In what’s unintentionally becoming a regular ‘What’s Happening in Japan?’ feature, today’s post is about a slightly taboo subject here in the West - facial shaving for ladies! Before we talk about it, let’s take a look!

Righty, so facial shaving is pretty common amongst Japanese women (in Japan). Maybe not the full-on facial shave (although, as you can see, it happens!) but facial razors are a dime-a-dozen in Japanese stores. It’s seen as a quick way to get rid of unsightly facial hair (cheeks, brows, upper lip and even the back of the neck) without having to deal with any of the redness and irritation associated with threading, plucking and waxing. Apparently Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor did it too!

And now, a few SCforM myth busters about lady-shaving:

• Since female hair is generally fine and soft, it’s easy to achieve a very smooth shave that lasts for about one or two weeks.

• Think of it as shaving ‘peach fuzz’ – not the same as shaving a grown man’s beard and there are little to no problems with ingrowns and irritation.

• The hair doesn’t grow back thicker if you shave. If it did, balding men the world over would be shaving their heads now for thicker hair later. Shaving blunts the tip of the hair which makes it feel coarse until it grows out to the length it was pre shave. If a woman decides to stop shaving at some point, the hair will just go back to normal.

• However, since the hair will remain blunt for at least a few weeks before growing out – that period leaves the skin looking a bit stubbly. That’s why you either have to shave again to keep it smooth or just stick it out and wait for it to grow to it’s soft length again.

Well guys and girls, what do you think about ladies shaving their faces? Think the trend will ever make it over here?

A collection of Japanese facial razors...