This is the question that stops people booking, so let’s deal with it first.
No. Dermaplaning does not make your hair grow back thicker, darker, or coarser.
It’s one of the most persistent myths in skincare, and it’s worth understanding why it feels true even though it isn’t.
Why Everyone Believes It
The confusion comes down to what a hair looks like at the tip.
Hair that has never been cut tapers to a fine point at the end. When you remove it at the surface, what grows back has a blunt end instead of a tapered one.
A blunt edge feels different against your fingertips. It can look slightly more defined as it emerges. So your senses report “thicker” — but the hair itself is unchanged.
Nothing about the treatment touches the follicle, which sits well below the surface. The follicle determines how thick a hair is, what colour it is, and how fast it grows. Removing hair at skin level doesn’t communicate anything to it.
Same reason shaving your legs doesn’t produce coarser leg hair, however convincing it feels.
What Dermaplaning Actually Is
A sterile blade held at a precise angle, drawn across the skin to lift away dead surface cells and the fine vellus hair most people call peach fuzz.
It sounds far more alarming than it feels. There’s no cutting sensation — most clients describe it as a light scraping, closer to being brushed than anything else. No numbing, no downtime.
The real point isn’t hair removal. It’s exfoliation. You’re taking off a layer of dead cells that’s been dulling your complexion, and the peach fuzz comes along with it.
What You Actually Notice
Three things, in roughly this order:
Texture, immediately. Skin feels genuinely smooth rather than just clean. This is the one that surprises people.
Brightness. Light reflects off bare skin differently than off fine hair. The effect is subtle in the mirror and obvious in photos.
Makeup. Foundation sits flat instead of catching on fuzz. For anyone who’s fought with foundation looking patchy by midday, this is often the reason they rebook.
There’s also a less visible benefit: with the dead layer cleared, whatever you apply afterward absorbs better. Good skincare works harder on dermaplaned skin.
Who It Suits
Most skin types, and particularly well if you:
- Have noticeable peach fuzz and dislike how it catches makeup
- Have dry or flaky patches that resist scrubs
- Want exfoliation without acids — useful for sensitive skin
- Have an event and want smooth skin without downtime
- Are investing in good products and want them to penetrate properly
When we’d wait: active acne breakouts, inflamed or broken skin, or an active flare of a skin condition. Passing a blade over inflamed skin can spread bacteria and make things worse.
Your esthetician will look at your skin and tell you honestly if the timing is wrong. That’s not a sales tactic — it’s the difference between a good result and an irritated face.
How Often?
Every three to four weeks is the usual rhythm, which lines up roughly with how long your skin takes to turn over a new layer.
More often than that and you’re exfoliating skin that hasn’t finished regenerating. Less often is completely fine — plenty of clients dermaplane before events rather than on a schedule.
On Its Own or Added to a Facial?
Both work, for different reasons.
On its own it’s quick and gets you smooth, bright skin without committing to a full appointment.
Added to a facial it does more, because everything applied after lands on freshly cleared skin. If you’re already booking a facial, adding dermaplaning is one of the better value decisions on the menu.
Not sure which facial to pair it with? Our guide to which facial is right for you sorts them by concern.
Should You Just Do It at Home?
You can buy the little face razors. Plenty of people use them and are perfectly happy.
What’s different professionally: a sterile surgical-grade blade rather than a drugstore one, a trained hand controlling angle and pressure, and someone assessing your skin before starting rather than after something goes wrong.
The honest version — at-home tools handle peach fuzz. They don’t exfoliate to the same depth, and the risk of nicks and irritation is higher when you’re working blind on your own face.
Book It and See
Dermaplaning is one of those treatments people are sceptical about right up until the first time, and then book regularly.
Full details are on our Facials in Reading, MA page, and it’s available on its own or as an enhancement to any facial.
We see clients from Reading, Wakefield, Stoneham, North Reading, and Woburn.
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