Angela Garvin’s alarm goes off at 6.30 a.m. every day. As a legal adviser, she has to be up early, and has a strict skin regime to get through. First, 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.

Then, using a men’s disposable razor, she 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.

According to beauty enthusiasts — or pretty much any woman you care to ask — Angela has committed a cardinal sin.

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.

Nevertheless, Angela, 46 has been shaving her face three times a week for the past eight years and couldn’t be happier with the results.

And she’s not alone. Dermatologists also endorse the idea and, astonishing as it may sound, a host of products have been rushed out to cater for the trend of women shaving their faces.

“It’s cheap, takes seconds and doesn’t irritate my skin, unlike laser or waxing,” says Angela. “The claim that facial hair grows back thicker and darker is a myth. It’s been the best thing I could have started doing.”

What’s more surprising is that far from causing ingrowing hairs, nasty grow-back or red raw patches, Angela is adamant that regular shaving has improved her complexion.

Michael Prager, an aesthetic clinician who has a practice in London, says, “From an anti-ageing point of view, 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.”

安吉拉•加文每天早上6点半被闹钟叫

醒。作为一名法律顾问，她必须早起，而且还要留足时间进行严格的护肤程序。

她首先把脸洗干净，然后拍上爽肤水— 然后取出剃须膏，她把剃须膏涂在下巴周围，嘴唇上缘和颈部。

然后，她拿出一支男士一次性剃须刀，一边仔仔细细的刮干净她的脸，一边把洗脸槽里被刮下来的纤细的浅色汗毛冲走。最

后，她用热水洗净脸，然后涂上润肤露。

如果你去向那些美容发烧友 — 或者任何你想问她的女人 — 对安吉拉的做法有什么看法，她们会说，她犯了大忌。

毕竟，如果刮腿毛会让腿上的毛发长得更密，更黑，更硬的话，让一个女人去刮脸似乎是自找麻烦。

然而，现年46岁的安吉拉每周会刮三次脸，已经坚持了八年，她对效果十分满意。

而且这样做的并非只有她一人：皮肤科医生也赞成这种做法,不仅如此，令人感到意外的是，女性刮脸的风潮还催生了一系列相关美容产品。

“这种美容方式成本低廉，费时很

少，而且不像激光或者蜡膏脱毛那样刺激皮肤。”安吉拉说。“那种认为脸上的汗毛刮掉之后会长得更密颜色更深的说法完全是无稽之谈。这是我尝试过的最好的美容方法。”让安吉拉惊喜的是，这种做法不仅没有让她脸上的汗毛增多或者皮肤发红，反而改善了她的肤色。

迈克尔·普拉格是伦敦一家美容诊所的医师。他指出，“从抗衰老的角度来说，自己刮脸确实是有一定效果的。这相当于一种温和的微晶磨皮术，能促进胶原蛋白的生成，从而减少皱纹。每当皮肤受损的时

候，就会刺激胶原蛋白的生成，从而促进细胞更新。”

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

   【主要的】zhǔyào de cardinal of prime importance, chief, principal

    【坚定的】jiāndìng de adamant firm, stubbornly unyielding