Another day, another controversial story around women's beauty habits and how they're wrong/unattractive/incorrectly performed. Just when you'd all stopped worrying about whether your hair was the 'right' kind of curly, another debate has opened up around women and shaving. But it's not the usual suspects, like legs or underarms getting the razor treatment: it's faces.
An article on the MailOnline this week suggested that if women took to shaving our faces, we could expect colossal anti-ageing benefits, and that a daily rendezvous with their Braun shaver is the reason men age better. Their reasoning mainly is that shaving is a kind of exfoliation, and that when the skin is exfoliated, more collagen is produced and cell renewal speeds up to heal the perceived trauma. It seems to remiss at this point not to mention that men 'age better' because they tend to have more sebum in their skin, which acts like an oily protective barrier. Oh, and their skin is about 25% thicker. AND they have more collagen than ladies in the first place. Just to put that one to rest.
Women's bodies are already policed all the time when it comes to hair removal - it's considered 'unfeminine' to have hair on our legs or underarms, and of course, no 'real woman' would dare let any hair show on her upper lip or chin. But here's the kicker: if you've got a hormonal disorder, like polycystic ovaries, which can cause more hair growth than normal, or you're of an ethnicity where your hair is coarser and more visible, you probably already feel judged enough by society, and how your hair removal habits (or lack thereof) affect your skin is going to be low on your priority list. Plus, as Ministry of Waxing's Head Trainer, Chloe Wood told us, 'Shaving the hair doesn’t reduce the texture but simply removes the hair growth from above the skin whereas. Plus, re-using razors also means there is a build-up of bacteria on the face which can lead to irritation and inflammation. Shaving can also mean regrowth in the form of small black spots, which may be visible as soon as the next day because the hair will be blunt."
If you do want to get rid of any facial hair, more power to you. But we'd suggest shaving isn't really your best bet. Instead, we'd recommend the kinder-to-skin art of threading (Blink are the best in the business), or waxing - Ministry of Waxing's super-gentle treatments are great for quickly and effectively removing unwanted hair.