A cutting unit having a blade carrier carrying a cutting blade, and a guard. The guard includes a blade-facing surface engaging the cutting blade at a cut location, a planar guard contact surface for contacting the user's skin, where the guard contact surface is angled with respect to the blade-facing surface, and a guard extender separate from the guard. The guard extender includes a planar extension contact surface cooperating with the guard contact surface to provide an extended contact zone across the guard and the guard extender for contacting a user's skin. The blade-facing surface and the guard contact surface converge towards a tip of the guard, such that a cutting direction extends along the guard contact surface towards the tip. The extended contact zone may provide for improved stability and reliable orientation of the cutting unit for cutting while limiting material use.