Is Molly-Mae Right? Will Dermaplaning Give You A Beard?

What is dermaplaning?

Dermaplaning is a way of exfoliating your face, physically. A scalpel is used to essentially 'shave' your face, which removes the dead skin cells and vellus hair - or as we all call it, the 'peach fuzz'. This leaves skin brighter, smoother, silky even and means that skin products can penetrate into the skin more effectively.

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_{Molly Mae said to her fans: "I need to speak to you guys about my battle with dermaplaning - and just wish I never got dermaplaning. I basically have a full beard now."}

Is it a good treatment?

Glowday spoke to skin expert, nurse practitioner Cheryl Cain from The Good Skin Guru, who told us:

"There are actually a lot of skin specialists who also don’t agree with dermaplaning, it is one of those treatments that splits opinion. I personally have dermaplaning myself and have given clients dermaplaning facials however it isn’t for everyone, it’s a process of removing the stratum corneum which is the top layer of our epidermis on our skin and any vellus hairs. The stratum corneum helps make up our skin barrier, which is one of the main reasons some skin specialists don’t recommend the treatment, we need our skin barrier to be healthy so appropriate patient selection is important."

Who is dermaplaning right for?

Cheryl continues: "It is a manual exfoliating treatment so for anyone with sensitive, damaged or dry skin it can be too excessive, additionally those with oily skin can develop problems from having their vellus hair removed as our hair follicles help sebum excrete from our pores, when this process is disrupted, people with oily skin can end up with worsening of breakouts, so choosing whether somebody is suitable for dermaplaning is therefore the first stage of any treatment, but in the right person, it can give amazing results!

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^{Skin expert Cheryl Cain has dermaplaning herself and we certainly don't see any beard growing!}

What kind of results can someone expect from dermaplaning?

Cheryl says: "It can help diminish fine lines and wrinkles, helps absorption of skincare products, helps with skin texture or skin lacking in radiance. It’s also a great option for those who would like a facial treatment during pregnancy."

But what about Molly's comments? Am I going to get a beard when it grows back?

"No. It's physiologically not possible! What will happen is hairs will grow back blunter rather than tapered, so they 'feel' thicker but they aren't thicker, and after a while they will feel just as they did before.

We do have terminal hairs which can grow back thicker, these are already thick hairs which we can feel, a good practitioner will pluck these out before dermaplaning your face. However the vellus hair which are the soft, fair hairs (or peach fuzz) on our face will not grow back thicker. You may feel you’ve noticed them more because you’ve gone from having a smooth dermaplaned face to feeling your hair growing back (which is probaby what Molly is experiencing) however you will not gain more facial hair from having a dermaplaning treatment."

So there we have it, straight from the mouth of a skin expert. The facts. We do not need to fear a full-on beard after dermaplaning!

If you're interested in this treatment after learning why it's actually awesome and won't leave you with a full face of thick, bushy hair, check out the practitioners we have in your area who offer dermaplaning. You can also read this article where Emma shares her own personal experience of shaving her face!

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