Guest blog: everything you need to know about dermaplaning

Patrick Bryan, owner and tutor at The International Academy of Dermaplaning, on what dermaplaning is, why it’s more than just a shave and how salons can incorporate it into their offering.

Dermaplaning is a method of exfoliating and removing vellus (short and thin) hair from the face with a scalpel and the treatment has recently arrived in the UK to a lot of buzz. However, there’s still some confusion as to what it is and why it’s so effective.

Some therapists view it simply as a shave but the treatment is much more than that. The treatment is performed with a scalpel that acts, in very broad terms, like a wood plane, peeling away the layers of dead skin cells.

While some clients are attracted to the treatment for its shave element, it’s actually a secondary benefit to the deep, gentle exfoliation that dermaplaning gives.

Clients always comment on how smooth, clean and fresh their skin feels after treatment, and how beautifully alive and radiant their complexion looks. Therapists who use this on existing clients say that the results are fantastic compared to previous exfoliation treatments used, but that the benefits are also immediate and with no down time.

However, the benefits of dermaplaning don’t stop there. As well as an immediate, appreciable difference to the skin’s look and feel, it can also be used effectively to target scarring (particularly acne scars), sun damage, pigmentation and fine lines. These are progressive gains, so the client would need a course of monthly treatments, but most love the effect so much that they’re eager for more.

Dermaplaning is also a good starting point for further treatments. Removing dead skin cells means that anything you apply to the skin afterwards is going to work at a deeper level. Much of the effectiveness of facials are usually diluted because of absorption and reflection by these cells.

So, any serums, creams and lotions applied to the skin will be much more effective as they don’t have to fight their way through the dead skin cells. Some of my students have also had great results using dermaplaning alongside LED facial masks, galvanic facials, radiofrequency and chemical peels, to name but a few.

Watch a video of the treatment below:

Bryan will be demoing the treatment and talking about the subject in greater detail in his talk “Dermaplaning – shaving, exfoliation or both?” on Sunday 26 February, 11am, as part of the “How to…” seminar programme taking place at Professional Beauty London. Book your place here for only £5 per session.

Register for your ticket to the show here.