Does Shaving Make You Look Younger? [Honest Answers]

Having facial hair can totally change your appearance, whether or not you choose to grow it out or keep a clean shaven look.

However, facial hair doesn’t always suit everyone and you may be curious at how different you could look with or without facial hair. 

Does Shaving Make You Look Younger? [Honest Answers]

There are lots of ways facial hair can change your face but one thing that comes up and up again is how shaving is supposed to make you look younger. 

Is that really true? 

Let’s find out! 

Does Shaving Make You Look Younger? 

According to studies, having facial hair (including a beard) often makes you look around a decade older than you actually are! 

This means that many people view facial hair (especially mustaches and full beards) as a symbol of age.

After all, beards and other forms of facial hair are more likely to be seen on older gentlemen as young teenagers and adults will struggle to grow a full beard.

This is because hormone imbalances in youths often lead to patchy facial hair which struggles to grow, and until they have fully emerged from puberty, they usually cannot grow a full beard. 

So, being clean shaven is often associated with youth. 

As a result, this means that many people automatically view a person with a clean shaven face as someone who is younger than someone with a full beard – even their ages could be completely the wrong way around! 

But having a clean shaven face is also capable of making you look youthful in other ways too! 

How Shaving Helps Prevent Aging

Although studies are still ongoing, there are ways that shaving your face can actually help prevent normal signs of aging appearing until later in your life. 

This is because when you shave your facial hair, you are actually removing more than just hair. You will also be removing the top layer of skin cells, which is why your skin can become red and irritated after shaving. 

This leaves behind smoother and clearer skin which becomes more healthy in the long run.

This is because shaving helps remove dead skin cells from your face and reduces the likelihood of you developing wrinkles and other fine lines of aging.

Although this won’t stop your face from ever aging and losing its elasticity, it can help give your skin a youthful radiance. 

So, perhaps it’s not just the lack of hair which makes people associate a clean shaven face with youth. Shaving also helps your skin stay bright and radiant, allowing your youth to shine through! 

This, however, is still not completely confirmed by scientific studies. Although it is true that shaving removes dead skin cells, the effects on how it can ‘prevent’ aging is still under study.

This is because wrinkles can also be formed by the loss of elasticity in the skin as we grow older, which cannot be prevented. 

Despite this, shaving can still help give your face a radiant glow that is often associated with younger faces.

Does Shaving Make You Look Younger? [Honest Answers]

The Other Benefits Of Shaving

So, shaving can help you look younger for longer but there are many other benefits to shaving which you should consider. 

Shaving is also seen as pretty hygienic as it pulls away dead skin cells from your follicles. These dead skin cells can collect and form a range of other skin problems, such as rashes and even dandruff.

Although a good, penetrating skincare routine can help lift these skin cells from your skin too, shaving will also help remove some to keep your skin healthy and clean. 

It’s also proven that shaving can help remove built up sebum and sweat that has collected underneath your facial hair. These oils help dust and dirt settle on your skin, potentially increasing the risk of infections.

This can result in conditions like acne, as your facial hair was preventing these oils from being washed away during your skincare routine. 

In fact, your facial hair can completely block any water or moisture from reaching your skin if you’re not careful. This is especially true for those with thicker, fuller beards.

The hair can prevent moisture from reaching your face and thus drying it out. Your skin then becomes super dry and itchy, resulting in cracks and fine lines. 

Skin dehydration is also linked to wrinkles and facial aging, so it’s important to keep your skin hydrated in order to maintain that youthful look.

So, shaving can help more water wash your skin and keep it hydrated, and thus improve your youthful looks. 

Other than these reasons, there are also tons of practical reasons for wanting to shave. Shaving allows your face to feel lighter and less itchy due to the lack of hair, plus it requires a lot less maintenance.

Beards, mustaches, and stubble need their own grooming routines with individual products and this can take up a serious amount of time.

You will also need to purchase a lot of products to help keep your facial hair healthy, as well as the skin beneath. 

So, shaving can help save you a fortune in products as well as time and energy that would have been spent on maintaining your facial hair! 

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are a ton of benefits to shaving. 

Not only is it more practical and better for your skin, but it’s also proven to help you look younger.

A clean shaven face is often reminiscent of young children who have yet to grow any facial hair, so having a close shave can help you appear much younger. 

However, there is evidence to suggest that shaving also helps give people a youthful ‘glow’ by removing dead skin cells and more.

Although this claim is still yet to be properly researched, it is worth mentioning that shaving does remove excess sebum and dead skin cells, which in turn helps keep your skin in great condition – which might just be the key to maintaining a youthful appearance! 

So, is you want to look younger, why not have a shave and check out the results?

Matt Park
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