Ah, this aging thing is no fun.
I used to joke about bald men with hairy backs. Now I see and live aging women with hair loss on their heads but new and exciting random hair on the face. Chin hairs? forehead hairs (what is the evolution reason for that?)? around the lip?
Do you tweeze it? thread it? accept it?
Enter dermaplaning. In a doctor’s office, this is done with a blade. The skin is held taut, and we use the blade to exfoliate. In addition to removing dead skin, it also removes the pesky peach fuzz. But this is not something to do be done at home. Even I, who as a plastic surgeon has no fear of the blade, would find this challenging to do on myself. The blade needs to be at a certain angle and the skin must be taut or the blade will do what sharp blades are supposed to do- cut.
Enter the at home “dermaplaning” market. I agree with one of my dermatology colleagues who differentiates between true dermaplaning and at home dermaplaning, which she calls “shaving.” I agree with her. There is a tangible difference. But what I like about the home version, is they make it safer.
So I tried it out this morning.
First caveats:
- If your skin has raised bumps, infection, acne, inflammation- don’t do this. That will irritate your skin more. Irritated skin = angry skin = redness/scarring/pigment.
- Your skin will be freshly exfoliated after. That means products which are abrasive- astringents, witch hazel, glycolic pads, all my lovely RetinA and retinol treatments- should not be used for a bit after. How long? Wait till your skin feels calm. Do a small test patch to see how it feels.
- You should only do this every 7-10 days. Why that number? Your skin needs 7-10 days to turn over. If you did this more frequently, you haven’t give the skin the time to recover.
What did I think?
I am not here to sell a brand. I bought a $70 (on sale for Black Friday!) one that got good reviews. It worked. I didn’t nick myself. I was a bit shocked at how much peach fuzz I had (I chalk this up to eyesight failing as we age, which gives us all a soft glow lighting effect since we can’t see all the imperfections). And now my face feels exfoliated.
There are people who claim this will improve the skin, make it smoother, help fight aging, etc etc. I don’t know about that. I do think it is a good exfoliator. I also think it will help my medical grade antioxidant, retinol, and other skin care products penetrate deeper, so likely they will be more effective.
There are others who worry “shaving” will cause the hair to grow back darker or more thickly. I think this has been disproven, though I have heard the new hairs will feel sharper as the blade causes the tip of the hair to be rough.
If you are a woman in menopause, or have thinning hair and are taking supplements like Nutrafol or doing Minoxidil, you may be hairier than in the past. Tweezers won’t work for the sheer volume. Threading is great, but as a working girl I just can’t get there. I like the do it yourself at home option.
I will update in the future. But it was easy and effective.