Ingrown Hair Treatments

Ingrown hair is a very common and, sometimes, quite a painful occurrence. Whenever a strand of hair is cut or shaved, the technique used results in it having a sharp end, this allows it to penetrate back into the skin and grow either inwards or sideways in the layers of skin. This abnormal growing style may cause some swelling, redness or even scarring on the skin. Ingrown skin occurs most commonly in areas that experience a high amount of shaving like the beard, legs or even the pubic regions. At times, the condition may also be accompanied by an infection of the hair follicle called folliculitis, where you may notice a pimple or pustule around the area of the ingrown hair. These lesions may tend to crust over and appear extremely red. Due to the nature of the activities that cause the condition like shaving or waxing, it is not really logical to completely cease performing the activities as this would lead to a complication of excessive hair growth. As a result, the best methods to deal with the condition are to try and remove ingrown hairs individually and manually.

One of the primary methods in prevention is to exfoliate your skin thoroughly before shaving and showering, as this will help get rid of the dead skin that stays on the upper layers of your skin. While not really being of any use, the growing hair shafts could start to grow inwards or sideways in between the dead skin cells and the upper layers of the dermis. Getting rid of the dead skin cells allows the hair to grow outward more freely. After you finish shaving, it is recommended that you apply some witch hazel to your skin. Witch hazel is a herb based, over the counter product that will help prevent ingrown hair. Your technique of shaving will also greatly aggravate the condition as shaving too close can trigger razor bumps while hair stubs that are cut too closely may get trapped inside the hair follicle and dig inwards or sideways. To avoid these complications, do not stretch your skin when you shave and use a single razor blade without putting too much pressure on the razor. This method needs to be maintained consistently over time as even one shave that is too close could have an effect on new hair growing inward which may take a few weeks to heal. If you already have a few ingrown hairs, you should try to carefully remove them with the help of tweezers making sure that you remove the root as well.