Four Facial Hair Methods Not to Use, and What Does Work

Please note, this article contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and buy, I may receive a portion of the sale.

Ladies, have you ever looked at your face in the mirror and thought you had too much facial hair? You’re not alone. Hirsutism, or excessive hair growth, affects 5 and 10 percent of women.

You may have developed it because your androgen hormone levels were higher than normal, you have polycystic ovarian syndrome, adrenal gland disorders, or you take minoxidil, anabolic steroids, testosterone, or cyclosporine.

Some women also have idiopathic hirsuitism, which means there’s no detectable cause for its development. This type of hirsuitism is usually chronic and may be harder to treat.

In my case, I think it developed because of a medication I took a while back called Dilantin. I’ve tried different things over the years to eliminate my excess facial hair. All of them worked to varying degrees but most had unpleasant side effects or were expensive.

That is until I found out about dermaplaning. I’ll explain all the methods I tried, including dermaplaning, which is the one that gave me the best results for the money I spent.

Four Facial Hair Removal Methods Not to Use

I used all these methods — they all worked, but I don’t recommend them for different reasons.

Electrolysis

This was one of the first treatments I tried. A woman took an electric probe and put it in each hair, zapped it, and supposedly destroyed the hair root. It worked, but cost a lot and was painful and time-consuming. Because of that, I stopped going after a while. And, of course, the hair grew back.

Waxing

I’ve also had my face waxed. This was slightly painful, but like electrolysis was expensive. I knew I’d have to come back every so often to have it done again.

Facial depilatories

This was how I got rid of my peach fuzz and the thicker hairs on my face for years. They also worked and were less expensive. However they were messy, and some irritated my face for days afterward.

Vaniqa

This isn't really a facial hair removal method, it's a prescription cream to prevent facial hair regrowth. I used it for a while. It helped the hair grow slower, but it was expensive and I could only get it with a prescription.

What To Do Instead

This is what I did most recently. It worked well, was relatively inexpensive and didn’t have any unpleasant side effects like the other methods.

Shaving with a dermaplaner

I tried this most recently. It worked like a charm, was relatively painless, and cost only about $35 for the products I needed to do it right.

Wait — doesn’t shaving your face make the hair grow back thicker?

If you dermaplane your face, the hair won’t grow back thicker. According to this article, dermaplaning removes the vellus hair, or what most people call “peach fuzz” on the skin’s surface, along with dead skin cells and other debris.

In addition, dermaplaning cuts the hair at an angle instead of straight across. Because of that, the end of each hair is tapered instead of blunt. When it grows back, it will be soft right away because of the tapered end. Therefore, even though shaving makes it look like hair has grown back coarser or thicker, dermaplaning doesn’t create this illusion.

Okay, so what do I need and how do you do it?

Here are the products I used for my first dermaplaning adventure (note: the links below are affiliate links. If you click on them and buy, I may get a small percentage of your sale.)

9 Count Dermaplaning Tool — These look like small scalpels, as stated above.

The Honest Company Hydrate and Cleanse Wipes — To clean my face off before I put the oil on

Pure Plant-Based Squalane Oil Boosted With Vitamin E — This is what I put on my face to create a nice smooth surface for the dermaplaner to glide over.

Burts Bees Sensitive Solutions Calming Day Lotion — To put on my face after I finished.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Clean your face off with one of the cleansing wipes.

2. Squeeze some of the oil into your hand from the dropper and start smoothing a thin layer on your face and neck — it doesn’t have to be thick.

3. Hold the dermaplaner at an angle with one hand, and use the other hand to hold your skin taut. Gently glide it over your skin in the direction of the hair growth using short strokes. Clean the blade off every so often. Make sure you get every area you want to remove hair from — I did my cheeks, chin, neck, and upper lip.

4. If needed, once you’re done use another wipe to clean off any excess oil — I used a little too much oil the first time, so I did this.

Just a note, if you have a magnified make-up mirror, preferably one with a light, it’s easier to see what you’re doing.

After my first dermaplaning attempt, my face was nice and smooth, and just a little red. It didn’t get very irritated as it did with depilatories, and the process wasn’t as painful as electrolysis or waxing. And I have enough supplies left for at least 18 more treatments if I use each dermaplaner twice — that means my $35 investment could last me a while, depending on how often I dermaplane my face.

That’s my experience with different facial hair removal methods, including dermaplaning. If excess facial hair is a problem, I suggest trying this method. If you’re worried about doing it yourself, you can always have a professional do it for you, but if you’re careful and use the right products for your skin type, you shouldn’t have any problems.