amazed at how it was not only not a gimmick toy, but was actually a very solid clipper that performed as well as a normal sized one.

Wahl’s Peanut professional hair trimmer comes with a powerful rotary motor. Translated, this means you get the smoothest of the three hair cutter motor types (the others being the pivot and the magnetic motor.) Rotary motors score high in both blade speed and power, last longer, and are generally considered top notch.

What makes this better is the fact that the Peanut weighs a mere 4 oz and is ridiculously compact with its 4″ body. Not only do you get a strong motor, but you receive it packaged in a professional trimmer, way more ergonomic and mobile than usual models.

Just look at it:

As I mentioned, you’d be wrong if you assumed the Peanut lacks action because of its humble size. But the rotary motor is not the sole reason you’d like this little trimmer.

 Versatile to fit your trimming needs

Clipper use aside, this is a quality Wahl trimmer too. As a matter of fact, the first time I saw the Peanut, I thought it was a trimmer. Imagine my surprise when I saw a student doing a full haircut with it! Very versatile, the Peanut offers you a wide range of hair trimming opportunities. It cuts very close, especially compared with a lot of similar budget models (looking at Andis T-Outliner here.)

The Peanut steel blades are on par with Wahl’s line of professional hair clippers.

In fact, you can even use it as a balding clipper without much hassle. Just keep in mind that the Peanut, as most standard clippers and trimmers, is limited in this. It won’t cut as close as a razor. You will still have some stubble left.

If you’re going for the ultra smooth look, you still need to follow up with a razor.

For some cutting length diversity, you will receive 4 Wahl guards (from 1/8″ to 1/2″ in size.) You’ll also fetch a red blade guard, Wahl cleaning brush, clipper oil and the instructions for the Peanut clipper.

For those of you who’re into lineups, achieving proper lines is very easy with the Peanut. Due to its light body and small size, the hair trimmer is highly maneuverable and will cater to all your crazy or not-so-crazy hair lining ideas.

This is where the Peanut really shine, in fact. If you are trying to do some head designs, then you really need to have it in your tool set. It is so maneuverable and lightweight that it makes it really easy.

As you might guess, thanks to its compact body, the Peanut is a wonderful candidate for the best hair trimmer for kids. Forget about it being a trimmer for men.

Its delicate design lowers any risks related to children’s usual restlessness during home haircuts. The Peanut is also cute which always attracts the little ones’ attention – at least judging from the experience of a friend of mine (a mother).

The quiet operation will keep kids from getting spooked. They may not even realize there is a clipper right by their ears until you start the haircut.

Finally, it’s possible to use this Wahl hair trimmer for doing some work on your private parts. I advise you to be mindful, though – delicate areas should be handled with extra care.

Especially when there’s a specific disadvantage the Peanut exhibits sometimes. Let’s see what I’m talking about as we continue with this Wahl Peanut review. .

A couple of shortcomings

Being the all-around amazing electric trimmer it is, the Peanut still suffers from a few disadvantages which we will also discuss here in this Wahl Peanut review. The main one would be its tendency to pull hair from time to time. I’m not saying you’ll experience this 100%, but – maybe due to its size, this Wahl trimmer does “chew” on strands.

Is it such a major pain and are there any serious risks? Not at all, you needn’t be concerned. All this does is disrupt your hair cutting session a bit.

The Peanut’s size can also be a disadvantage if you have big hands. To some people, hair clippers and trimmers should feel solid when holding them. Getting a good grip yields easier, more comfortable results.

The trick in holding it is to use mainly your fingers. If you try to palm it like a bigger clipper then it will be hard to move. The whole point of the Peanut is how maneuverable it is. If grip it with just your fingers, then you have the blade positioned exactly how you like it with the ability to angle it to cut also.

This Wahl trimmer’s 4″ body might be slightly “slippery” for people with bigger palms. In this case you might consider a more standard Wahl clipper like the cordless Magic Clip.

Last but not least, the Peanuts’ blades really require proper attention. Sure, that can be said for all hair clipper blades, but…I’ve had at least a few people mentioning that to me. Maybe they overlooked the basics of proper clipper blade care, maybe not.

Never hurts to tend to your trimmer’s little blades. On the upside, though, you can easily remove the Peanut’s blade and clean behind it. Here’s a comprehensive video on that:

Use It As a Trimmer

The small size of the Peanut makes it ideal for using as a trimmer, whether we are talking about it for beard or for your hairline.

Without a guard the Peanut can be used as an edger around the beard. Just settle on a spot where you want the edge of the beard and then point the blade perpendicular to the skin. Basically, it can be used at a 90° angle for this. Go around the whole perimeter of the beard.

Then pop on a guard to trim down the beard to the length you like. It comes with four different plastic comb guards which with the longest leaving your beard ½ an inch and the shortest leaving it ⅛ of an inch.

If you want to leave the beard longer than that, you’ll have to do a clipper over comb technique. This just means you take as much hair in the comb as you want to cut and then slide the blade over it. Do this all around the beard.

To use it as an edger around the hairline, you do the same thing. If you like the sideburns or neckline faded, just add the guard and go up to about a half inch at a time and then add longer ones as you proceed.

How to Clean the Peanut

Whether you are using a tool at home or for your profession, it pays to take care of it. The Peanut isn’t any different than other hair clippers, so here are some general tips to maintain it.

The simplest but most important thing you can do is just wipe off the hair from the blade with an old toothbrush. Do this before and after every haircut so there is no hair left sitting on the blade. The hair is acidic and will make the blade dull over time.

I like to use a can of compressed air to blow the hair out from the crannies where the brush can’t reach.

Once in a while, say every 4 weeks, you need to do a deeper clean and use a blade wash to really erase all the grime that has accumulated on the teeth of the blade. From dead skin cells, to sweat to hair styling products, these all slow down the blade and make the motor work harder. This eventually will lead to shortening the life of your Peanut.

When you do the blade wash, this is a good time to open it up and clear any hair out of the chamber behind the blade. To take the blade off, pull up from the backside opposite of the teeth. Basically, just pull it up tilting it towards the side with the teeth and it will pop off.

You’ll see a lot of hair in there if you have been using it for a while. Just use a brush or compressed air to get all the hair out.

To summarise this Wahl Peanut review, the Peanut is the best professional hair trimmer if you’re after a compact machine, combined with immense power. If you want to be even more mobile with your trimmer, you can consider the Peanut’s cordless version.

I personally wouldn’t use it as a primary clipper, as it is limited in some ways. Yes, you can do a whole haircut with one, but if you’re a barber, then time is money. It is small so it takes longer to do a haircut.

It does work great as a secondary clipper for detail work, however.

It’s actually not far off the corded Peanut when it comes to the price. I’d like to point out that the cordless Peanut trimmer tends to pack a little less power than its corded equivalent. In the end, it’s up to you and your specific situation as a future buyer.

All in all, if you’re unsure whether Wahl Peanut is your trimmer, you should ask yourself these questions:

• Are you constantly on the run and need a small, flexible hair trimmer?

• Do you want to trim other areas and/or get some hair lining done? In other words, do you need a versatile trimmer?

• Do you have kids and plan to cut their hair often?

If you nodded a “Yes” to any of these three scenarios, go ahead. The Peanut’s just for you.