Shaving vs Waxing : What is better for your skin?

This is not a question I’ve asked myself often. It has to be done, and we all do it. Over the years I’ve done both – shaving and waxing depending on how much time and money I’ve had to spare on hair removal. Shaving is painless and quick, while waxing is more of an experience, but it hurts a lot! But when I was invited to an event hosted by Gillette Venus for a razor made specifically for women shit got real fast and I had to really sit down and think deep and hard about my life choices regarding hair removal and what prompted me to make said choices.

At the event we met Dr. Rashmi Shetty, an aesthetic physician and author of best selling book Age Erase. She was a literal fountain of knowledge on skin care, and she had to be,  since she was taking questions from a room filled with beauty and fashion bloggers 😛 Now personally I haven’t really found my perfect skincare regime but I am at that stage in my life that I want to shift my focus from makeup to good skincare. So I took full advantage of this oppurtunity and asked Dr. Shetty all the skincare questions I could think of! Here are some of them:

Q: Is it true shaving turns skin dark and rough while waxing leaves it smooth?

A: The belief that shaving leads to darker skin or thicker hair growth is completely false. Hair growth is determined by the genetic and hormonal makeup of a person and has nothing to do with the hair removal method you adopt.

Q: What is the best way to shave? Is it necessary to use shaving foam? (I’ve always used shower gel and water)

A: The best method is to exfoliate and moisturize your skin prior to shaving and then applying a soothing gel or lotion after. Aloe vera based gels are great for this. The foam is a good way to hydrate your skin, but its essential to never shave on dry skin and that can cause cuts and leave skin dry and scratchy after a shave. Coconut oil is a great alternative to shaving cream or foam.

Q: What is the best way to treat ingrown hair? Does waxing help?

A: The best way is to switch your hair removal method. If you’ve been waxing then shave for a few weeks and vice versa. Waxing mercilessly uproots the hair from its root, as a result the hair follicle is sometimes damaged and grows back as ingrown hair. Waxing again doesn’t resolve this as the hair is growing under the skin. Exfoliating the area well and shaving is a good way to treat it.

Q: What about facial hair? Wax, shave or lazer?

A: Waxing repeated may cause the skin to lose its elasticity so make sure not to do it too often especially on the sensitive facial skin. Shaving is a good alternative, the razor needs to be one with multiple blades for precision and since the hair growth is fine. It should be done in the direction of the hair growth and not against. Lazer works on the principle that it differentiates between the color of hair and skin, and since the hair on the face is often fine and light in color its not very effective and often needs multiple settings. But its a good option if the hair growth is dark in color.

Q. What about skin care? Do anti-aging creams really work? When should I start using them?

A: Its very important to start early when it comes to taking care of aging. The creams work but you need to research and find one with active ingredients that target your problems areas. Different companies will market creams differently but the ingredients or contents are what is important. And yes they do work.

Q. What about the under eye, cream or gel?

A. The under eye area is very sensitive and dries very easily. Hence creams are preferable to gels as they are more moisturizing and they lock the moisture in overnight which is when the skin dries out the most.

Q. How important are facials? I was told that once I hit 30 I need at least one a month?

A. Facials are great when they are needed. During a facial someone is constantly massaging and tugging at your skin which is never a good idea when overdone. Also a facial needs to be catered to individual skin type and targeting specific skin issues, a generic facial does no good at all for you. Once a month if you feel your skin needs it, or once in two months is perfectly fine. Try using natural ingredients like coconut oil, honey etc on skin as much as possible as they cause the least irritation to sensitive skin and have almost no side effects.

Q. Based on what you’ve said I feel like I’ve been doing everything wrong. Is there hope for me still? Or should I start researching face transplants?

A. (She laughed for 20 seconds straight, seriously.) Theres always time! Our skin is very resilient and is easy to take care of. We just need to be mindful and invest some time and effort to consciously start taking care of it. The first step should always be to hydrate and moisturize, so drinking water like everybody says is probably the easiest and the most effective way to having problem free glowing skin. Drink lots of water, if initially it feels like all thats doing is making you pee a lot don’t worry. You’re bladder will adjust to this increased intake of water in a week and then it will be fine.

Q: What about hair? What is the best oil for it, Argan oil or Coconut oil?

A: Coconut oil without question. Arian oil is a very good light coating oil, which means its great when used as a leave in coat one your hair is done. For conditioning and for the purpose of a hair masque to strengthen hair, Coconut oil is the best.

So from that I’ve now decided I’m going slather my body in coconut oil whenever I can, and I really need to step up my skin care game. Hope it was helpful and answered some of your questions as well. If you have any specific questions about shaving or waxing do let us know, and I’ll do my best to answer them!

I have also decided to spend the next month testing out the Gillette Venus products that I left the event with. Which includes their new razor with three blades, the shaving foam and a refill pack or a cartridge for the razor. I’m very enthused and in all my excitement I’ve convinced Anisha and Bidisha to do this with me as well. So for one month, we will give shaving the shot it deserves and give you updates on how these products hold up as the days go on. We will test first hand how our skin reacts to shaving, and if there is roughness or coarseness when it grows back. Stay tuned!

-Sat

This post was written in collaboration with Gillette Venus.