Is Dermaplaning Worth It? What It Does—and What It Doesn't Do

March 26, 2026

a woman having a dermaplaning treatment in Victoria BC

If you've spent any time watching skincare videos online, you've probably seen dermaplaning.

A blade glides across the face, peach fuzz disappears, and the skin immediately looks smoother and brighter.

It's easy to understand the appeal.

But we think there's an important question to ask before choosing any treatment:

What are you actually trying to improve?

Dermaplaning can temporarily make the surface of the skin feel smoother and remove fine facial hair. If that's your goal, you may be perfectly happy with the result.

If you're hoping to improve acne scars, pigmentation, redness, skin laxity or deeper signs of aging, however, dermaplaning probably isn't where we'd start.

What Does Dermaplaning Actually Do?

Dermaplaning is a form of mechanical exfoliation.

A sterile blade is passed across the skin to remove fine vellus hair—often called peach fuzz—along with some of the outermost dead skin cells.

Immediately afterward, the skin often feels very smooth. Makeup may sit differently on the face, and the removal of fine hair can create a brighter, more polished appearance.

Those are real benefits.

They're also primarily surface-level benefits.

Dermaplaning doesn't stimulate the deeper remodeling that we look for when treating concerns such as acne scarring or loss of firmness, nor does it target pigment or visible blood vessels in the way light-based treatments can.

Is Dermaplaning Bad for Your Skin?

Not necessarily. But at Glow Luxe we do prefer preserving the skin barrier vs removing it.

The more useful question is whether it's appropriate for your skin and your goals.

Because dermaplaning removes part of the outermost layer of dead skin cells, the skin can temporarily be more sensitive afterward. Research has also shown that dermaplaning can increase the penetration of substances through the skin, which is one reason post-treatment skincare deserves some thought.

For someone with healthy, resilient skin who simply wants smoother skin and removal of peach fuzz, that may not be a problem.

For someone whose skin is already irritated, inflamed or highly reactive, we'd be more cautious.

When Would We Be Cautious About Dermaplaning?

Skin condition matters.

If someone has active inflammatory breakouts, significant irritation, an active skin infection or a compromised-looking skin barrier, adding mechanical exfoliation may not be the first thing we'd recommend.

Similarly, people with very reactive skin, rosacea or inflammatory skin conditions may need a more individualized approach rather than assuming that a trending exfoliation treatment is automatically appropriate.

The point isn't that everyone with sensitive skin must avoid dermaplaning.

It's that the skin should be assessed first.

What Dermaplaning Doesn't Do

This is where we think expectations can become unrealistic.

A beautifully filmed dermaplaning video can make the treatment look transformative because the result is immediate and easy to see.

But removing surface cells and facial hair is very different from treating the underlying causes of:

Brown spots and sun damage
Visible red capillaries
Acne scars
Significant uneven texture
Loss of skin firmness
Collagen-related aging changes

If those are your concerns, we'd normally look at treatments designed specifically for them.

What Might We Recommend Instead?

It depends entirely on what we're seeing.

For brown spots, sun damage, facial redness or visible capillaries, we may recommend IPL photorejuvenation.

For acne scars, enlarged-looking pores and uneven texture, microneedling may be more appropriate.

For skin laxity or loss of firmness, radiofrequency skin tightening or GlowLift™ may make more sense.

And sometimes the answer isn't another clinic treatment at all. A thoughtful home skincare routine may be enough.

That's why we try not to begin with the treatment.

We begin with the concern.

What About Chemical or Enzyme Exfoliation?

Dermaplaning isn't the only way to improve surface dullness.

Depending on the skin, we may use or recommend carefully selected chemical exfoliants or enzyme-based treatments instead.

That doesn't make them universally better than dermaplaning. They simply work differently, and some skin types respond better to one approach than another.

Good skincare shouldn't become a competition between techniques.

The goal is to use the least aggressive approach necessary to achieve what you're trying to accomplish.

Why Social Media Can Make This Confusing

Some treatments are made for social media.

Dermaplaning is particularly satisfying to watch because you can literally see what is being removed from the skin.

But a visually dramatic treatment isn't necessarily the treatment that will make the biggest long-term difference.

Many of the changes we're trying to create with professional skin treatments happen gradually.

Collagen remodeling takes time.

Pigmentation changes after IPL take time.

Acne scars improve over a series of treatments.

Those processes don't always make dramatic ten-second videos, but they're often more relevant to the concerns our clients actually want to improve.

So, Is Dermaplaning Worth It?

It can be—if you're choosing it for the right reason.

If your goal is temporary surface smoothness and removal of peach fuzz, dermaplaning may be something you enjoy.

We become more cautious when it's being promoted as a solution for concerns it isn't designed to address.

If you're investing in professional skin treatments because you want to improve pigmentation, redness, scars, texture or firmness, we'd rather identify the underlying concern and recommend a treatment that is actually intended to address it.