Bad hair days: The dangers of overdoing hair removal

For many of us, hair removal is an essential part of our personal skincare routine. But if you’re not careful, you run the risk of harming your skin. In today’s blog, we look at the dangers of overdoing hair removal and share our top tips for ensuring healthy, happy skin.

If you think about shaving and the conditions you’re putting your skin under, it’s easy to see why it’s not great for your skin. Shaving imposes stress on the skin and so shaving daily, or twice daily, increases that level of stress. You wouldn’t exfoliate every day, so why shave? It’s doing essentially the same thing to your skin.

Shaving can result in problematic skin too with razor burn, ingrown hairs and razor bumps extremely common. Furthermore, for men, shaving too much can lead to inflammation and result in premature ageing.

The science of shaving

When you shave, you compromise the lipid barrier of the skin. This barrier is responsible for keeping skin moisturised and protecting against external chemicals entering deeper layers of the skin.

Once the lipid barrier has been compromised, skin can become dry and dehydrated. The side effects of this include flaky skin, itchy skin and other problem skin conditions. Skin will also become inflamed – making your next shave even more treacherous for your skin, especially as you aren’t giving your skin any time to recover.

Helping your skin: Ensuring the perfect shave

Always shave wet, softened skin

Never attempt a dry shave. To avoid nicks and cuts, you should wet your skin and let it soften before attempting hair removal.

Remember to replace your blade

If you’re shaving, be sure to replace razor blades on a regular basis. A dull blade will lead to nicks and also increase the risk of skin problems like ingrowing hairs.

Exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate

Exfoliation is especially important if you’re prone to problem skin. Exfoliating before shaving gets rid of all the dead skin cells that would usually clog up your razor blade. Exfoliation post-shaving also helps you to avoid ingrowing hairs.

Slap on the moisturiser

Shaving is dehydrating for your skin, so it’s important to lock in moisture post-shave. Make sure to use something gentle and calming – anything too fragranced may cause irritation.

Consider other hair removal methods

Laser hair removal and waxing offer two great alternatives. The former will see you hair free for life and the latter, hair free for at least a few weeks. Waxing allows your skin to take a break from the stress of shaving and will often result in fewer and finer hairs growing back.

Is it your facial skincare that needs a boost? If so, we recommend our Derma Facials and Chemical Peels, guaranteed to give you back that glow and revitalise your skin health. Find out more today.

What tips do you have for looking after your skin? Drop us a tweet @APSkincare_