Are you already shaving your face?
Do you know the movie ‘Hable con ella’? If not, you should go see it immediately. It's about two men who take care of their loved ones who are in a coma. It's truly beautiful, very Spanish arthouse deep and all that, but the only thing I could think was: what if I go into a coma and no one trims my mustache and beard? Here's the thing. I'm convinced that there's a significant amount of Neanderthal in my DNA. I have a serious mustache and beard if I were to let it go. My whole life I've stood in front of a magnifying mirror daily. to pluck unwanted hairs. And the worst part is: now that I'm getting older, it only gets more.
My girlfriend Christianne is a skin therapist and works for a large laser center in Oklahoma. I told her that I would quite like to have my face laser hair removal, but that you first have to shave for a while for it to make sense. And I don't dare to do that. Chrissie started laughing hard and said: ‘But honey (she's been living overseas for seventeen years, so she can say that), don't you know that shaving your face is very good for your skin?’ I had to recover from that for a moment, but it really seems to be true. In America, they call it dermaplaning. This means that you shave your face with a surgical blade to remove all dead skin cells and thus also those unwanted hairs. She let me feel her skin and yes, a baby's bottom was nothing compared to its softness. And if you're not convinced yet: Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe did it too.
She just happened not to have a blade in her handbag, but sent me an instructional video as soon as she was back in America. So I both made an appointment with a laser center and bought a surgical blade. I can be brief about dermaplaning: it was not a success. You need to have a pretty steady hand (hello, cut on my chin) and the thicker hairs only come off with a lot of effort. But since I finally decided after all those years to start laser hair removal, I just decided to shave. And even that, dear hairy or hairless friends, seems to be very good for your skin. I immediately googled it. Some sites claim that the effect is comparable to microdermabrasion. Not only dead skin cells disappear, but also pigmentation spots, and it seems to stimulate collagen production.
Although all experts claim that your hair really doesn't come back thicker, I don't dare to shave my whole face. But what I can tell you is that the skin on my upper lip has never looked so good. What you need to keep in mind is that your skin is extra sensitive afterwards. Be careful with the sun then. You should also never shave over pimples, because then you spread the bacteria. Incidentally, dermatologist Jetske Ultee says in RTL Nieuws that if you're after that baby skin, you better peel instead of shave, especially if you have sensitive skin. If you still want to shave, Jetske recommends on her blog Uncover-Skincare.nl to use a mild cleanser beforehand and to shave the hairs wet. After that, you use a toner or moisturizer to restore the skin barrier. Jetske's contains a high concentration of niacinamide and that's even better.
If you don't feel like messing around at home, there are a number of skin specialists in the Netherlands who offer a dermaplaning treatment. I myself am still happily shaving away and pray that those laser treatments will take effect soon.
