At 30 Years Old, I'm Finally Receiving Compliments on my Skin Because of Dermaplaning.

I’ve never had perfect skin. It never has been “bad” skin. I never suffered from major acne or had any type of scarring. I don’t really have too many wrinkles (yet) or signs of aging, but it’s never been perfectly smooth or clear. That’s why I was so surprised (and happy) when last Wednesday, one of my co-workers appeared to be studying my face and said to me, “Are you doing something different with your skin? It’s just SO smooth and clear. It looks so nice!” Insert tears of happiness.

No one has ever told me I have nice skin. Maybe white teeth or good hair color (thanks, Er!), but NEVER that. So, I was truly shocked. In addition to saying thank you and expressing my (literally) most sincere appreciation, I had to laugh to myself because here I am at 30 years old, excited about my first “good skin” compliment.

I realized that over the last few weeks, I’ve had random people– people at church, work, and even students– tell me my make-up looked nice. I always thought, “Hmm.. I’m not doing anything different.” It wasn’t until after my friend’s compliment that I put it together; It’s not a change in my make-up; it IS a change in my skin. And it’s working!

About one year ago, one of my friends who lives in Texas (Hi Carly!) sent me a snap of her skin after a dermaplane treatment. I asked her about it and she explained what it was. That was all it took for me to spend some serious time researching the benefits and trying to figure out if there were any cons.

So what is it? Dermaplaning is a non-invasive technique in which a dermatologist of licensed esthetician will [use a sharp blade to] scrape off vellus hair (also known as peach fuzz) and the top layer of dead skin cells off the epidermis, the top layer of the skin (USA Today, Feb., 2020).

My concerns initially were:
1. Am I shaving my face?
2. Is it irritating?
3. Am I going to get weird or dark regrowth?

So, I did some research and talked to someone very knowledgeable on hair– Erin! Vellus hair isn’t like the hair on your legs. Some of it is so fine, it can’t be taken off with a razor anyway. This type of hair does not grow back any differently. Leg hair (and other places with coarse hair) grows back like that because the hair is already thick and it was cut bluntly with a razor. Vellus hair is soft and removing it does not change its texture. This is a myth. As far as irritation, you may have some initial pink-ness or slight irritation, but only for a few hours.

Heading to the med-spa or dermatologist weekly wasn’t going to fit well into my current schedule, so I researched some at-home options. There weren’t a whole lot, as dermaplaning is actually kind of new. One day, while shopping on the Nordstrom website (shocker, I know), I found an item that had amazing reviews– an at-home dermaplane system called Dermaflash! I didn’t know about biting the bullet on the price though, so I waited, but kept an eye on it.

I was so excited to see it on the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale item list that was released a couple weeks prior to the big sale! $100 cheaper than the original price!! I knew if I was ever going to go for it, this was the time. So I added it to my wish list and prayed it was still in stock when my time to shop rolled around.

The odds were ever in my favor. One of these beautiful babies was delivered to my door with my many Nordstrom Anniversary Sale packages. I was so excited (and nervous) to try it out the first time. It came with a pre-flash cleaser, the device itself, a charger, 4 blades, and a post-flash moisturizer. It says the blades are one-time use, but I’ve used them 1-3 times each. I just clean them after each use. You can purchase re-fill kits and the price isn’t bad at all.

I’ve been using it for almost 2 months now. I use it once per week (usually on Saturday or Sunday). It takes about 1-2 minutes and you just make short brush strokes at a 45-degree angle all over the surface of your skin to complete the treatment.

I don’t have a whole lot of vellus hair on my face, but it removes a good bit of what I do have, except for the extremely super fine hairs. Yes, it does grow back in about a week, but no differently than before. I both wash and exfoliate my skin regularly, but I’m always in awe at the dead skin cells that come off of my face. This photo below (sorry, it’s kind of gross) is after I had just washed and exfoliated. My skin felt smooth and clean, yet, all of these dead skin cells came off my face with the Dermaflash. Totally gross that that’s what on our skin, but I’m so glad I’m getting rid of this dead skin!

My skin definitely feels so much smoother and maybe it’s because I see myself every single day, I didn’t realize how it had changed the appearance of my skin for the better! I wanted to hold off writing about it until I had been using it for a while, but the recent compliments on my skin led me believe it was time to review! I am so happy with this system after almost 2 months of use and plan on continuing use weekly.

Research on the product says:
100% of women saw radiant, glowing skin.
93% of women said their skin felt instantly softer and smoother.
76% had a significant reduction in the appearance of wrinkles after just 4 weeks.

I will follow up after I’ve used it for a little while longer, as well. It’s still on sale for $99.99! There is another model that is $199.99. The only difference I see is that it has multiple different levels of intensity for the vibration. It wasn’t a big deal to me and I’m completely satisfied with the Dermaflash ONE and its one speed… oh, and its price. 🙂

I’ve been maintaining a nice fall glow too! ICYMI: My blog post on the products I use is linked here.