So, I shaved my face. Dermaplaning as a whole has become extremely popular, including those wanting to try at home DIY dermaplaning. Now, I have extremely sensitive skin and have definitely said that’s something you should never try yourself at home many times in real life, and I think online too. But it turns out all it took is a slight increase in curiosity and a very low financial commitment and apparently, I’m willing to try anything. So, does at home dermaplaning work? Or should it be saved for a professional?
My experiment cost the grand total of £3.09 from Amazon, and that was for a pack of eight razors. A little disclaimer before we begin, I think I am an idiot for trying this. Thankfully, my skin was fine and had no adverse reaction, but even as I was pulling the razor down my cheek I was still questioning if this was going to be the biggest ‘beauty’ mistake I’d ever made.
If you have zero skin sensitivity, go ahead and give this a go, but if you do have skin like mine, you may not be as lucky. If you want to try it, get it done professionally. Or at least do a patch test. Yes, I also ignored that common sense rule and went straight in. I was too excited to try it. Do not be like me.
What is dermaplaning?
Dermaplaning is a minimally invasive procedure that shaves away the top layers of your skin. It can help reduce the appearance of acne scars or pitted skin or remove unwanted hair.
What are the advantages?
Many potential benefits, from smoother skin, better makeup application, and more even skin tone.
How I did it
As I have such sensitive skin, I wanted to be very careful with skin prep. You want your skin to be clean, moisturised, but not too heavy a layer that the tiny razor struggles to reach your skin. To achieve this, I used an oil cleanser to prep my skin but used a greater amount than typically necessary so there was a good amount of oily residue left on my skin after I’d rinsed the cleanser off, then proceeded to shave my face in downward motions. As the skin on the face is more fragile than other areas you’d typically shave, you want to go in the same direction as your hair growth, rather than against it. I lightly rinsed the blade after every one or two motions to remove any build-up, then continued until I’d done my whole face, avoiding the area under my eyes and my hairline.
Due to my sensitivity, I waited about 15 minutes after I’d shaved my face to give it a chance to calm down before I applied any skincare, and only used very simple formulas that evening. Hyaluronic serum, simple rosehip oil, and water based gel-cream moisturiser. No acids, no fragrance, nothing remotely stripping or drying, no high performance actives. The following day, I went back to my usual skincare routine.
Does at Home Dermaplaning Work?
My ridiculously cheap razor worked astonishingly well. I’m a fairly hairy individual, so I knew there would be a lot coming off my face as I was pulling the razor away. And I wasn’t shocked when I was looking at the small clumps in my sink when I was done, but did I get the results I was hoping for?
After initial application
If I’m honest, I didn’t think about skincare at all. I did this on a Sunday night and I was really excited to see how my makeup was going to look on Monday morning, but I was blown away when I applied my skincare when I was done and it absorbed so much better/ faster than usual. My skin looked fresh. I was glowing, and even after using heavy oils, there was little to no residue left on my face even a minute or two after application.
Cue the increased excitement to see what I looked like on Monday morning.
Did my makeup apply better?
I woke up on Monday relieved to see that my face hadn’t turned into a giant sensitivity rash overnight, and excited to see if my makeup was going to look any better.
Now, I was a little over ambitious. I opted to use a foundation that sometimes looks quite dry on my skin and doesn’t always sit well to see if my newfound silky skin would react better to it than the old me. It applied much better than it usually does. And it wore a little bit better too. But after a few hours, my base makeup didn’t look up to my usual standards. It was salvageable with a heavy dose of dewy mist, but it was far from a 10.
Tuesday, however, is a new day. And it had still only been about 36 hours since I shaved my face, so it was time to see if my go-to products looked any better than usual. I’ve been wearing the Morphe 2 skin tint a lot this year, which is a very watery formula that’s easy to blend anyway, so I wasn’t sure if I’d see a lot of improvement.
I was wrong. It blended flawlessly with one sweep of the brush, my entire base only took about 5 minutes for concealer, skin tint, and cream cheek products.
Any irritation and how long does it last?
As I mentioned, I was very lucky not to experience any irritation and I got great results. At the time I’m writing this, it’s been about two weeks since I shaved my face and I’m just about ready to give it a second try. I started seeing the tiniest bit of peach fuzz after about 9/10 days, but not enough to shave it off again until now. And, no, it isn’t any thicker, darker etc than it was before.
So, I will be continuing this process and seeing how it goes and whether I continue to get the same results after each shave. I would highly recommend trying this if you’re interested, but please be more cautious than I was! Do a patch test, especially if you have sensitive skin.
Have you tried dermaplaning, either professionally or as a DIY job?
Until next time,
Sophie
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