It’s no secret that exfoliating, the process of gently buffing off the top layer of dead skin cells, improves the look of skin. For years women have been doing so with cleansing scrubs, creams that include alpha hydroxy acids, and most recently with powered cleansing brushes.
But there’s a technique men have been employing for years that women are adopting, that may prove to be more effective.
Men seem to get fewer wrinkles than women—and women have noticed. Could that one daily habit most men partake in be the reason why? That’s exactly it. Shaving every day constantly exfoliates men’s skin by shaving away the outmost layers of skin and encouraging production of new layers.
According to esthetician Kerry Benjamin in an online interview, “Shaving your face can have somewhat similar results to a professional dermaplaning procedure.”
Dermaplaning is simply the shaving of the skin using a scalpel with a No. 10 blade, performed in a dermatologist’s office. Typically the skin is cleansed before the procedure with cleanser containing mild beta or alpha hydroxyl acids. This procedure produces a more refined, smooth skin surface for people with with rough, dry skin, superficial hyperpigmentation (dark spots), mild acne scarring, or fine lines and wrinkles.
But won’t shaving make any hair on your face (of course women only have peach fuzz), grow back thicker and darker? Benjamin says this is only a myth.
Ms. Benjamin is a fan of shaving at home herself and provides these tips, if you want to try it yourself:
- Choose either the type of razor you’d normally use on your legs (preferably not yet used), or a women’s facial hair trimmer or eyebrow shaper.
- Apply very little pressure.
- Shave on clean, dry skin.
As far as shaving technique, she suggests pulling the skin taught and shaving downwards in short strokes with the razor at a 45-degree angle against the skin. And shaving just twice monthly should be enough to see positive results.
Before you turn your nose up at the idea of shaving, you should know it’s rumored that legendary beauties Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe shaved to remove fine fuzz from their famous mugs. Could that have been their beauty secret? We’ll never know but I, for one, may give it a shot.
