Dermaplaning or dermablading or epidermal leveling – different names for the same thing.
Using a sterile (you hope!) scalpel to remove the fine, vellous hair on your face whilst also performing a good manual exfoliation of your skin.
That, essentially, is all it is. There are myths and fabrications about what this treatment can and can’t do and I’ll just spend a few minutes giving you the truth about it, if I may.
I recently heard that dermaplaning can cause terminal hair to grow. Rubbish.
ONLY HORMONES CAN ALTER YOUR HAIR PATTERN.
The end.
What dermaplaning DOES do, however, is to cut the hair shaft so it FEELS thicker…because the soft, tapered end of your hair is no longer what you can see or feel on your face. In time it will feel softer as the hair gets longer. It won’t feel as “bristly”.
I also read that someone believes that exfoliating the skin manually (like with gentle micro dermabrasion or a gentle facial scrub) can increase cell turnover and age the skin faster. Hmmm. There’s a few pointers here that I have to first highlight. If you’ve smoked, drank and sunbathed all your life and never used a decent product on your skin – then suddenly have dermaplaning done or a micro then YES, you will notice your skin perks up and acts like a normal skin for a while as you’ve gotten rid of all that crappy built up skin blocking the good stuff underneath. You can’t really increase your cell turnover long term this way however.
Using a product like Vitamin A CAN increase your cell turnover… but usually only if your turnover is sluggish to start with!
There is some research that suggests that skin cells have a certain number of turnovers in them before they die…..and the more you peel or ablate your skin, the faster that time will come. A peel or ablation is VERY different to having a light manual exfoliation like dermaplaning though – so no need to stress!! And if you’re having one or two peels a year with good, sensible home care to support it – there is also no need to worry.
Think about it – men shave their faces most days and tend to look younger in the bottom area of the face than women do……so surely that tells you something!
So shave, dermaplane and exfoliate away. Everything in moderation and nothing in excess – and your skin will love you for it!