As a legal adviser, Angela Garvin’s alarm goes off at 6.30am every day. She cleanses her face, then she dabs on some toner and reaches for a bottle of shaving gel. She applies it across her chin, top lip and a small area around her neck.
Using a men’s disposable razor, Angela carefully shaves her face, rinsing the fine, pale hairs down the basin as she goes. To finish, she rinses with warm water and applies moisturizer.
After all, if shaving your legs encourages hair to grow back thicker, darker and stronger, then, for a woman, face-shaving would appear to invite disaster.
For this, beauty enthusiasts, or pretty much women who care to ask, consider that Angela has committed a cardinal sin.
The 46-year-old lady has been shaving her face three times a week for the past eight years and couldn’t be happier with the results.
Angela is not alone. Dermatologists also endorse the idea with a host of products have been rushed out to cater for the trend of women shaving their faces.
Angela noted that this technique is very cheap and takes only a few seconds without irritating her skin.
“The claim that facial hair grows back thicker and darker is a myth. It’s been the best thing I could have started doing.”
She also stated that shaving her face has improved her complexion pointing out that make-up goes on more evenly and easily, products absorb better and her skin is in great condition.
It is worth noting that women have facial hair, just like men, albeit usually finer, light-colored downy strands known as vellus hair. Dr Michael Prager, an aesthetic clinician who has a practice in London, stated that home shaving has some effect.
“It’s like a mild form of microdermabrasion, so encourages collagen production, which reduces wrinkles. Whenever there’s trauma to the skin, collagen is stimulated to help cell renewal.”
Dr Prager also rubbished the idea the hair will grow back thicker, stressing that this notion is wrong.
“People might think hair looks thicker because it comes out at a different angle or blunt, rather than tapered to a natural point, but it won’t be changed on a cellular level.” Dermatologist Dr Neal Schultz even claims shaving is why men are said to age better than women. “Most men shave their faces — and thereby exfoliate two-thirds of their face — regularly for years,” he said.
“That’s the reason that by their 30s and 40s, men’s skin often looks better than women’s skin.”
Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Cleopatra were all said to shave their faces and it’s now big business as new shaving products aimed at women become available.
Angela has her shaving technique down to a tee. “I take my time because if I rush I might pull a hair sideways, which causes an ingrowing hair,” she said.
“The razor stays at a 45-degree angle to my skin and I have to use a lighter touch than with shaving my legs. My skin feels as smooth as a baby’s bottom afterwards and I’ve never had a rash, though the hair does grow back quickly.”
Angela stated that she did not rush into shaving her face, emphasizing that she tried every facial hair removal method possible beforehand but nothing worked.
If Angela’s partner, Peter, 41, a solicitor, knows about her beauty regime, he’s keeping quiet.
“We’ve never spoken about it,” she said.
“But I’m sure he knows I shave my face. Luckily, he’s wise enough to know not to comment. He gets up earlier than me so never catches me at it. I’d never lie about shaving, but I suppose it’s not something most women would want to broadcast.”
Gill Jamieson, 60, from Hove would agree with that even though she has been face-shaving for 40 years.
“It’s a bit of a secret. I don’t like to tell people but I shave my top lip and chin every two days,” she said.