What Is the Longest Clipper Guard? (All You Need to Know)
Clipper guards are essential when it comes to flexibility in cutting hair.
But what is the longest clipper guard?
What do the numbers on guards mean exactly? And how can you use them to cut your hair?
All of these questions and more will be answered in this article.
Let’s get into it.
What Is the Longest Clipper Guard?
Each brand has different lengths of clipper guards.
But in general, these are the longest for each brand:
Oster goes up to a #10 guard / 1 ¼ inches / 32mm
Wahl goes up to a #12 guard / 1 ½ inches / 38mm
Babyliss goes up to #6 guard / ¾ inch / 19mm
Remington goes up to a #8 guard / 1 inch / 25mm
Later on in this article, we’ll go through each brand’s guards in more detail, but to begin with, why are these the max guard lengths and why can’t they increase?
I explain next.
Biggest Clipper Guard
It all comes down to what a hair clipper is for.
To cut.
Brands focus on keeping detail in the smaller guards and don’t really go up after a certain point.
After the #6 guard, instead of hair being guided to be cut, your guards may squash hair down which can get quite frustrating.
Also, higher guard lengths just aren’t in demand. the larger the guard, the less control you have over the hair you cut.
It’s not efficient and after a certain length, it may be better to use other methods of cutting such as scissors so they aren’t bought.
That is the main reason why you don’t really see 2,3,4 or 5-inch guards in your standard set.
It may not be cost-effective to make these large guards as they aren’t really in demand but some brands like wahl, design their blades to take third-party-produced guards.
I go through this later.
But are all guards aren’t built the same, can’t your just swap from one brand to the other?
We go through this next.
Types Of Clipper Guards
There are different types of clipper guards:
- Standard plastic clipper guards
- Clip-on clipper guards
- Magnetic clipper guards.
Standard clipper guards
With standard clipper guards, you simply just clip the guard onto your blades and make sure it is secure.
These types of guards come with most clippers and they grip onto your clipper model.
Premium guards
Premium clipper guards work the same way, as standard clipper guards.
However premium guards such as the wahl/Babyliss premium clipper guard set are of higher quality with metal clips.
Magnetic clipper guards
These types of guards simply just snap onto your clippers no need for clipping.
The most popular type of magnetic guard is the Andis clipper purple magnetic guard which comes in single or double magnets.
Due to the different ways in which clipper guards are made, swapping guards between brands becomes a problem and difficult.
While you could try to force guards from another brand onto your clippers, I wouldn’t recommend it for 2 reasons.
- They won’t fit as well and you may find that your blades keep hitting the guard.
- Although clippers have the same ‘length’ there are slight differences between guards, meaning they may not cut the way you expect.
If you would like to read more on this, check out our article on how hair clippers work.
Clipper Guard Size Chart
Now we’ll go over the clipper guard sizes for the most popular brand and we’ll go over their cutting lengths.
Wahl Clipper Guard Sizes
when you purchase normal wahl clippers, standard or premium, they usually only go up to a #8 guard.
But…
#10, #12, and even #16 can be found online.
However these aren’t made by wahl and are sold separately, however, they will still work for your wahl model.
These are your standard guards so they’ll work for most clipper brands but may not fit your clipper as well as premium guards.
Andis clipper guards sizes
Andis clippers only go up to a #8 guard and you’ll struggle to go up from there.
While these are the popular magnetic guard sizes, when you buy some Andis clippers, they come with their standard guards.
Don’t worry, you can use the standard guard and they cut to that length.
Although andis double magnetic guards can fit clippers such as the Oster fast speed, again, how the guard is built effects will affect the way it cut.
Babyliss Clipper Guard sizes
Babyliss clippers guards are the smallest guards.
If you are purely looking for long clipper guards, Babyliss may be the brand for you.
But because of this, it also means their guard especially their premium guards are great for close detail especially when fading.
Oster clipper guard Sizes
Oster clipper guards are slightly awkward and with a standard set of Oster clippers, they go up to a #10 guard.
The guards themselves however are reliable and will work well in their lifetime.
Remington Clipper Guards Sizes
Remmington guards are strict and don’t leave much room for extra length.
They go up to #8 and because of the many different blades from Remington, finding new guards that fit your model specifically can be expensive and I would g recommend it.
Either look for another brand with longer guards or stick it out with the guard that came with your clipper.
Overall:
On average, the biggest brands take their guard sets up to a number 8 as it is the most cost-effective and that’s what’s in demand.
But some brands such as wahl allow you to extend their guards up to #10, #12, or even #16 guards,
These are the lengths of the top 5 clipper brands.
Again, while some brands are comparable with each other such as the wahl premiums being able to fit some Babyliss clippers.
And the Andis magnetic guard is able to fit the Oster fast speed.
The way each brand builds its’s-clipper is slightly different and that affects how they cut hair.
Now that we’ve seen each clipper brand and the length they cut to, what exactly does that mean?
We talk about that next.
Clipper Guard Lengths
Now we’ll quickly touch each guard size and how you can use them.
Number 0
A zero can mean coming as a guard.
A zero guard is also known as a half guard.
There are two ways you can put a zero guard on your clippers.
You can either just have your clipper level open with no guard, or you close your clipper lever and attach an ½ / 0 guard, both with the cut to 1.5mm of hair.
This is the length for a buzz cut and one of the Lower lengths used when fading.
Number 1
The Number 1 uses the #1 guard, which leaves 1/8-inch of hair on your head.
Number 2
A Number 2 haircut will leave you with hair on top about ¼-inch thick.
It’s one of the best lengths for crew cuts.
Number 3
The Number 3 haircut leaves around 3/8 inches worth of hair. This and the #2 guard are the most common lengths for the top side of the fade.
But this guard is also a good length for a buzz cut too.
Number 4
This guard leaves a ¼-inch of hair. This is ideal to maintain fairly long styles like a high top.
It’s too big for fading(or if you do fade it would be difficult to close the gap between this and a zero.
Number 5
The Number 5 leaves 5/8-inch of hair.
You can now start to use these guards for maintenance again, such as high too or beard.
Other guards
Guards 6,7,8 + are longer guards which are used for further maintenance but at a certain, it may be Bette r to start using scissors.
If you would like to know how you can use clipper guards, check out this article on how to use clipper guards.
Conclusion
In this article? We asked the question what’s the longest clipper guard?
These are the longest lengths for each brand:
Andis goes up to a #8 guard / 1 inch / 25mm
Oster goes up to a #10 guard / 1 ¼ inches / 32mm
Wahl goes up to a #12 guard / 1 ½ inches / 38mm
Babyliss goes up to #6 guard / ¾ inch / 19mm
Remington goes up to a #8 guard / 1 inch / 25mm
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