Angela Garvin’s alarm goes off at 6.30am every day. As a legal adviser, she has to be up early, and has a strict skin regime to get through.
    安吉拉·加文每天早上6點半被鬧鐘叫醒。作為一名法律顧問，她必須早起，而且還必須留足時間進行嚴格的護膚程序。

　　First, she cleanses her face, then she dabson 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.
    她首先把臉洗干凈，然后拍上爽膚水——然后取出一瓶剃須膏，她把剃須膏涂在雙頰，嘴唇上緣和頸部。

　　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 moisturiser.
    然后，她拿出一支男士一次性剃須刀，一邊仔仔細細的刮干凈她的臉，一邊把洗臉槽里被刮下來的纖細的淺色汗毛沖走。最后，她用熱水洗凈臉，然后涂上潤膚露。

　　According to beauty enthusiasts —or pretty much any woman you care to ask —Angela has committed a cardinal sin.
    如果你去向那些美容發燒友——或者任何你想問她的女人——對安吉拉的做法有什么看法，她們會說，她犯了大忌諱。

　　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.
    畢竟，如果說刮腿毛會讓腿上的毛發長得更密，更黑，更硬的話，讓一個女人去刮臉，似乎是在自找麻煩。

　　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.
    然而，現年46歲的安吉拉每周會刮三次臉，已經堅持了八年，她對效果十分滿意。

　　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.
  　而且這樣做的并非只有她一人：皮膚科醫生也很贊成這種做法,不僅如此，令人感到意外的是，女性刮臉的風潮還催生了一系列相關美容產品。

　　‘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.
    “這種美容方式成本低廉，費時很少，而且不會像激光除皺或者蠟膏脫毛那樣刺激我的皮膚。”安吉拉如是說到。“那種認為臉上的汗毛刮掉之后會長得更密顏色更深的說法完全是無稽之談。這是我嘗試過的最好的美容方法。”更讓安吉拉驚喜的是，這種做法不僅沒有讓她臉上的汗毛增多或者發出紅色的小包，反而改善了她的膚色，著讓安吉拉看起來容光煥發。

　　Dr 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.’
    邁克爾·普拉格醫生是倫敦一家美容診所的醫師。他指出，“從抗衰老的角度來說，自己刮臉確實是有一定效果的。這相當于一種溫和的微晶磨皮術，能促進膠原蛋白的生成，從而淡化皺紋。每當皮膚受到損傷的時候，就會刺激膠原蛋白的生成，從而促進細胞更新。”

（來源：滬江英語，編輯 Helen）