Dermaplaning vs a classic deep facial cleansing

The two treatments are always mentioned together and constantly confused, because both get sold as “a facial”. They are in fact two different jobs, done at two different depths of the skin. Dermaplaning works up top, on the surface. Deep cleansing works down inside the pore. This page puts them side by side without marketing, so you do not spend 15 € on a problem that only a 25 € treatment can fix, or the other way around. At B&B Elegance in Pristina the same person does both, Biondina, and her first question is never which treatment you want, it is what is bothering you about your skin.

The short answer. If the peach fuzz bothers you, if foundation catches on the hairs and your face looks dull and flat under light, you want dermaplaning. If blackheads on the nose and chin bother you, if pores look filled in and small bumps sit under the skin, you want a deep cleansing. Two different needs, two different treatments, and neither does the other one’s work.

The rest of this page explains why that is so, what each session feels like, how long the result lasts, when a blade must not touch your face at all, and how to decide whether both are worth it.

The comparison in one table

Criterion	Dermaplaning	Deep cleansing
What it targets	The skin surface and the dead layer	The inside of the pore, hardened oil
Removes facial hair	Yes, completely	No
Clears blackheads	No	Yes, by extraction
How it feels	A very light scraping, no pain	Pressure and squeezing on clogged areas
Session length	20 to 40 minutes	45 to 60 minutes
Published price	15 €	25 €

That table settles the question for most clients, but every row deserves a sentence, because the misunderstandings hide in the detail.

The first row carries everything else. The dermaplaning blade glides over the skin and lifts off whatever sits on top of it. It cannot get inside a pore, because a pore is a narrow channel and the blade is a flat edge. Deep cleansing does the opposite: it softens the skin with steam or a product, opens the pore, and lifts out what has collected inside. So the two treatments are not competitors. They simply work on two different floors of the same building.

The price row is the one people read wrong. Dermaplaning costs less, 15 € against 25 €, but that does not make it a lighter version of a cleansing. It only means the session is shorter and the work more direct. If your pores are clogged and you pick dermaplaning because it is cheaper, you have paid 15 € for something that does not even touch the problem.

What dermaplaning does, and where it stops

Dermaplaning is mechanical exfoliation with a sterile blade that is used once and thrown away. The aesthetician holds the skin taut with one hand and passes the blade over it at a very shallow angle with short strokes, usually working downwards. Every stroke takes off two things at once: the fine facial fuzz, the peach fuzz, and the top layer of dead skin cells.

You feel the result with your fingers before you leave the salon. The skin is smooth in a way no cream achieves. Light bounces off it evenly, so the face looks brighter even with no makeup on. And the effect that convinces most clients is exactly the makeup one: foundation sits on smooth skin like ink on fresh paper, it does not catch on hairs and it does not collect in dry patches. That is why the treatment is in such demand before weddings, proms and photoshoots. The full session is described on the dermaplaning guide.

Now the limit. Dermaplaning does not clean pores. It does not extract blackheads. It does not treat acne, does not erase wrinkles, does not lighten dark spots. If your nose is full of blackheads and you book dermaplaning, you walk out with smooth skin and the same blackheads. The only indirect help is this: by removing the dead layer, the blade makes it a little harder for pores to clog again and lets skincare sink in properly. That is gentle prevention, not cleansing.

What deep cleansing does, and where it stops

Deep cleansing is the work inside the pore. The session follows a clear order: a surface cleanse that removes makeup and oil, a light exfoliation, then softening with steam or a product that opens the pores, and then the part everyone knows, the extraction. The aesthetician lifts out blackheads and the contents of clogged pores area by area, with protected fingers or a small loop tool. The session closes with something calming, a mask or a serum, because skin after extraction is tender. The steps in order are on the deep facial cleansing page.

This is the real answer for oily, congested skin. A nose covered in blackheads, a chin with small bumps under the surface, a forehead that shines by noon, pores that look open because they are full: all of that is deep cleansing territory, not blade territory.

The limits here need saying too. Deep cleansing does not remove facial hair. No amount of steam and no extraction touches a vellus hair. If you walk out of a deep cleansing with clear pores and your foundation still catches on fuzz the next morning, that is not a failure on the aesthetician’s part. The treatment simply has no such function. And a second point: deep cleansing does not shrink pores permanently. Pore size is set by genetics. An empty pore looks smaller, but it fills again, which is why the treatment is repeated.

What each session actually feels like

The sensation is the difference clients notice most, and the one almost nobody asks about beforehand.

Dermaplaning is the quiet session. A sharp blade needs no pressure, so what you feel is a very light scraping, somewhere between a sheet of paper drawn across the skin and a firm brush. Plenty of clients half doze off. It takes 20 to 40 minutes. The mild redness fades within a few hours and you can go straight back to work, as long as you put on sunscreen.

Deep cleansing is the working session. Extraction is felt: pressure, squeezing, a few tender spots, especially along the sides of the nose and on the chin where the skin is thicker and the pores more stubborn. It is not real pain when done properly, but it is not relaxing either. It takes 45 to 60 minutes. The redness after extraction is more pronounced and can last into the next day, particularly if there was a lot to take out. That is why a deep cleansing is never booked the day before an event. Leave a week; the same rule runs through everything on our facial treatments pages.

There is one more practical difference, and it is worth as much as all the others: dermaplaning gives a result that is visible the same day. Deep cleansing gives a result that unfolds over two or three days, because the skin has to settle first. If you need your face ready for tonight, you already know the answer.

Does the hair grow back thicker after dermaplaning

This is the fear that keeps most people away from the blade, so let us be blunt: it does not.

Facial fuzz is vellus hair. Fine, soft, short and almost without pigment. It is a different category from terminal hair, the thick dark hair of the eyebrows or the scalp. What kind of hair a follicle produces is decided by hormones and genetics, not by a blade sliding over the skin. When the blade cuts a vellus hair, the follicle underneath knows nothing about it and carries on producing the same hair, at the same thickness and the same rate.

The illusion of thickening comes from simple geometry. An uncut hair tapers to a fine natural tip. A cut hair has a straight edge, so on the first day of regrowth it feels slightly coarser under the fingers. Within a few days the tip softens again and everything is back to how it was, usually within 3 to 4 weeks.

If someone tells you that dark hairs appeared on their chin after dermaplaning, the explanation is almost always something else: those hairs were coming anyway, driven by hormones or age, and were noticed after the treatment. Marked growth of dark facial hair is not a salon topic. It is a reason to see a doctor about hormones, and an honest aesthetician will tell you exactly that.

When dermaplaning must not be done

One stop sign is not negotiable: active inflamed acne. A blade over open spots spreads bacteria from one area to the next and irritates the broken skin. No serious aesthetician works over it, and if someone does it without even asking, that is the clearest signal to walk out of that salon.

The same rule covers eczema and psoriasis on the face, inflamed rosacea and any open wound. Very reactive skin, the kind that turns red at everything, needs a test on a small patch and an honest conversation with the aesthetician; sometimes the right answer is a gentler exfoliation, or none. Anyone using strong prescription retinoids should stop them a few days ahead and say so in the booking message.

Deep cleansing does not carry the same absolute block. With mild acne and spots that are not inflamed, controlled extraction often helps, because it empties precisely what feeds the breakouts. But there is a red line here too: severe cystic acne, with nodules under the skin, is not treated in a salon. That is a medical matter and the address is a dermatologist. A good aesthetician knows that boundary and sends you to the doctor herself, instead of trying to sell you the session anyway.

How often, in what order, and can they be combined

Biology sets the rhythm, not the price list.

Dermaplaning is repeated roughly once a month, because that is how long the fuzz and the dead layer need to grow back. More often gives nothing extra, since the blade has nothing left to take. Many clients only book it before events, three or four times a year, and get exactly what they came for. For an event, the ideal timing is 2 to 4 days ahead.

Deep cleansing follows your skin type. Oily, congested skin benefits from a session every 4 to 6 weeks. Normal or dry skin needs nothing more than every 2 to 3 months, and overdoing it here is damage, not care: frequent extraction on skin that does not call for it leaves it red and irritated for no reason. For an event, leave at least a week.

On combining them, our position is this. Both in the same hour is possible when the skin is calm and the aesthetician judges it so, but it is not the first choice. The safer order, and the one that gives the better result, runs like this: deep cleansing first, so the pores are emptied, then dermaplaning one or two weeks later on settled skin, so the blade works over a healthy surface. That way the skin gets two treatments rather than two irritations inside one hour. The call belongs to the professional after she has looked at your face, never to the price list and never to the client who wants everything in one visit.

What they cost and which one your skin needs

At B&B Elegance dermaplaning with a mask costs 15 € and a deep facial cleansing costs 25 €. Both are published prices and they do not move with the day of the week. How they sit next to the other facial treatments is set out on the facial price page.

Now the choice, sorted by what you actually see in the mirror.

Facial fuzz that shows up in hard light, foundation that catches on the hairs, skin that looks covered by a dull film, an event in three days: dermaplaning, 15 €.

Blackheads on the nose and chin, pores that look filled, small bumps under the skin, a face that shines by midday: deep cleansing, 25 €.

Both problems at once, which is entirely normal: start with the deep cleansing, because that is the problem that gets worse if left alone, and save dermaplaning for the week before the event. If your budget covers one treatment a month, that order pulls the most out of every euro.

One last piece of advice that costs nothing: do not choose your treatment from videos. Choose it from the problem. The aesthetician who asks what is bothering you before she sells you anything is the one to stay with.

Dermaplaning or deep cleansing at B&B Elegance

At B&B Elegance, on Rr. Jakov Xoxa near Muharrem Fejza, in the Bregu i Diellit area and a short walk from Rruga B, both treatments are done by Biondina, the daughter, who handles facial work only. She looks at the skin first and tells you plainly which of the two you need today, even when the honest answer is neither. The salon is a family business: the mother, Besire, runs the hair side with more than twenty years of experience, and the daughter runs the facial side, so a facial session can be paired with a hair appointment in a single visit.

The prices are published: dermaplaning with a mask 15 €, deep facial cleansing 25 €. Opening hours are Monday to Saturday, 9:00 to 17:00, closed Sunday. Appointments are made by phone, WhatsApp or Viber on +383 44 397 749 or +383 49 326 303. Write what is bothering your skin rather than the name of a treatment, and you will get a clear answer about which of the two is worth your money.