The idea of women shaving their face is actually nothing new. Thanks to modern society's history of mandating that all ladies be smooth, hairless beings (aside from the luscious locks on our heads, of course) women have tried all sorts of facial fuzz removal methods — including shaving their faces. However, with the rise of at-home waxes and depilatories, many feminine people opted out of the razor blade method.
But then, a couple years ago, people in the beauty know started raving about all the exfoliation and skincare benefits of shaving your face. It wasn't just about hair removal anymore. Beauty bloggers swore that taking a razor to their chins made their skin smoother than any old scrub could ever do. Dermatologists, however, remained skeptical. As Dr. Eric Schweiger, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Schweiger Dermatology Group, told Larkin Clark of Birchbox, "the main benefit of facial shaving for women is safely removing facial hair." All the experts I spoke with prior to this experiment agreed: Shaving won't ruin your skin, but it probably wouldn't have much benefit either for someone who doesn't have thicker hair they're hoping to remove.
So, torn between anecdotal endorsements and medical indifference, we tried it. Check out the clip below for our thoughts, and subscribe to Bustle on YouTube for more videos like these.
