It's the year of the facial fuzz and let’s all agree that a moustache looks great, except when it’s on a woman. Superfluous facial hair is the bane of womanhood. It’s ugly, inconvenient and embarrassing. Not to mention, getting rid of them on a fortnightly basis is expensive involves enduring a lot of pain! Blessed are (and how we envy) those who don’t have excessive body hair. Since the beginning of time, women have had a hard time finding a lasting, hassle-free solution to getting rid of body hair. From scalding our skins with hot wax to enduring the slow painful torture of threading, we have done them all. But if there’s a time-saving, inexpensive trick that has stood the test of time, it is shaving.

Shaving is a lot more practical than other methods of hair removal: It’s cheap, it’s easy to use, it is painless, and most importantly, it does a thorough job. So why does the world hate the idea of bringing a razor to their skin? We have been warned by everyone -- from grandmothers to beauty gurus to dermatologists-- about the evils of shaving: “They’d make your hair grow thicker! They make your skin darker! You could cut yourself!” Let alone their face, many pernickety ladies can’t even bring themselves to shave their legs with it.

Enter Dermaplaning – a unique straight-edged facial razor that flies in the face (pun unintended) of everything we knew about shaving. Legend has it that Hollywood icons like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor used a crude version of this razor to maintain their beauty. Dermaplaning involves using this small razor to scrape through layers of dead skin, removing hair and dead cells in the process. After the thorough exfoliation, the skin is also better equipped to absorb products easily. In the end, you are left with luminous, even-looking skin.

Will It Make the Hair Grow Thicker?

For too long, shaving has been vilified for being too un-ladylike. Women who have used the razor on their body say that it makes the hair grow back thicker and meaner. Which woman in her right mind would want to use it on her face, right? Wrong. The notion that shaving makes hair grow coarser, darker and stubbier is one of the most enduring medical myths. There is substantial scientific evidence that challenges these claims.

A 1928 clinical trial showed that shaving has no effect on hair growth. Another one in 1970 showed that even repeated shaving of hair on one leg every week for several months showed neither any significant differences in the total weight of the hair produced nor in the width or rate of growth of individual hairs as compared to the unshaved leg.

The reason why shaved hair looks thick is because the ends of the unshaven hair are tapering. Once it is shaved, the tapering top of the hair gets cut off. And when it grows back, it seems like it is thicker than before due to its non-tapering head. Additionally, the new hairs are not lightened by the sun or chemical exposures yet, which make them seem darker in comparisons.

So is it Safe to Shave The Face?

While science says that is completely OK to shave the face, it’s a matter of personal choice. If you are not convinced, you can still stick to epilating or threading. But if you are pressed for time and you don’t want to endure the pain of plucking, threading and waxing, you can shave your facial hair with a specialised razor. Many beauty bloggers and even dermatologists recommend shaving your face for its many benefits. Shaving also is known to keep wrinkles at bay, which probably explains why men’s skin develop lesser lines.

(Reference: Shaving and Hair Growth, Medical myths)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 19, 2018 11:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).