Can you take hair clippers on a plane?

The rule for hair clippers comes from the Civil Aviation Bureau's list of restricted items and is the same on domestic and international flights.

For items it does not name, Japan's list leaves the decision to the airline or the screener, who can refuse anything that could serve as a weapon because of its material, strength or shape.

Only the TSA lists hair clippers by name; elsewhere a clipper is read as an electric razor or as a battery-powered device.

The TSA has a Hair Clippers entry of its own

The TSA lists Hair Clippers as an item: carry-on yes, checked yes. Its Electric Razors entry gives the same answers. Neither entry sets a blade or battery condition, and both send questions about regulations to the FAA website. Nail Clippers are a different TSA item, with a note on sheathing sharp objects in checked bags.

Japan's razor row is where clippers are read

Japan's list of restricted items has no line for hair clippers. The nearest one is the razor row: razors are barred from the cabin and accepted in checked baggage, with a note that electric razors (electric shavers) can be carried on. The line above it lets T-shaped razors and small eyebrow razors into the cabin as well.

Narita's notice counts electric razors as electronics

Narita Airport's notice on electronic devices packed in checked baggage gives electric razors as one of its examples, after computers, game consoles and tablets. It asks for the power to be switched off for certain, says sleep mode is not accepted, and gives a sturdy suitcase or a wrapping of clothes as ways to guard against accidental activation and damage.

Australia names the beard trimmer and stops at 100 Wh

CASA's Pack Right groups the beard trimmer with the electric shaver, toothbrush, epilator and razor as devices for personal use. Batteries must not exceed 2 g for lithium metal or 100 Wh for lithium ion, and the entry says the device should be carried in carry-on baggage. Japan draws its line for portable electronic devices higher, at 160Wh.

Hong Kong sets the switch-off line by battery size

Hong Kong's CAD has no clipper entry and covers a cordless one as a portable electronic device. In checked baggage it must be completely switched off, not in sleep or hibernation mode, when a lithium ion battery exceeds 2.7 Wh or a lithium metal battery 0.3 g of lithium. Clippers running on nickel-metal hydride or dry batteries come under a separate row for equipment powered by those batteries.

A plug-in clipper has no battery to assess

A corded clipper sits outside the battery rows. CASA's entry for mains-powered small electrical appliances, which gives hair straighteners and hair dryers as its examples, says electrical appliances are not considered dangerous goods. It adds that, depending on the device, they may be subject to security or carry-on baggage restrictions.

The carry-on answer for hair clippers is the same in all 3 other places we checked.

Each row comes from that authority's own page. Airlines can be stricter, and the screening officer has the final say.